Hot New Adhesive Hits Market

Flooring is a fashion statement, without doubt. As a result, folks often overlook what goes under the floor and what holds the top-of-floor product to the subfloor. Such oversights could prove costly if retailers or installers choose inferior materials, either out of ignorance or a desire to "save a buck." In many cases, such projected savings end up costing flooring retailers and flooring consumers more in terms of labor time, call backs, repairs, etc.

Accordingly, it is critical to use high quality products in all aspects of a flooring installation. When it comes to adhesives, quality is spelled S-i-k-a. Sika is a swiss firm that manufactures a variety of adhesives and related items for a host of applications. When it comes to flooring, Sika offers adhesive products that cover the gamut of potential applications, from its T-53/sausage + acubond system that offers sound control benefits and the ability to many 3/4" solid hardwood products in loft, high-rise, and condo (on or above grade applications) to its T-55 urethane adhesive that is tops-in-industry adhesive for applications requiring or permitting a full-spread
glue-down application. Sika also manufactures variants of these products that offer low VOC emissions.

In 2008, Sika is introducing its new T-35 adhesive system. T-35 offers perhaps the best of all worlds. The product is higher performing than most competitors, even competitors' flagship glues (check, for example, published data regarding elongation at break; this data shows how far the cured glue can stretch before the glue breaks. Most competitors do not even publish such data, ostensibly because they do not want people to know the results. Among those that do, compare T-35's 170% elongation at break ratio. You will find that it typically far exceeds the performance of competitors while being significantly lower priced). In addition, T-35 is much easier to trowel out than most competitive urethane adhesives. Relatedly, its greater elasticity means installers should get more utilization and thus more production out of every 5 gallon pail. Less glue going to waste means more glue-based efficiency for everyone. Finally, T-35 hits the market significantly lower in price than competitive adhesives, even the competitions' flagship glues.

About the only flooring adhesive superior in overall performance to T-35 is Sika's T-55. There are differences between the two, such as T-55's 400% elongation at break versus T-35's 170%. (Remember, thought the T-35 is still itself superior than competitive glues). This greater elongation at break allows Sika to recommend T-55 for the generally unheard of application of gluing down many 3/4" solid hardwood products on or above grade. Specifics are available from local Sika representatives, but this feature obviously offers tremendous versatility. T-35 is not suitable for gluing down 3/4" solid products. Otherwise, it offers an outstanding combination of value and performance and likely will be an adhesive of choice for retailers, installers, and consumers alike.

(Non) Staining Agent of the Month

Part of the fun of this site is that it is not always serious. You may recall that mustard was January's diabolical flooring "staining agent of the month." We will soon announce this month's flooring stain producing monstrosity. However, this entry focuses not on a staining agent harmful to floors but rather upon the non Staining Agent of the Month.

Without question, our inaugral winner must be James Bond. Agent Bond resides in the pantheon of non staining agents. Sadly, he is known less for floors and flooring than for vodka martini's, Aston Martin's, Walther PPKs, and baccarat. Flooring plays nary a role in Bond films, save as a hard surface capable of supporting Bond's lustful conquests or absorbing the fall of yet another Bond victim. Perhaps the closest link between Bond and flooring involves his repeated staining of floors with the blood of hapless bad guys. Indeed, it would be wonderful if readers could identify any specific Bond-flooring linkage and add it to our "All Time Great Floors" in television and movies entry.

Thus, Bond and floors never mixed significantly. Nevertheless, let's all raise our pails of Milliken Capture Carpet cleaner (one of the best carpet cleaning systems on the market) to February's non staining agent of the month--Bond, James Bond.

Advertising Tip of the Month

How does the fashion oriented flooring retailer reach today's consumer? Often, retailers may receive advertising advice that emphasizes discounting, financing, or other price-oriented messages. While not irrelevant, these types of messages may get lost in the sea of similar marketing bombardment. These days everyone--automobile dealers, electronics purveyors, furniture stores, home centers, etc.--inundate the consumer with advertising whose message screams "cheap," "discount," "credit." Again, these are helpful draws, but ideally they can appear in the small print, if at all.

An approach that works especially well in floor covering, since it is a fashion-based purchase, is to emphasize the professional retailer's expertise and fashion focused atmosphere. Promote fashion, fashion, and more fashion. Events such as "private sales" or "decorating and design clinics," ideally featuring "fashion consultants" or even "on staff designers," draw customers in ways mass blast marketing cannot.

Likewise, emphasizing services such as "evening hours," "special hours by appointment," or "shop at home" shows respect for the busy schedules of flooring consumers. Similarly, sprucing up the retail website to include technology such as "room viewers" or "design-a-room" can spark interest among time-crazed customers that ultimately helps close a sale. Statistics show that women make the vast majority of floor covering decisions. Especially among married women, time is a most precious commodity.

