Contact Adhesives Guide: Explore Selleys Range

What is a contact adhesive, and when should you use one?

A contact adhesive is the right choice when you need to join two flat, close-fitting surfaces across their whole area — laminate to a benchtop substrate, veneer to a panel, upholstery fabric to a frame. It works differently from most glues: you coat both faces, let the adhesive go almost dry, then bring them together, at which point they grab on contact and stay put.

These durable, versatile glues can be used on most materials — flooring, timber, rubber, plastic, glass, and even bonding metals. They are semi-rigid when cured, can be heat and moisture resistant, and work well on flexible surfaces. The Selleys contact adhesive range covers upholstery repairs, wallpaper and other large flat surfaces.

The trade-off to understand before you start: contact adhesives are not repositionable. Once the two coated faces touch, they are joined. That is why the technique below includes dowels — they hold the pieces apart while you get the alignment right.

How to use Selleys Kwik Grip Vertical Gel

Kwik Grip Vertical Gel is made for bonding large vertical, flat, close-fitting surfaces, and it forms a durable, heat and water resistant bond. Its directions illustrate contact adhesive technique generally.

1. Ensure the surfaces are clean and dry. If you are cutting laminate sheets, cut them slightly oversize.
2. Apply to both surfaces and spread evenly, making sure they are completely covered.
3. Keep the surfaces apart until the adhesive is almost dry — approximately 20 minutes, and no more than 40 minutes.
4. Position the items carefully, still keeping the surfaces apart with dowels. When the edges are perfectly aligned, remove the dowels and, working from one edge, press the surfaces firmly together. It grabs immediately on contact.
5. Secure the bond by running a roller over the bonded surfaces, or by hammering the surface from the centre outwards using a padded block. Clamping warped or curled surfaces may be necessary.
6. Maximum bond strength is reached after 24 hours.

For small areas or porous surfaces, a wet bonding method also works: apply Kwik Grip to one surface, bring the surfaces together and clamp until dry.

What the Kwik Grip numbers mean in practice

Open time	20 – 40 minutes
Full cure	24 hours
Heat resistance	130°C
Coverage	0.25m² per 40g of one surface, depending on porosity
Application temperature	10°C – 35°C
Pack sizes	40g tube; 400g, 800g and 3.2kg cans

Indicative data only, not intended for the preparation of specifications.

The 20 to 40 minute open time is the single most important number. Bring the surfaces together too early and the adhesive is still wet, so it will not grab and the bond will be weak. Leave it past 40 minutes and it has dried too far to fuse. Aim for the middle of that window, and check by touching the film with a knuckle — it should feel tacky rather than wet.

The coverage figure of 0.25m² per 40g of one surface is worth doing the arithmetic on before you buy. A benchtop with two faces to coat consumes twice what the area alone suggests, and a porous substrate soaks up more again.

The 10°C floor is a hard limit: do not use it below 10°C. In cold weather the product may also thicken in storage — warm it to room temperature for 24 hours, or stand it in the sun or a bowl of hot water for a short period with occasional stirring.

Liquid Nails and construction adhesives

Where screws or nails are not appropriate, liquid nails products bond two materials together without mechanical fixing. These are high-performance adhesives that can be UV, heat and moisture resistant. The Selleys Liquid Nails range covers both outdoor exposure and indoor thermal movement.

Liquid Nails Construction Adhesive forms a strong bond after 24 hours, keeps strengthening over two to three days, and reaches full cure in seven days. It remains repositionable for up to 20 minutes after fitting and is paintable when cured. Apply beads along the length of joists, studs or battens; on broad flat surfaces apply beads every 40 centimetres.

To bond glass or metal — including mirrors — use Selleys Liquid Nails Mirror & Metal. This is not a preference, it is a stated limitation of the other products: Liquid Nails Original is not suitable for mirrors, and not for metals heated by direct sunlight, where bonds weaken at higher temperatures. Mirror & Metal is formulated for exactly those cases.

Liquid Nails Mirror & Metal cures at 2mm per day, has a skin time of 10 to 15 minutes depending on weather, and a tack-free time of 45 minutes. Mirrors must be supported with clips or tape for normally 72 hours until it develops enough strength to hold without support, and the edges must not be sealed for at least a week because the adhesive needs air circulation to cure.

Other limits on Liquid Nails Original: not for styrene foam (use Liquid Nails Fast Grab), not for permanent water immersion, avoid tightly clamped joints such as cabinet making or joinery, and do not use it as the sole bonding agent for structural bonding.

Flooring adhesives

Flooring adhesives are designed for wooden floors, parquetry, strip floors and sheet timber, and are formulated to be applied to concrete or plywood. They can cure within hours. The Selleys flooring range is designed for interior use and uses low volatile organic compound formulas.

The related products in the range — VP30 Primer, SLC50 Leveller, VBS Vapour Barrier and Timberflex — exist because a timber floor over concrete is a system, not a single glue-down step. Moisture coming up through a slab is the usual cause of floor failure, which is what the vapour barrier addresses.

PVA and woodworking glues

Selleys Aquadhere Durabond is a solvent-free, moisture-curing polyurethane wood glue with excellent bond strength and water resistance, suitable for both interior and exterior applications. It bonds wood to almost anything — various timbers, MDF, metal, ceramics, glass, masonry and most plastics — and is sandable, paintable and stainable. It is chemical resistant and heat resistant up to 140°C, and it expands and foams as it cures, so it can fill small gaps.

Working figures: apply a thin layer to one surface only, assemble within 10 minutes, clamp firmly until cured (approximately 4 hours), and expect maximum strength in 24 hours depending on humidity and material porosity. For smooth materials such as glass, plastics or metals, sand or roughen the surface first.

