Special Advertising Section
Green
Going
Turns out, the prognosticators who said this ‘whole green thing’ was just a fad were wrong. Flip the pages to learn how you can leverage the green qualities of these products— from full-page advertisers in this issue—to sell more floors.
Basic Coatings | www.basiccoatings.com Basic Coatings’ StreetShoe 275 is a low-VOC water-based finish. The product was originally engineered for sale in states with low-VOC laws, but today it is available across the U.S. The company says builders can secure jobs in LEED-compliant buildings with ease by using StreetShoe 275. In addition, the finish can be applied with a roller, T-bar or paint pad, and it flows extremely well. With StreetShoe 275, there is no waste, and a coat can be applied at night with resumed traffic the next day. This finish comes in four sheens and can be used for commercial, sports and residential applications.
DriTac Flooring Products LLC | www.dritac.com DriTac Flooring Products offers a complete line of green adhesives, concrete moisture sealers and repair systems for wood flooring installations that contain zero VOCs and zero solvents; many are also CRI-certified for indoor air quality. DriTac 1001 All-In-One is a one-component product that encompasses the attributes of four products in one 4-gallon pail. When applied, DriTac 1001 AllIn-One is not only a green wood flooring adhesive, but it also acts as a concrete moisture sealer, sound control system and crack suppressant system that offers major time and labor savings for the installation of hardwood flooring. Installers can now finish in one day what normally takes two or more days.
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Green
Going
Special Advertising Section
Dura Seal | www.duraseal.com Dura Seal offers a variety of polyurethane and water-based finishes, including its X-Terra and 2000 ZC-2, as alternatives to its existing oil-based finishes. These innovative formulas allow contractors to maintain green job sites while retaining the traditional look of an oil-based finish—without the need for a hardener. The finishes are applied in the same manner as oil finishes, but only warm water is required for cleanup. X-Terra is recommended for commercial and high-traffic residential hardwood floors, while 2000 ZC-2 boasts a single unit containing both cross-linker and finish bottles. Dura Seal water-based polyurethane guarantees excellent overall durability and remarkable stain resistance, the company says.
MAPEI Corporation | www.mapei.com As the floor covering industry moves into the future, MAPEI says it is moving along with innovative new products that help construction contractors build greener. The latest addition to the Ultrabond ECO line is MAPEI’s family of urethane wood-flooring adhesives. Phthalate-free formulations, based on the use of rapidly renewable materials, are being incorporated into Ultrabond ECO 995, Ultrabond ECO 990, Ultrabond ECO 980 and Ultrabond ECO 975 adhesives to provide a wide range of bonding systems for nail-free wood flooring. Virtually odor-free, these eco-friendly products are also low in VOCs.
Mirage/Boa-Franc | www.miragefloors.com Mirage says it is looking for new ways to protect the Earth while improving its products and caring for its customers every day. To protect the world’s forests, Mirage is FSC- and PEFC-certified, the highest standards in the industry, and ensures full compliance with the Lacey Act. Mirage develops products that have real environmental benefits. For example, Mirage Lock is made of HDF that contains wood that is from 100-percent-post-industrial recycled fibers, uses six times less hardwood than conventional wood flooring, and fully complies with Phase I of CARB 93120 certification. What’s more, its Nanolinx finishes release no VOCs or formaldehyde. Mirage also offers a variety of products that can help earn LEED credits.
National Wood Flooring Association | www.rpprogram.org NWFA’s Responsible Procurement Program recognizes wood flooring companies that work to sustain our world’s forests. The program is supported by the Forest Stewardship Council-US and the FSC Family Forests Alliance, which recognize the NWFA RPP as a valid incremental approach toward socially and environmentally responsible forestry. The program is transitional to higher levels of environmental responsibility based on increasing tiers of voluntary participation and associated certification.
Owens Flooring by Colonial Craft | www.colonialcraft.com Owens Flooring by Colonial Craft is dedicated to providing hardwood flooring in an environmentally responsible way. Its CARB-compliant products were developed to provide a hardwood floor that has the same life expectancy as solid flooring, but with better utilization of the resource, the company says. Only the wear layer is from solid lumber, so Owens can create four strips of flooring rather than one solid piece, and the wear layer is made from responsibly harvested lumber. This best utilizes the resource without any sacrifice to beauty, Owens says. For added strength, durability and versatility, the wear layer is applied to birch plywood, a composite material that best utilizes wood fiber.
52 Hardwood Floors n August|September 2010
Green
Going
Special Advertising Section
Real Wood Floors | www.realwoodfloors.com Real Wood Floors says it has expanded its reclaimed flooring line in an effort to meet the increasing demand for green materials. The company has partnered with Stanton, Calif.-based Fontenay Woods to manufacture its Vintage Barrel Collection, a reclaimed engineered line made from wine barrels. Real Wood Floors has also added a line of reclaimed heart pine taken from old textile mills, as well as a line of reclaimed nautical timbers that were in use from 1944 to 1978. The company is making engineered flooring products out of each of these materials and pressing them on FSC-certified Baltic birch. Real Wood Floors is CARB-compliant and is pursuing full FSC certification for its entire product line.
W.D. Flooring LLC | www.wdflooring.com W.D. Flooring LLC is a vertically integrated, FSC-certified flooring mill and has just added a new UV Roll Coat line that produces its all-organic, zero-VOC products. This new technology and new product line offer a distinctive designer look to all eight products in the Stang-Lund™ offering in the company’s Conservation Grade™ in northern hardwoods. The versatility of the line allows the company to do custom colors and looks, all of which garner LEED points. W.D. Flooring LLC says it is the only company it knows of that can take raw material from forest floor to a finished product that can provide an architect or designer with LEED points.
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