National Floor Covering Association

Adhesive trowel marks

11/18/2020

Right trowel notch size, right coverage. To ensure a long term successful bond of the floor covering product (in this case sheet resilient) to the subfloor surface, it is important to use the recommended adhesive in strict accordance with the floor covering and adhesive manufacturers installation guidelines.
For example, trowel notches that are too large will place too much adhesive which can lead to trowel-marks showing through the material and/or excessive indentations (as seen in this image). This can cause swelling and buckling throughout the material.
If the trowel notches are too small the adhesive will not hold the flooring down. Spread the adhesive covering 100% of the exposed subfloor, leaving no gaps or puddles. The trowel notch must be large enough to apply a continuous film (i.e. full coverage) of the adhesive to the substrate to ensure a minimum 90% transfer of the adhesive to the resilient floor backing. The adhesive is not to be used as a filler or leveller.

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Minimal prep'.

10/29/2020

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'Minimal Prep'...part of the problem! Resilient (vinyl, rubber, linoleum) flooring tends to follow every contour of a substrate, essentially forming a skin. Joints, cracks, depressions, protrusions, and seemingly insignificant imperfections on a substrate surface may telegraph through and become very obvious after the product is installed. 'Minimal prep' is an overused term in flooring that creates ambiguity in the process of preparing a subfloor. A preferred alternative is to reference available standards that direct testing, preparation and work responsibility for this critical stage of an installation. Most manufacturers of resilient flooring reference 'ASTM F-710 Standard Practice for Preparing Concrete Floors to Receive Resilient Flooring'. The Floor Covering Reference Manual of Canada also notes this standard but goes further (in PART A12 Substrate Preparation) to explain who is responsible for what to get the work done. Clearly assigning this work responsibility is critical to avoid conflict and delays. Together, these documents go a long way to solving the long-standing issue of 'what is minimal preparation for the floor covering installer'.

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In-floor, hot water (hydronic) radiant heat systems work well with hardwood floors when site conditions are managed according to manufacturers' recommendations - but when they're not...

2/10/2020

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In-floor, hot water (hydronic) radiant heat systems work well with hardwood floors when site conditions are managed according to manufacturers' recommendations. The opposite is true when conditions are not managed properly. Ambient relative humidity; air, surface and product temperature; subfloor and product moisture content, all must be maintained within specific ranges. Thermostat temperature controls for rooms must be connected to regulate heat 24/7. Without proper management and site control, thousands of dollars or perfectly good product and installation work can be quickly ruined. Surface temperature, as in this image, is most commonly overlooked. An overly hot surface can cause splits, checks, delamination, gaps and buckling in hardwood flooring . Many manufacturers, for example, advise a max surface temperature of 28c (82f). Always check the installation guidelines that (should) accompany the product. Avoid products that do not provide detailed installation guides. www.nfca.ca

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Reducing risk… the fewer warranties the better!

2/10/2020

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Flooring systems can be complex, involving concrete slabs, moisture barriers, primers, leveling cements, adhesive and finally a floor covering product. Multiple products are often used to complete one flooring system and so the risk of being caught up in a question of failure between two unrelated manufacturers is likely. With fewer manufacturers involved in a system, there's less chance of finger pointing and dispute if an issue arises. For example, switching products like adhesives from the original specification to save money is a common cause of problems in the floor covering industry. Technical support offered by product manufacturers should be consulted to ensure approval of their products when used in combination with other unrelated manufacturers. Manufacturers who do not have accessible and comprehensive technical support should be avoided.

