Sticking plastic to concrete - external non-porous surfaces

Gingernutty

Hello.

I've got garden walls made of gravel boards. Like this.

They are smooth with no pattern or texture.

I bought cactus spines like these to deter the local moggies from using my tree bark mulch as their litter tray.

They love it.

To fix the plastic to the concrete, I bought the much hyped Sticks Like !!!!!!, thinking that it would securely glue the two together.

Well......

It sticks like !!!!!! to the concrete alright, but it sticks like complete sh!te to the cactus strips!!

They are lifting off as if I've used blu tack.

The local moggies are delighted.

The glue is a devil to get off the concrete too.

So, before I make another useless purchase, what do you guys recommend to stick plastic to concrete?

Reece_

Did you use the solvent or solvent free version?
I tend to use gripfill, solvent version, really don't rate the solvent free one. Either that or a polyurethane glue like gorilla glue should do the job.

Ruski

I would suggest that you use a sealant rather than an adhesive, such as this.

Silicones tend to stick better to plastic as they have an amount of flexibility which 'sticks like' does not.

HTH

Russ

Gingernutty

Reece_ wrote: »

Did you use the solvent or solvent free version?
I tend to use gripfill, solvent version, really don't rate the solvent free one. Either that or a polyurethane glue like gorilla glue should do the job.

Sticks like !!!!!! is solvent free.

maninthestreet

Those strips are probably polythene, and there are very few glues that will adhere to that effectively.

PheoUK

Screw in with rawlplugs. job done?

Gingernutty

PheoUK wrote: »

Screw in with rawlplugs. job done?

That would require hiring someone with a drill to put holes in the concrete.

I'd rather not go to that kind of expense and trouble.

PheoUK

Why on earth do you need to hire someone?

Any old hammer drill with a decent bit in it should do it:

http://www.argos.co.uk/m/static/Product/partNumber/7106062.htm

Using glue is a mugs game - it's never going to stick well to both surfaces, isn't likely weather proof, and therefore is likely to get damaged and then fail/

CrazyRed

I'd second the above re: hammer drill and cheap masonry bit.

I've got an old (c: 1990) Bosch mains hammer drill and a set of cheap (LIDL) masonry bits.

I needed to drill holes into a concrete foundation slab to fix some steel wall support strips into for some stables recently. I'd initially thought that it was going to be pretty hard work, but to be totally honest, it was a breeze with the mains drill and cheapo masonry bits. OK, I used a couple of bits (one bit did about 5-6 holes before blunting) but, at what they cost, I'm not really worried and it did the job!

Those prikka-strip type products really do need screwing down for best results - I've used them several times and gluing them down was totally unsatisfactory - as you've discovered, they lift off fairly soon afterwards. Polypropylene (the stuff they're made from) doesn't seem to like glue very much!

HTH

al69

You need to rough up the prika strip so it sticks better, also use a foam type adhesive

http://www.screwfix.com/p/dow-insta-stik-expanding-foam-grab-adhesive-hand-held-750ml/57578

Be very careful with this stuff as it will stick to your hands like anything so wear gloves. also water makes it adhere better so washing it off is a no no, use wd40 instead.

If it goes where you dont want it let it best let it dry then try to remove it.If you go trying to scrape it up you could make it worse.

The cans are one shot pretty much as the tube will get blocked with foam unless you buy gun cleaner too.

Gingernutty

Update:

After a few of the strips blew off in high winds, I found this stuff - Unibond 100%, which seems to work in similar fashion to Gorilla Glue.

It worked like a charm and it is now possible to lift the top gravel boards by the plastic strips. !!

However, it's a tiny bottle and expensive (£6.99 for 50g) so when more strips took off into the neighbours' gardens, I found Gorilla Glue.

It's cheaper, but it's brown and it's like trying to get half set varnish through the pinhole at the top of the bottle.

I dropped a couple of glued strips into the flower beds and got my hands dirty....

I've succeeded in getting the strips to stick down and there's plenty of glue left, should the remaining strips which haven't been re-glued, decided to come away.

As the glue forms a flexible PU bond, it isn't possible to get the glue and the soil that stuck to it off my hands - salt scrub, sugar scrub, gardener's hand scrub, an expensive face scrub and WD-40 later, I've come to the realisation, that it's going to have to just wear off and that's not going to happen soon......:rotfl:

Thanks for all your replies.