Advertising that combines a fashion emphasis with a respect for scheduling tends to generate winning results. If your website allows product review or at least links to manufacturer's sites that do, emphasize this feature in your print, radio, television and other ads--remember, the key is to stress your fashion focus and your respect for busy customers. Relatedly, consider a Thursday evening or Saturday afternoon private sale--featuring design seminars, finger foods, and of course other goodies like free measures, in home follow up or other shop at home services post-event, free area rugs with purchases of hardwood or laminate flooring, and so on. Ultimately, if you create a fashion atmosphere and court the fashion oriented customer, the flooring retailer will maximize the value he or she is able to add to the community and, in turn, maximize business.

Fashion Trends: Colors, Products, Designs

At various floor covering shows this winter, including Surfaces 2008, designers commented upon emerging fashion trends in flooring. With regard to carpeting and other soft surfaces, tones in mauve and gray appear to be making a come back. Last seen in force during the early 1980s, muted lavendars and related tones are emerging in a variety of goods, often accented with bold grays.

Various forces also are prompting an apparent resurgence of "old man oak" in the hardwood category. Though by no means dead in any event (hardwood oak flooring still accounts for roughly two-thirds of all hardwood flooring sales), oak has declined in popularity in recent years as compared to less commonly used species such as American Cherry, Beech, Birch, American Walnut, Maple, Hickory, and various South American, Asian, and African exotic species, such as the now ubiquitous Brazilian Cherry. In many instances, these flooring trends followed in the wake of movements within the cabinetry industry away from oak visuals. Flooring tracked these changes in cabinet design as, quite often, consumers select flooring to match cabinets rather than the other way around.

Recently, many new cabinetery offerings shown at design fairs are featuring oak, particularly white oak. Featuring a more even tonal range as compared to red oak, white oak often is selected in more formal applications. Indeed, its gray/green toning (as compared to the pinkish hue of red oak) complements the grays making a comeback in soft surfacing.

Another reason that may be prompting the resurgence of oak concerns the environment and a growing "green" focus within floor covering. Many of the so-called "exotic" species, such as Brazilian Cherry, Merbau, etc., are harvested from rain forest ecosystems often via illegal or unapproved means. Poachers deforest fragile habitats and fail to utilize proper forest management techniques. In contrast, oak is relatively plentiful, is more readily renewable, and is subject (generally speaking) to far superior approved forestry-management practices. Accordingly, many of the design trends in hardwood flooring are featuring not new or exotic species as much as new or exotic finishes, profiles, widths, and treatments. Wide widths, long planks, french bleeds or other distressing features, and a variety of new and interesting stain colors can provide a tremendous array of options in what many initially might consider "mere oak." In turn, these design elements offer discriminating consumers--even those seeking a truly custom look--an opportunity to achieve all of their design dreams while promoting a "greener" environment.

Surfaces 2008 Show

The Chinese "Invasion" continues. Dozens upon dozens of Asian, primarily Chinese, suppliers crowded the Sands convention center at Surfaces 2008. Show highlights included mass delays in moving to and from the area on Thursday due to the presence of President Bush, who was staying next door apparently. More specifically, numerous Chinese suppliers continue to attempt to gain footholds in the U.S. market. While their price points often were attractive, questions arose concerning the reliability of many such vendors' ability to supply. Further, some appeared to be offering clear knock offs of patented products. While pirates might get buy when it comes to DVDs or watches, it remains to be seen whether those freely bootlegging patented technology and trademarked designs will get a pass from North American and European manufacturers holding U.S. legal protections.

Hardwood Flooring Trivia: Red vs. Yellow Birch

Want to stump a friend with some flooring trivia? Ask him or her to explain sourcing and manufacturing differences between "Red Birch" and "Yellow Birch" hardwood flooring. Below, you will find some background on birch--a fine choice for residential hardwood flooring--and of course the answer to this question.

Birch trees grows in the northern regions of Europe, Asia, and North America. In pre-colonial and colonial times, Native Americans stretched birch bark over the frames of their canoes. Birch is a straight-grained product that takes stain quite well. In turn, this attribute allows hardwood flooring manufacturers to offer birch flooring across a relatively wide color palette. Perhaps for all of the above reasons, birch is an increasingly popular choice among consumers looking for something "a little different" in their hardwood floor. Birch offers both beauty and mystique.

At times, hardwood flooring marketeers refer to "birch," "Red Birch" and "Yellow Birch." Faced with this noise, consumers incorrectly may infer that the terms distinguish among physical staining options. Indeed, the terms "Red Birch" and "Yellow Birch" have nothing to do with stain color. In its natural state, "Red Birch" is the pinker of the two whereas "Yellow Birch" presents a more creamy or golden hue. However, the terms "red" and "yellow" are relevant only in the sense of a relative comparison as neither hardwood's visual appearance closely approaches the primary color for which it is named.