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Floors installed in poor lighting get inspected after installation in good lighting

2/10/2020

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Floors installed in poor lighting get inspected after installation in good lighting. This increases the likelihood of deficiencies, complaints and hold backs. Quality of workmanship depends on a number of factors, one of them being adequate lighting on site. Work Safe regulations separate different tasks/trades and designate onsite lighting requirements accordingly. All flooring installation work, for example, is in the same lighting category as ‘finish carpentry’ and therefore requires a minimum LUX (light measurement) of 500 be maintained in the area of work (easily achieved with halogen lighting). The Construction Manager is responsible to provide adequate lighting when the NFCA installation standards manual is specified. The floor covering installer is responsible to ensure acceptable conditions exist before proceeding and issue written advice to the Contractor and or Building owner if they do not. www.nfca.ca

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NFCA Coverings January article - Reflecting on a year of success

2/10/2020

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NFCA in Print: Here's our latest Coverings Magazine article - NFCA reflects on a year of success. https://bit.ly/2sMN6hd

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Hospitals and Mold don't mix

2/10/2020

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Hospitals and mold DON'T mix, which underlines the importance of ensuring correct site conditions exist prior to floor covering installation. The NFCA commercial floor inspection service (Quality Assurance Program) protects building owners from the process of fast track construction which so often overlooks critically important details such as slab dryness, flatness, temperature, porosity, surface profile, approved testing to ASTM standards, and who should take those tests under contract, correctly. The result is an increased likelihood that site conditions will be ready for trained installers, ‘accepted’ instead of ‘rejected’ slabs, quality flooring systems and products installed correctly, on time and with warranties intact lasting for decades as the manufacturer intended. www.nfca.ca

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NFCA Welcomes Armstrong Flooring as new member

2/10/2020

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National Floor Covering Association (NFCA) of Canada welcomes Armstrong Flooring as a new member supporting quality assurance and best practices in Canada’s floor covering industry. www.armstrongflooring.com

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Ensuring skilled and trained installers are on the job

2/10/2020

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For the most part, building owners have no idea who is going to show up on site to install their flooring. This is not the case when NFCA is specified along with the Quality Assurance Program third party inspection service. As part of NFCA's membership requirement, all NFCA member contractors must be able to provide Trade or Product qualified installers in accordance with PART A05 TRADE QUALIFICATIONS of the Floor Covering Reference Manual of Canada. They must also be able to provide their own Bond for projects where the NFCA Quality Assurance Program is specified. For building owners concerned about quality of workmanship, this goes along way to ensure skilled and trained installers are on the job. This also raises the value of a trained and certified installer. PART A05 outlines the details and is downloadable for free at: www.nfca.ca/store/c1/Featured_Products.html

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HCU (Hydraulic Cement Underlayment) committee forms and meets for the first time January 20th 2020.

1/22/2020

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The gap between Division 3 Concrete and Division 9 Finishes (flooring) is a terrible place to be for the General Contractor, Flooring Contractor, Consultant and Developer when connecting the divisions isn’t properly planned. For years, the construction industry has dealt with this issue by avoiding it until the flooring contractor arrives on site to reject (quite rightly) an unacceptable surface. Now what? Short cuts, arguments and threats of litigation for non-performance! For this reason, we created the HCU (Hydraulic Cement Underlayment) Committee to review 1. Why the problem exists 2. Specification solutions that ensure early planning and budgeting, and 3. How to best share solutions with the construction industry. Thank you to the following industry professionals for participating on the committee to shed light on this very important & contentious issue: Monica Baillie (Landmark Architecture), Matt Dalkie (Lafarge), Don Styka (Tarkett), Kathleen Kompauer (KDR Engineering), David Sherley (Custom Building Products), Rob Visscher (Atmosphere Floors), Michael Pereira (EllisDon), Kelvin Klapak (Yellowridge Const.), David Randall (Mapei), Diana Klingner (Canadian National Trades). We look forward to sharing our progress over the coming months.

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Adhesive trowel marks

Minimal prep'.

In-floor, hot water (hydronic) radiant heat systems work well with hardwood floors when site conditions are managed according to manufacturers' recommendations - but when they're not...

Reducing risk… the fewer warranties the better!

Floors installed in poor lighting get inspected after installation in good lighting

NFCA Coverings January article - Reflecting on a year of success

Hospitals and Mold don't mix

NFCA Welcomes Armstrong Flooring as new member

Ensuring skilled and trained installers are on the job

HCU (Hydraulic Cement Underlayment) committee forms and meets for the first time January 20th 2020.

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