Products

Certainly there are products like carpet made from recycled plastics or the new “bio based” carpet fibers, in addition to products like bamboo, reclaimed wood and other floor covering products being made from natural or recycled materials. However, since we deal with the world of resilient flooring here in this column there are several resilient products being marketed in this category. The new “bio based” floor tiles hitting the market are said to be installed just like vinyl composition tile, which is good news for installers, but many of the other products we’ll talk about have installation techniques that are different such as seaming techniques, handling characteristics, and adhesives such as “wet lay” adhesives instead of “clear thin set.” So, as we have said here so many times before, when you are working with something new, pay attention to the manufacturer’s guideline and give them a call if you are not sure.

As far as “green” resilient flooring, Linoleum comers to mind immediately - and I mean real, natural linoleum, not sheet vinyl that so many people incorrectly call linoleum. Natural linoleum has been accepted and widely used as a resilient flooring option in “green” buildings because it is an “all natural” product made from renewable resources. In a column Linoleum: Call it Right, Install it Right, I pointed out one of the key points for linoleum installation.

“Linoleum is a lot different to seam than sheet vinyl,” Ray said. “Linoleum tends to shrink in length and grow in width. Seams should be cut slightly open on side seams and not on cross (end) seams.” This is as key point and is contrary to what we have all learned about seaming for other flooring products where the seams are cut “net.” Pay attention to this detail and refer to the manufacturer’s guidelines. Specialized tools are available for trimming linoleum, so make sure you are ready by having the right equipment. Dealing with “drying room yellowing,” “stove bar marks” and adhesive open time are other points in Linoleum installation, so I recommend if you are going to get into installing this product you invest some time in a training seminar or week-long school to learn it.

Recycled rubber is another growing category of resilient flooring. The basis for this product is black rubber chips that come from the treads of truck tires that are “re-treaded.” Of course, if they don’t get re-treaded in time you see them by the side of the highway or bouncing down the road when they release from the tires. This ground black material is often mixed with colors – some times post industrial recycled material from production of other products, and sometimes virgin rubber – to make a “speckled” flooring material that comes in tiles and rolls. Key points in this product are, again, to pay attention to adhesive recommendations – sometimes it a one-part product and sometimes a two part epoxy, depending on the use. There also are “loose lay interlocking” tiles being sold. Before installing recycled rubber, inspect the product carefully and make sure it is flat and that the tiles or rolls are square, the same thickness and not distorted in any way. Also be aware that there may sometimes be color variations from tile to tile or roll to roll and “ridges” known as knife marks in the surface of the material. These are normal and are the nature of the product because of how it’s made. It’s good to talk to the customer about this before the material is installed.

Cork is another resilient product that is being used in “green” projects because cork comes from the bark of a tree and grows back in nine years or so, which makes it a “rapidly renewable resource.” Cork is classified as resilient flooring but it acts more like wood than resilient. It is manufactured as floating floors, which are installed in the same way as other floating floor products like laminate and hardwood. However, glue down cork tile is quite different and I covered it twice  (March 2007, May 2005) and also in  (February, 2008 and September, 2006). Key points are making sure you have the right site conditions - don’t install unless the space is climate controlled, and make sure the product is delivered and stored in the space where it will be installed for at least three days before installing. Adhesive is another important point for cork. I have spoken to experienced cork installers in Europe and here in the United States, and they unanimously prefer water based contact adhesive to install cork tile. It’s applied to the back of the tile and also to the substrate using a paint roller, which firmly holds the tile in place with no curled edges, allows the installer to work on top of the newly installed floor and allows foot traffic on the floor almost immediately.  The tile can be coated a day ahead of time and large areas of the substrate can be coated at one time. The alternative is trowel-applied adhesive, which is more like a traditional resilient installation method, with adhesive spread only on the floor. On paper many installers have told me they prefer this method, and it may be easier in cases like large tiles such as 24” x 24”. However, this is a very slow method because these adhesives are usually “wet set” adhesives that can be applied only to small areas at a time. Trowel notch size and open time are critical because if the adhesive is left open for too long, the flooring won’t adhere properly and there will be curled edges. There is some argument about which of these two methods is faster. I think I had an installer race with one team doing contact adhesive and the other doing wet set trowel applied adhesive, there would not be a big difference in time between the two.