News
Choosing The Right Flooring Adhesive
Neil Sanders on choosing the right adhesive THIS month I discuss the importance of choosing the right adhesive. With so many different flooring adhesives on the market, contractors can mistakenly perceive it as easier to specify an all-purpose adhesive than selecting an adhesive made for the particular setting and subfloor that they’re working on. However, the risk of choosing the wrong adhesive is something that can potentially have a high cost, and is easily avoided. Using the right adhesive allows contractors to deliver guaranteed,...
read moreIdeal Flooring Partnership
Jim Coulson on quality control and third party quality assurance A few months back (CFJ November 2014) , I wrote about the importance of quality control and, even more importantly, reliable, independent third party quality assurance. And I quoted the example of the TFT Diamond Mark as being used on flooring overlay plywood. I feel that it is worth re-visiting and describing that ‘partnership’ in this article, because the combination of a well-motivated, quality-oriented producer and a discerning third party inspection regime, has now...
read moreFlooring Site Conditions
Martin Cummins on site conditions LAST month I talked about the fact that contract work on new building projects in particular can be very problematic because of site conditions not being right. Recent site visits have highlighted that, in my opinion the problem is growing worse. However, the problems are not always that apparent to the main contractor. If you discuss it with them and point out the issues then their awareness is often raised significantly. This lack of awareness has resulted in many site visits which are totally worthless...
read moreFloating Solid Floors
Sid Bourne on suppliers who say you can float solid wood I CONSTANTLY come into contact with suppliers who say that you can float solid wood flooring planks. For example, I was recently asked to inspect a solid wood floor, which had buckled extensively. On-site I met the carpenter who had installed the flooring. He was rightly concerned about the problem as the floor had been down for less than two months when the buckling began and became progressively worse. At first glance I expected the failure was due to subfloor moisture and...
read moreCarpet Design Speaks Volumes
CARPET design for libraries in schools and colleges is a significant area for specifiers and flooring contractors. Libraries these days are hubs for learning in its broadest sense of the word. Gone are the days when pupils used them simply as reading rooms, now you are just as likely to find ICT zones and cyber cafes in libraries in schools and colleges. As technology has advanced, so has library design and the modern library now more often than not provides space for independent research, electronic resources and collaborative study....
read moreSafety Flooring
A HUGE 55% of all accidents in education are caused by a slip, trip or fall. Choosing the right flooring can make schools safer for everyone, contractors included. Employers and organisations have a duty of care to every employee, student and visitor within their establishment. What’s more, the responsibility for creating a safe environment lies with the specifier, the supplier and the client, which means that if you work with customers in the education sector to help them decide what products to use where, then you need to know what’s...
read moreCarpet Tiles Offer More Than At First Glance
THERE are new trends emerging in carpet tiles, and flooring contractors can use the new designs to produce engaging and distinctive aesthetics for end users. Recently, across a variety of sectors, there has been a step away from the specification of definitive and angular geometric designs; instead end users are in many instances opting for floorcoverings that have a subtle and softer design that can enhance the surrounding interior designs. As such, in response to the demand for more sensitive and understated patterns, flooring...
read moreFair And Square
Carpet tiles are continuing to find new markets: Burmatex reports that its tivoli carpet tiles continue to achieve success with high profile international projects, including an expansive installation at the Expo international exhibition and convention centre in Poland. The first multi-functional facility of its kind in Krakow, the Expo centre creates bright, inspirational spaces uses four colours which span the generous tivoli palette. Selecting the contemporary design of tivoli multiline, this expansive installation uses a single,...
read moreSmooth Talk Flooring
Smoothing and levelling compounds and underlayments are a vital part of surface preparation: Bostik Screedmaster Flow is a self-smoothing compound, developed for its high strength performance, excellent flow characteristics and ease of preparation. The two component protein-free smoothing compound is designed for levelling floors prior to laying coverings, and is particularly suited to working with LVTs. The formula is said to be low odour, high strength and can be used under a surface DPM, such as Screedmaster Rapid DPM. Screedmaster...
read moreEcobuild Features CPD Accredited Seminars
VISITORS to Ecobuild can access formal CPD (Continuing Professional Development) opportunities by attending seminars at the show. Organiser UBM has worked with the Construction CPD Certification Service to ensure that each of the 80 plus seminars are now compatible and applicable with global CPD principles. The programme is split across seven key themes, including new Building Information Modelling (BIM) in association with the NBS, designing better buildings in association with Passivhaus Trust, refurb and retrofit, and building performance....
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