So, if not stains, what do the terms "red" and "yellow" designate? Consumers familiar with oak hardwood flooring might guess that the different birch names represent product from different species of birch trees. Such is the case with oak hardwood flooring, where, as the American Hardwood Export Council's fine website makes clear, red oak and white oak reference product harvested from two entirely different species of trees.

As applied to "Red Birch" and "Yellow Birch," however, the oak-derived two-tree hypothesis proves false. It turns out that "Red Birch" and "Yellow Birch" derive from the same species of tree, albeit from different parts. The older, stronger, non-living central wood or "heartwood" of the tree carries a more "pinkish" hue reminiscent of a cherry--hence, the "Red Birch." The younger, living, creamier-looking sapwood is the "Yellow Birch." Indeed, to be truly technical, "Red Birch" is really the heartwood of what is commonly called the "Yellow Birch" tree.

Flooring Stain of the Month--Mustard

Colonel Mustard often is a doer of dastardly deeds in Clue. His namesake condiment is among the most heinous of flooring staining agents.

This month's "Flooring Stain of the Month" is good 'ole mustard. Mustard has been around for centuries. It is mentioned specifically in several instances in the Bible, for example. Most mustards, e.g., the traditional yellow (a.k.a. "ball park") varieties like Plochman's, French's, Heinz and the like, contain a substance called "turmeric." Turmeric essentially is a dye, which means if mustard containing this dye contacts flooring there is a strong chance that the product literally will change the color of the flooring. Obviously, factors such as the length of contact and type of flooring (e.g., carpet + mustard = bad news as the mustard literally can dye the product a new color) also impact the damage done.

Here are some tips to consider when confronting that dastardly mustard stain on your flooring.

First, remain calm. While, the stain--particularly if set in--may look unsightly, it is possible that acting too rashly may make the problem worse. Remember, we are dealing with floor covering, not life or death!

Second, review very, very carefully any and all instructions and ingredients on the cleaner you intend to use. You should almost always use a cleaner or cleaning agent specifically approved by the manufacturer of the flooring (more on the manufacturer below). This is critical not only to ensure you do not void potential warranty coverage but also beacause certain cleaners may contain components that actually will make your flooring stain worse. For example, with regard to mustard specifically, other sources report that chemicals such as ammonia, often found in household cleaners, will set a mustard stain more thoroughly into fabric. Rather than helping the situation, you may be hurting it. This tidbit about ammonia and mustard being a bad mix is especially scary given that one of the most popular responses to a Google Search (if not the most popular) regarding mustard stain removal from flooring actually recommends (as of this date) using ammonia. Yikes! The lesson here is you cannot be too careful. EVEN IF YOU BELIEVE YOUR CLEANER IS ACCEPTABLE, BEFORE MOVING FORWARD, PROCEED THROUGH THE NEXT STEP!

Third, if at all possible, contact the retailer who sold you the floor as well as the flooring manufacturer. While this may seem like overkill, no one will be able to address nuances that may be involved in stain removal better than the product's manufacturer. At a minimum, hop on the manufacturer's web site--you obviously are comfortable enough with computers and the Internet as they relate to floor covering to be perusing this blog. There generally is no excuse for not likewise checking out the manufacturer's specific recommendations. Need help finding the proper site? Keep in mind that an earlier entry to this blog contains a host of links to helpful flooring manufacturer web sites. To jump there, click here.

With regard to mustard stains, you will find that hard surface flooring manufacturers, such as Armstrong, have specific products they recommend and (unfortunately) that for mustard stains in particular that they emphasize the stain may not be entirely removeable. Other suppliers, such as Crossville--a porcelain tile manufacturer--provide more general guidelines, grouping mustard together along with a series of culinary staining agents but at least referencing specific cleaning products to attack the problem.

Furthermore, when it comes to carpeting, the fabric manufacturers may have specific recommendations for removal of particular stains. As an example, Stainmaster--perhaps among the more famous fabric providers--offers a specific set of instructions for mustard stain treatment on its own Stainmaster web site.

Certainly with certain hard surface products and a fresh stain in particular, you may believe that the "need for speed" outweighs expending significant research time on removal techniques. Ultimately, that judgment call is up to you and neither I, this post, nor anyone else can take responsibility for the consequences either way. Keep in mind, regardless of when you reach this point, that with regard to fresh stains always blot, never rub.

If your mustard stain has dried and set, you may have little chance of resolving the stain completely if at all (again, depending upon the floor covering involved). Your best hope is to utilize some type of tooling (even your finger) to scrape away (do not rub or grind) dried portions of the mustard stain prior to applying any liquid or liquid cleaner.

At some point, you may decide to "go MacGyver" on your stain. Particularly if you eschew the flooring manufacturer's and retailer's recommendations, you are on your own and may even void warranty coverage that otherwise might help you (this would always depend on the circumstances--product, timing, etc., yet another reason to always investigate prior to acting rashly).