Page 2 - 2017-03-CFR Volume 102 A DISTURBING ISSUE - IT'S YOUR FAULT March 2017

Next, a flooring contractor installs a sheet flooring product in a medical The experts at LGM
specialize in consultation,
facility and uses a patching material mandated by the flooring manufac- correction and resolution
turer. The manufacturer’s representative is on the job at start up and for flooring complaints,

blesses the conditions and procedures being employed as they are in claims, installation and
line with what they say to do and they’re there to insure that. The floor-
performance issues.
ing contractors installer working with the material is master certified in No issue is too big, too
every category of hard surface flooring – the guy and his crew know small or too far away for

what they’re doing. Shortly after the installation the flooring material us to handle.
starts to come off the concrete sub- All ads are interactive. Just

strate and when lifted up the patch click on the ad to enter
appears to have broken down. In fact
their website.
the patch looks like it has decom-
posed based on the evidence exhibit-

ed and based on that evidence the
failure appears to be a floor patch

product issue. It could have been
mixed incorrectly but wait, wasn’t the

manufacturer’s rep there to make sure
all was done correctly and didn’t he

say it was? We can determine if the
floor patch material was mixed cor-

rectly by analyzing it in the lab for
pore size, W/C ratio etc….that would

eliminate an over-watering (applicator) error. We can take unopened
product that could be tested at the lab for quality and composition. If the

slab was non-absorptive and the flooring product was a slow dryer com-
pared to other products it may have prevented proper drying and curing

of the patch which would result in decreased performance and loss of
strength. But again, wasn’t the flooring manufacturer’s rep overseeing

the floor prep and installation of his product and condoning all of the
procedures being employed? So, another flooring installation fails that

was directed by the flooring manufacturer that they back away from.
On top of this the manufacturer has discontinued the use of the floor

prep and patch material – big surprise there and more indication that
the patch is the problem. To add more credence to the mandated patch

being the problem, the flooring contractor uses a name brand floor prep
and patch material on the 92% majority of the same job with no prob-

lems whatsoever. Wouldn’t you draw the conclusion that everything be-
ing the same, except the one flooring product and floor prep making up

8% of the job that failed, that the products that failed were at fault?
Makes perfect sense right? Well again we have a flooring manufacturer

overseeing the prep and installation of their product using their mandat-
ed materials and when it fails responding that the flooring contractor did

something wrong. REALLY!!!!!! Explain that to me. Common sense
alone tells you the patch the manufacturer said to use with their product

is the problem.

Page Layout By: Anita S. Drennon

2 Commercial Flooring Report March 2017