For a water-based PVA suited to craft work, flexible materials, mosaics and cardboard, the Selleys PVA range is the family. Most PVA and woodworking glues clean up easily, dry clear and cure quickly.

Limitations — where contact and construction adhesives should NOT be used

• Kwik Grip Vertical Gel — not for polyethylene or polypropylene plastics; use Selleys All Plastics. Do not use below 10°C. Check compatibility with the materials being bonded — some vinyl floor coverings are incompatible with solvent products. Test an inconspicuous area or confirm with the material manufacturer.
• Liquid Nails Original — not for mirrors, not for metals heated by direct sunlight, not for styrene foam, not for permanent water immersion, not for tightly clamped joints, and not as the sole bonding agent in structural bonding.
• Liquid Nails Mirror & Metal — not for permanent water immersion, not for repairing broken glass, cannot be painted over, not for totally enclosed bonds (it needs air to cure), and not repositionable once applied. Do not apply adhesive over vinyl backing on a mirror, and do not fix mirrors directly to unpainted timber, plaster, concrete or brick — paint those surfaces first.
• Aquadhere Durabond — not for below-waterline applications or continuous submersion, not for polyethylene or polypropylene plastics, not recommended for structural applications, and it cannot be used below 5°C. It requires atmospheric moisture to cure, so use may be restricted in very dry conditions.

Safety: the hazard spread across these four families is very wide

The products on this page are not comparable on safety the way they are on method. Three of them carry classifications that should change how you work, and one of them — the wood glue — is the most heavily classified adhesive in the Selleys range.

Product	Classification
Liquid Nails Construction Adhesive	Danger — H225 highly flammable liquid and vapour; H315 skin irritation; H319 serious eye irritation
All Plastics	Danger — H225; H319; H336 may cause drowsiness or dizziness
SLC50 Leveller	Danger — H350 may cause cancer (Category 1); H318 causes serious eye damage; H315; H335 may cause respiratory irritation
Aquadhere Durabond	Danger — H334 may cause allergy or asthma symptoms if inhaled (Category 1A); H351 suspected of causing cancer; H373 organ damage through repeated exposure; also H332, H317, H335, H315, H319

The flooring system is the one people are least prepared for. H350 on SLC50 is not a caution about the finished floor. The exposure is respirable crystalline silica in the dry powder, at the moment you slit the bag and while the paddle mixer is running — a fine dust that hangs in the air of a closed room. The cured, levelled slab is not the problem. Mix outside or in a P2 respirator, cut the bag low rather than tipping it from height, and do not sweep the dry spill. H318 belongs to the same step from the other direction: the wet slurry is alkaline, you are kneeling over it, and your eyes are the closest part of you to the mix.

Durabond's classification is about repeated use, not about one job. H334 Category 1A is respiratory sensitisation — once the immune system has learnt the substance the change is generally permanent, and afterwards far smaller exposures set off the asthma response. It builds from ordinary repeated exposure, which is what a workshop reaching for Durabond every weekend looks like. Its own sheet makes a point worth repeating: it is not Dangerous Goods for transport, because transport classification describes what a load does in an accident and says nothing about what repeated use does to the person using it.

Where the job is wood to wood, Durabond is more product than you need. Aquadhere Exterior is not classified as hazardous under GHS 7 at all, and it is weatherproof. Durabond earns its classification by bonding wood to metal, glass and masonry; if you are not doing that, take the unclassified product. Likewise Liquid Nails Extreme Grab, a moisture-curing construction adhesive carrying Warning, H317 and H319 and no flammability classification.

One gap to know about: Selleys publishes a technical data sheet for Kwik Grip Vertical Gel but no safety data sheet, so no classification can be quoted for it here. That is missing data, not an all-clear, and Kwik Grip Horizontal's classification should not be assumed to carry across — they are different formulations.

Poisons Information Centre — 131 126 in Australia, 0800 764 766 in New Zealand.

Common questions about contact adhesives and glues

Do I put contact adhesive on both surfaces?

Yes. Apply to both surfaces and spread evenly so they are completely covered. That is what distinguishes a contact adhesive from most other glues.

How long do I wait before joining the surfaces?

With Kwik Grip Vertical Gel, keep the surfaces apart until the adhesive is almost dry — approximately 20 minutes, and no more than 40.

Can I reposition it after the surfaces touch?

No. It grabs immediately on contact. Use dowels to hold the pieces apart while you align the edges, then remove them and press from one edge across.

How much contact adhesive do I need?

Coverage is 0.25m² per 40g of one surface, depending on porosity — and you are coating two surfaces, so double it.

What temperature can I work in?

Kwik Grip's application range is 10°C to 35°C, and it must not be used below 10°C. If the product has thickened in cold storage, warm it to room temperature for 24 hours before use.

Which adhesive for a mirror?

Liquid Nails Mirror & Metal. The general construction adhesives exclude mirrors specifically.

Can I glue metal that sits in the sun?

Not with Liquid Nails Original — bonds weaken at higher temperatures on metals heated by direct sunlight. Mirror & Metal is nominated for that case.

How long until a construction adhesive is fully cured?

Liquid Nails Construction Adhesive gives a strong bond after 24 hours, continues to strengthen over two to three days, and reaches full cure in seven days. Allow longer in cold weather, for thick applications and on less porous surfaces.

Will contact adhesive stick to vinyl flooring?

Test first. Some vinyl floor coverings are incompatible with solvent products — test an inconspicuous area or confirm with the flooring manufacturer.

How do I clean up?

Clean wet Kwik Grip with mineral turps, and make sure contents are completely dry before disposing of them. Aquadhere Durabond cleans up with acetone or turps immediately after use; cured product has to be scraped, cut, chiselled or sanded.