The Commercial Flooring Report is a publication made available by LGM and Associates Technical Flooring Services: Floor Covering experts on Carpet, Laminate and Vinyl, Ceramic and Hardwood. Monthly newsletters designed to help you and your team understand challenges typical to the flooring industry and provide prevention and resolution.
Volume: 19 | Issue: 1 | Download
It was evident, and no surprise, that Neocon's attendance was adversely affected by the economy. My guess from roaming the halls for two days is that attendance was off nearly 40%, those I've spoken with felt the same. That having been said, we've seen this slowdown at all the flooring trades shows this year. Those who did attend were serious about doing business. An entire entourage was not to be seen but key people from firms were there, and business was in fact being done.
Volume: 18 | Issue: 1 | Download
THE HOSPITALITY DESIGN SHOW
The Hospitality Design Show held in Las Vegas on May 12th through 15th is one of my favorite trade shows. In my opinion HD is one of the classiest exhibitions there is for floor covering and it's a dress up event. It's nice to see people dressed as professionals when they attend this event. It reflects the significance of the hospitality market and the position it occupies that of high fashion and cutting edge design. This is where you'll see the most highly styled, eye popping high end floor covering products displayed by the sharpest manufacturers in the industry.
Volume: 17 | Issue: 1 | Download
PROFESSIONAL TESTING LABORATORY
THE CSI LABORATORY FOR THE FLOOR COVERING INDUSTRY
Professional Testing Laboratory, Inc., is the CSI Laboratory for floor covering. PTL does the day to day testing for manufacturers, the Federal Government, and large corporations but they also do investigative analysis to figure out mystery problems, defects and complaint and concern issues. Following are two interesting cases PTL solved.
Volume: 16 | Issue: 1 | Download
The most popular method of installing carpet in the hospitality market is the double stick method but it is also used extensively in all commercial environments. Double stick refers to installing a carpet cushion, whether it is slab rubber, densified polyurethane, needle punched synthetic fiber or rebond, by gluing it to the substrate and then gluing the carpet onto the cushion. This installation method can be compromised in a number of ways resulting in obscenely expensive monetary losses and business interruption which can be incalculable for a hotel or business.
Volume: 15 | Issue: 1 | Download
The challenges of 2008 have not vanished with the passage into a new year and, in my opinion; the difficult times are going to be here for awhile. The commercial market is seeing a slow down right now with less work in the pipeline for 2009, from the latest figures on average 15 to 20%. With projects put on hold due to fear of releasing funds or tight credit, falling tax revenues and an overall slow down in business, everyone is affected. Even if a project is funded it may be shelved because of the psychological effects the economic conditions have on entities and individuals.
Volume: 14 | Issue: 1 | Download
In this issue we'll cover a couple of subjects. Since sustainability is one of the hottest buzz words lately and being green the ultimate objective of every manufacturer for every product known to man, we'll talk about the most sustainable carpet fiber. We'll also take a look at the absurdity of bidding a commercial flooring installation without knowing the product specified and to be installed. How this can be an acceptable practice and why it's done is, in my opinion, insane.
Volume: 13 | Issue: 1 | Download
These issues – and the terms are somewhat synonymous in their meaning – continue to plague carpet manufacturers. Pooling, Watermarking, Pile Reversal and Shading are manifested in different ways but primarily give the appearance of water having been spilled on a carpet causing irregularly shaped light and dark areas in or out of the traffic lanes of carpet.
Volume: 12 | Issue: 1 | Download
Problems with new floor covering products, whatever they may be, don't necessarily mean the product has to be replaced. Carpet in particular can be made so it doesn't get shipped with defects and, depending on what defects may be in it, it is often possible to make repairs. Color shade issues, surface irregularities from shearing, stop marks from tufting and minor flaws can very often be repaired in place. The most prudent move however is to make sure these problems don't occur by being proactive rather than reactive — the former being much less expensive.
Volume: 11 | Issue: 1 | Download
In this issue of the Commercial Flooring Report we've got several guest articles. Part II of Jeff Bishops article on commercial carpet care and cleaning, an article on correcting side match shade variation by Mike Currin and another installment from Lance Wallach on your financial well being for commercial entrepreneurs.
I've also written a small piece on walk off mats; their use and safety. All of this has to do with protecting the end users investments and you as a business person.
Volume: 10 | Issue: 1 | Download
Cleaning and maintaining commercial flooring, especially carpet, is as important as selecting the right carpet construction, color and installation procedures. It is the one thing that will make the difference between a long healthy life for the flooring material or a short ugly one. For this issue we've asked Jeff Bishop, head of Clean Care Seminars whom I consider the Guru of the cleaning industry, to share information with you regarding commercial carpet cleaning. This is the first of two parts.
