Protection for Neuschwanstein Castle

During the extensive renovation work at Neuschwanstein Castle, the historic stone floors and mosaics were also restored in great detail. In order to optimally protect the historic stone floor, the Kempten State Building Authority opted to lay the flooring with dry adhesive after extensive consultation.

Neuschwanstein Castle is one of the most visited palaces and castles in Europe. Every year, around 1.4 million people visit King Ludwig II of Bavaria’s fairytale castle in Schwangau in the Allgäu region. In summer, more than 6,000 visitors often stream through the rooms every day – quite a strain on the flooring of the walkways. It is exposed to soil, small STEINs, salt and moisture from countless visitors’ shoes all year round.

During the extensive renovation work at Neuschwanstein Castle, the historic stone floors and mosaics were also restored in great detail. The floor coverings in the highly frequented entrance and corridor areas were then renewed. In order to optimally protect the historic stone flooring, the Kempten State Building Authority decided, after detailed consultation, to lay the flooring with Uzin’s Sigan 1 dry adhesive on a decoupling mat and stainless steel sheet.

“In renovation projects, old stone or parquet floors are often used as subfloors,” explains Uzin specialist consultant Robert Weckerle. “If a new floor covering is to be bonded here and the existing floor is not to be damaged, we recommend laying with the Sigan 1 dry adhesive on patented micro-perforated special film.” The double-sided high-performance adhesive has the advantage that coverings can be laid quickly and dust-free on existing floors. They can be used again immediately.

Thanks to the special adhesive technology, the flooring can also be removed without leaving any residue even years later. The original floor can then be used again or serve as a substrate for a new floor covering. This was expressly requested by the Kempten State Building Authority as the client. Robert Weckerle says that the construction has already been used successfully in the renovation of the flooring in Linderhof Castle.

The high-performance adhesive technology on foil backing is available for different substrates. Sigan 1 is used for laying textile and elastic coverings on metal, which is equipped with the appropriate adhesives on both sides of the film. For optimum adhesion, a thin primer coat of the special Planus primer is applied first. The substrate must be firm, even, dry, crack-free and clean.

After a two-hour drying phase, the supplied tape is applied along the walls and projections to increase the adhesive strength. The Sigan-1 sheets can then be applied butt-jointed in the direction of the floor covering to be laid or the overlap of the sheets can be cut back butt-jointed and the acclimatized floor covering fitted.

The covering is folded back on one side and the protective paper of Sigan 1 is removed flat and straight up to the folded back floor covering. The floor covering is then pushed onto the Sigan 1 film carrier flat on the floor without flash-off time and rolled on. Proceed in the same way with the second half of the floor covering. The floor covering can be walked on and used immediately after bonding.