The most problematic segment of the floor covering industry today is hard surface flooring. This is not because hard surface flooring material is defective but because people want to do things with it that defies its ability to perform. Let me explain this so it’s clear to you and we’ll use a recent example. A flooring dealer called the other day and wanted to know how he could successfully install three types of hard surface flooring products on a concrete slab that was only 60 days old in a building that had no operating HVAC system. His moisture test results all exceeded manufacturers and industry minimum standards. First of all, the concrete has to be at least 120 days old to install anything on it. Second, you can’t successfully install any flooring material in a space that is not acclimatized; that is having an operating HVAC system. Thirdly, you can’t take moisture tests in a space unless the HVAC system is and has been operating normally. So nothing he does up to this point is going to allow him to have a successful installation. The flooring material will not relax in the space and if he should proceed with conditions as they are, because the end user wants to move in, failure of the installation is inevitable. He asked if there was a sealer that could be applied to the floor to allow him to install. There isn’t and there is no magic pill either that would allow installation of any flooring material under these conditions. Just because the end user or GC is ready to go ahead with an installation doesn’t mean the space or the substrate is ready when they are.
This rushing of jobs is getting crazy and I fear it is going to get worse. We’re getting more and more calls and have more cases of failures due to floor covering material being installed before the space is ready. You can’t even paint the floor and expect success if the space and the substrate aren’t compliant. And why is it that so much hard surface is failing? Simply, more of it is being used. One thing you have to understand is that hard surface flooring is not permeable so when installed over a slab with moisture in it, regardless of how old the slab is, the risk of a failure occurring is exponentially increased.
The same is also true of wood and the risk is even greater. Wood will expand and contract with the gain and loss of moisture so it can go through several physical changes at an installation site that is not suitable to maintain the integrity of the wood or the installation of it. Furthermore, if the installation space HVAC system is not kept at levels conducive for the wood to maintain its integrity the wood can cup, dome, curl, lift, crack, check and come off the floor.
Carpet stretched in over a cushion, both being permeable, is less susceptible to substrate problems but it will react to uncontrolled environmental conditions. One problem that may be experienced is buckles and wrinkles. If the carpet is glued to the substrate or has a non-permeable back like that found on carpet tiles, it can fail. The product may come off the floor or it could also curl at the edges.
You may say that you didn’t have these problems years ago. You’re right you didn’t and there are several reasons. The biggest problem is that no one wants to wait anymore so flooring materials are installed long before they should be in spaces they shouldn’t be. Flooring products have changed. There are more and various kinds of hard surface flooring materials. More of you want to say yes to installing the flooring in less than ideal conditions because you want the business. So much so in some cases that you’ll look for the answer you want to hear thinking it will change science or the adverse conditions. You become delusional rather than logical in your thinking because you want it to be so.
Just heed this information and learn to say no when conditions aren’t right because if you don’t the profit you thought you were going to make on that job will actually wind up sucking the life blood out of you.
Author: Lewis G. Migliore
LGM and Associates – The Floorcovering Experts