Page 4 - 2017-08-CFR Volume 107 - ASTM Standards and Manufacturers Warranties - August 2017

when a complaint has to do with a carpet wrinkling
and becomes loose, never fail. The test is written so
the product is never the problem yet we can look at
the construction of the product and determine that it
is wrinkling due to the integrity to which it has been
constructed. What does that mean? It means the
product is inherently elastic – stretchy – but the test
limits the elasticity to a certain point or percentage.
There is another test we can conduct that will reveal
the compromise in the product but it is not accepted
in the industry as a standard and therefore not rec-
ognized. With that in mind we can conduct several
different tests on different types of flooring materials
that will replicate the conditions they are exhibiting at
the installation site but if they’re not standard tests
recognized by the manufacturer they are hesitant to
accept the results even though they may prove the
product is inherently defective.

Defects In Materials and Workmanship:

The most common kind of warranty on goods is a
warranty that the product is free from defects in ma-
terials and workmanship. This simply promises that
the manufacturer properly constructed the product,
out of proper materials. This implies that the product
will perform as well as such products customarily do.
Most of the hard surface products being sold in the
commercial market today are not made in the US
and oversight of the quality of these products can be
questionable. Yet if there’s a problem the manufac-
turer or supplier of these products will insist that eve-
rything but the product itself is the problem. If you
have an LVP/LVT product that is curling out of the
box or shrinking shortly after being installed that’s
not an installation or adhesive problem, it’s a product
problem.

What is Best Practice?

A best practice is a method or technique that has
been generally accepted as superior to any alterna-
tives because it produces results that are superior to
those achieved by other means or because it has
become a standard way of doing things. Best prac-
tices in the flooring industry are those that have
proven to be effective in product performance, speci-
fication and installation.

4 Commercial Flooring Report August 2017