Town & Country Cleaning always wants to stay at the forefront of emerging trends in home surfaces to make sure we are using the best cleaning methods. Bruce Vance, owner of Town & Country Cleaning, weighs in with his thoughts after returning from the annual Surfaces Convention in Las Vegas, NV.
For the last several years I have come back from Surfaces, the big flooring and stone show in
Vegas, saying “What have they done to us this time?”. The industry has been presenting us with one cleaning issue after another. But not this year. If there was one word to describe the show this year, it would be “waterproof”.
Manufacturers have finally caught on to the fact that consumers, say nothing of professional cleaners, want surfaces that can be easily cleaned without damage.
UV Cured Wood Floor FInishes
One of the advances that can make this possible is the wide adaptation of the
UV-cured finishes. For cleaning purposes, we can treat them like polyurethane, but they are
harder and more durable than the traditional polys. They also are low VOC since they are
applied without solvents. The only drawback is that they must be applied in the factory, so you
will not see them on site finished floors. Let’s look at some specific categories.
Luxury Vinyl Tile (LVT)
As the problems with laminate flooring were becoming obvious, LVT came bursting on the
scene. LVT also had the ability to mimic other materials, wood or stone for instance, but was
not sensitive to moisture. It is basically a pattern printed on vinyl laminated to a vinyl or other
waterproof core and covered with a wear layer and a protective finish, often those UV ones
mentioned above.
The printing and embossing (texturing) of the products has become quite
realistic and can give the look of wood or stone for less money and easier care. Because of this, LVT has gone from zero to 18 – 20% of the total flooring market in about 5 years. LVT can be cleaned with controlled amounts of water and mild detergent. Be careful not to let water get in
between the tiles or planks.
Water won’t damage the LVT itself, but it can become trapped under the flooring where it can cause mold or other problems. For this reason, manufacturers discourage the use of steam mops on the floating-floor versions of LVT.
Luxury Vinyl Tile Types
LVT comes in two main categories, flexible and rigid, with an alphabet soup of product names.
Flexible
This was the original version of LVT. As the name implies these tile or planks (LVP) are
flexible and come as loose-lay, floating click-installed or glue down options. This product has
been very successful except when exposed to heat such as extended direct sun from a glass
door or window. It can deform in such situations. This problem led to the search for a more
stable core, and Rigid core was born.
Rigid
These products are more stable than the flexible LVT and have their own set of initials.
SPC: this is the most common subtype of Rigid LVT. It stands for Solid Poly Core, or sometimes called Stone Poly Composite. The core of this product is made up of a mixture of
Limestone and Polyvinyl chloride. This is the most durable of the types and is
recommended for high traffic or wet areas.
WFC: Waterproof Foamed Core. This has a waterproof poly core that has been foamed to
give the product more resilience and more comfort underfoot. This is recommended for
residential living areas.
WPC: Wood Poly Core. This core is a combination of wood product and polyvinyl
chloride. This is less common and because of the wood derivatives is considered
greener.
MgO: These products are considered the greenest choice since they have no poly in the
core. The core is made up of Magnesium Oxide.
Cleaning Luxury Vinyl Tile LVT
All these products are easily cleaned with a mild detergent and a microfiber mop. Since most of these products are textured to mimic the natural material, a flat mop with a thicker nap is
advisable.
Laminate Flooring
This category used to be the most frustrating for cleaners. Excessive moisture caused the plank ends to curl up and, in extreme cases, even the plank faces would blister. The result was that one could not use enough cleaning solution to properly clean a moderately dirty floor.
Fortunately, the better manufacturers have finally figured out that they must make their product waterproof. Waterproof is defined as being able to withstand water sitting on the floor for 72 hours without damage to the floor. Mohawk even has a line, REVwood, that they will warranty even if a steam mop has been used on it.
