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Nothing is used more
in a facility than its floors. With thousands of feet tromping on them and
wheels rolling across them, it is imperative that facilities are equipped
with products that are both durable and easy to clean while holding their
appearance. At one point that meant using tile or concrete. In recent years,
however, carpet is making a comeback as product lines improve and expand,
and as more facilities turn green.
Carpet’s Calling Cards
One of the biggest selling points about carpet is that it lessens liability,
says Steve Hillis of Milliken Floor Covering in LaGrange, Ga. “The biggest
driving need for carpet involves liability exposure,” he says. “Hard
surfaces have a great benefit in regard to durability, but they increase
liability with slips and falls.”
Providing comfort to guests is another advantage that carpet provides over
hard surfaces, says Kristy Jones, market development manager of Tai Ping
Carpets. “Most facility managers are looking for ways to make guests
comfortable, and carpet aids in accomplishing this,” she says.
In addition to the practical reasons, flexibility with design and use has
led more managers back to carpet as their floor covering choice. And even if
carpeting isn’t intended for a permanent covering, additional options are
available to give any hard surface a softer look.
Details about Durability
The average convention center and arena welcomes close to 1 million people a
year, if not more. Providing products that can handle high-traffic areas is
essential. To that end, Milliken Floor provides a carpet called Grand Plaza
that’s placed down in interlocking tiles, as opposed to the traditional
rolled carpet, and that has a much longer life than previous grades of
carpet.
Milliken recently helped the Orlando World Center replace its carpet with
the Grand Plaza, which has an expected life of 18 years. Previously, the
venue’s carpet was being replaced every three years, Hillis says. “Because
it’s in tiles, if you have one bad spot, you just have to pop it out and
replace it instead of replacing an entire area.”
The Grand Plaza is made with tight construction that can withstand heavy
traffic and rolling traffic, according to the company. It has a moisture
barrier so that spills don’t go through to the hard surface, and it comes
with a stain barrier that’s guaranteed for 10 years.
Jones says that Tai Ping tends to lead their customers toward nylon products
due to their strength and advancement in the appearance of the fibers.
“Nylon fiber manufacturers have worked with carpet manufacturers over the
years to create the performance we desire from nylon,” she says. “By
engineering the nylon fibers to closely mimic the physical properties of
wool — such as crimp, denier and staple length — we can achieve the
aesthetic standards of wool-rich blends with 100 percent nylon yarns.”
Use and Design
A growing number of carpet options give facility managers more flexibility
in how they market their space. Facility managers want space they can sell,
and using temporary carpet gives them that ability. A basketball court, for
example, can be transformed for a cocktail reception by simply using a
temporary carpet system that protects the wood floors while providing
comfort to guests.
Arnon Rosan, president and CEO of Signature Fencing & Flooring Systems, says
he has noticed an increase in clients the past four years who are looking
for alternative ways to use their space. “What’s better than giving a client
the opportunity to have an event at center court as opposed to in an
auxiliary room somewhere else in the building?” he says. “By placing
temporary carpet, facility managers don’t have to break down their wood
floor.”
The temporary carpet system has interlocking pieces that are placed together
directly on the floor that needs covering. The pieces don’t require glue to
hold them in place because of the product’s rigidity. The carpet can be left
in place for as long as a month and has a life span of at least 10 years,
Rosan says.
Also, because the product is pieced together instead of
constructed from a single roll of carpet, venues can replace pieces instead
of the entire carpet. The temporary carpet can also be used to cover a field
or grass, Rosan says. A hard surface is laid down first, and then the carpet
is placed over it.
Custom Requests
Patrick Putzer, sales manager for Emerald Carpets, says that their business
is growing with trade shows. Their nonpermanent carpet product, which is
produced in rolls and can be laid down without glue, can be used for four to
five events and has a life span of about six months.
The biggest trend that Putzer sees is requests for carpet with custom
designs. “When you’re in a trade show with a hundred other exhibitors, you
want to differentiate yourself,” he says. “We are receiving more requests
for custom booths, logos and inlays to separate exhibitors from each other.”
Providing a custom look is also a request that Tai Ping’s Jones sa ys they
receive quite often, even for permanent products. “Many facilities want to
tell a story of their city that’s reflective of their history and local
culture,” she says. “This lends a story to share with their guests about
where they are visiting and acts as a gateway welcoming guests. It’s a
timeless branding of their facility.”
Using different patterns and colors in carpeting is also a way to allow
guests to determine where they are in the building. For example, entrances
to different exhibit halls are color-coded, and some use design elements as
a grid to follow in meeting rooms and as a guide for alignment of chairs and
tables in ballrooms and meeting rooms.
Additionally, more designers are moving away from the field, border and out
fill look, Jones says, and toward large flowing repeated designs with no
defined borders. “The introductio n of electronic Jacquard looms has given
designers a virtually limitless canvas on which to fulfill their
aspiration,” Jones says. “We are now creating ‘art for the floor’ in public
facilities.”
Turning Green
Perhaps the biggest trend that manufacturers have recognized is a demand for
sustainable products. With more and more facility developers aiming for
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) designation, carpet
suppliers have been steadily producing more environmentally friendly
products. “The biggest topic is green,” Putzer says. “Many people are asking
for products that are recycled or products that can be recycled.”
Adds Hillis: “We have a lot of people requesting environmentally friendly
products, and we’re proud that we can provide it.”
In addition to purchasing environmentally friendly carpet, facilities can
also meet green initiatives during the installation process. For instance,
Milliken has developed a technology that allows modular carpet to be
installed without the use
 of adhesives. TractionBack is a high friction
coating applied to carpet backings that eliminates the need for traditional
wet glues or the newer peel-and-stick dry adhesives. The glue-free system is
available on all Milliken modular carpets, allowing for easy under-floor
access without the inconvenience of adhesives and sticky residue.
According to the company, indoor air quality may be improved by eliminating
adhesives. Off-gassing and VOCs from carpets with TractionBack are
nondetectable. The approach also removes the need to landfill polyethylene
film used by peel-and-stick carpets. Milliken tested this technology in pilot
programs, including at the Tucson Convention Center.
Carpet manufacturers are quick to rattle off percentages of recycled fiber
and nylon. Reclamation programs provide the opportunity to have carpet waste
recycled, downcycled or repurposed. Still, a deciding factor is cost, Putzer
says. The expense of producing carpet has increased because of raw material
costs such as petrochemicals. “People will ask for environmentally friendly
products, but they’re not always willing to pay the price,” he says. “If
there are a few dollars’ difference between a sustainable product and a
traditional product, the facility will go with the green product. But if
there is a wide price discrepancy, the budget ultimately helps the facility
manager decide which direction to go.”
fm
Kelly Pedone is a Virginia-based freelance writer. She has more than a
decade of experience writing for newspapers, legal journals, health
publications and sports, entertainment and retail magazines.
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