Printing and embossing have also improved so it is sometimes hard to know exactly what material you are looking at. Be aware that there is still a lot of product coming in from China that has not been as well sealed against water. Also, as a professional cleaner, it is difficult to tell the grade of the laminate that is already in a home. It is certainly a good idea to look for preexisting damage.
Wood Flooring
Some manufacturers are now advertising waterproof wood floors. Again, this is using the 72-
hour standard. This is possible, partly because of the UV finishes we mentioned earlier, and
partially because the definition of a wood floor has changed.
Now, with the condition that the top layer (under the clear wear and polyurethane coats) is genuine wood, the flooring can be sold as a wood floor. In some of these products, the wood is a thin shaving laminated to a waterproof solid core. When I first saw these products, it seemed very few trees were harmed in the production of these items. There are other engineered wood floors advertised as waterproof with wood layers that have a more traditional thin wood layer laminated to the solid core.
The newer, stronger finishes are allowing the flooring manufactures to give longer warranties
on their wood floor products. A number of these warranties go up to a generous 20 or 30
years, and in some cases even longer. Because of these extended warranties, manufacturers
are increasingly more concerned with the care and maintenance of the floor after installation.
As was true last year, every manufacturer I spoke with specifically said not to use vinegar and
water on their flooring. Three indicated that any use of vinegar on their product would void the warranty.
Carpet
Although there is still a lot of Nylon carpet on the market, Polyester is newly dominant in carpet sales and we are seeing a growing share. Polyester has advantages in price-point and stain-resistance. It also has a nice soft feel or “hand”. Its drawback is it that it lacks the resilience of Nylon, so it is more likely to mat down in high traffic areas.
The newer carpets have somewhat compensated for this shortcoming by having denser pile.
The other big story about Polyester PET, which is the main poly used in carpets, is that it is
made from recycled plastic drink bottles. Many of the carpets available have between 40% to
100 % recycled material in them. At the January show, Mohawk was claiming that they had
recycled 40,725,219,242 plastic drink bottles and counting. Other companies are also recycling plastic bottles and improving their processes to use less power and water.
Much of today’s carpet is solution dyed. That means the color is in the fiber rather than added after the manufacturing of the fiber or even the carpet itself. This makes the carpet more stain-resistant and resistant to chlorine bleach, a major selling point. But you may have noticed if you have looked at a carpet display lately, that there is a limited selection of colors. It seems that most carpet is made up of a combination of relatively limited set of fiber colors, largely browns, beiges, grays. This is because the mills are only inventorying a limited number of fiber colors.
The spray dying system, which was the standard for nylon carpet for years allowed short runs of almost any color desired but left the carpet more vulnerable to bleaching by sun or chemicals.
Stone
Natural stone, and man-made such as Quartz, are still popular. New this year are two special
finishes to protect acid-sensitive stone, such as marble, from acids and other chemical assaults.
This can be very useful in kitchens or other places where the stone may be exposed to acidic
foods such as citrus fruits, soft drinks, or even tomatoes. Both seem to be effective, but neither
is cheap, running $40-60 per square foot. That cost is in addition to the material cost of the
stone. Note: normal penetrating sealers do not protect stone from chemicals.
Natural Materials On The Way Out?
Although wood and stone are still important categories, the push towards natural that was
dominate several years ago has subsided. Customers have shown they prefer the ease of care of the synthetic surfaces and finishes over the more temperamental, vulnerable natural ones.
Four years ago, almost every wood flooring manufacturer was showing the more natural oil
finishes. Today some still offer them, but they are much diminished. Bamboo, which was
everywhere at the show 6 years ago and was heralded as the sustainable, natural flooring
material, has all but disappeared. In this case the material was very disappointing after it was put into use.
Sisal and other natural fiber rugs were also much less in evidence at this year’s
show.
Conclusion
While being Waterproof was the initial big takeaway, that theme is continued by
cleanability and convenience as the emerging important themes in the flooring and surface
industry this year.