May-June 2020 Coverings

Coverings CANADA’S FLOORCOVERING MAGAZINE

Selling locally?

May/June 2020

THEN-AND-NOW

Trapeze net tops an opened-up townhouse

TRUST yields

Page 30

RESULTS

PANDEMIC CHALLENGES BUSINESS PLANNING THE JOY OF DESIGN PERSPECTIVES ON PROJECT COMMUNICATION AND COLLABORATION CONTRACTS AND COVID-19

Coverings CANADA’S FLOORCOVERING MAGAZINE

Selling locally?

May/June 2020

THEN-AND-NOW

Trapeze net tops an opened-up

TRUST

townhouse

yields

Page 30

RESULTS

Features 6 Marketing The forgotten metric: Results.

22 Covid-19

Business planning while blindfolded.

4 Commentary

Pandemic has paralyzed business, so let’s talk about dope.

10 News

PANDEMIC CHALLENGES BUSINESS PLANNING THE JOY OF DESIGN PERSPECTIVES ON PROJECT COMMUNICATION AND COLLABORATION

Covid-19 information and resources; NWFA launches virtual expo; NSI presents awards; Wetstyle opens showroom; new Domotex Asia/ ChinaFloor dates.

CONTRACTS AND COVID-19

May-Jun 2020 Coverings.indd 1

2020-04-15 7:41 PM

May/June 2020 Vol. 45, No. 3 www.coveringscanada.ca Kerry Knudsen Editor and Publisher kknudsen@wimediainc.ca 647-274-0507

Steve King Associate Publisher sking@wimediainc.ca

18 Law

Contracts and Covid-19: Understand obligations during pandemic disruptions.

21 Design

The Joy of Design: My take on the ultimate how-to manual.

24 Installation

Necessity is the Mother of Invention for fast-track installations.

416-802-1225

Mike Edwards Contributing Editor medwards@wimediainc.ca

Lee Ann Knudsen Art Director

lak@wimediainc.ca

nsGraphic Design Graphics nspence@wimediainc.ca

Omni Data Services Circulation circulation@wimediainc.ca www.omnidataservices.com Cover photo: Marc Cramer

Associations 15 National Floor Covering Association

Their own perspectives: Expert panel tackles a daunting project.

20

Canadian Flooring, Cleaning and Restoration Association

Practises after pandemic: Associations have role to fill.

26 Products

Wood-look laminates; radiant under-floor heating; versatile grouts; modified timber flooring; modular carpet collection; self-leveling underlayment.

28 Bullets 29 Events and Advertisers 30 Then-and-now ISSN 0848-8339 PUBLICATIONS MAIL SALES 2012 AGREEMENT #41203050 RETURN UNDELIVERABLE CANADIAN ADDRESSES TO: Coverings C/O 365 EVANS AVENUE, STE #L10 TORONTO, ON M8Z 1K2

Coverings is published six times annually, Jan./Feb., Mar./Apr., May/June, July/Aug., Sept./Oct. and Nov./Dec., for Canada’s floorcovering industry. Subscriptions are free to qualified participants in Canada’s floorcovering industry.

Subscribe at www.coveringscanada.ca. Readers from outside Canada may purchase subscriptons for $55 Cdn. For subscription inquiries, e-mail subscriptions@wimediainc.ca or fax 1-866-698-9061 Published by W.I. Media Inc., Box 84 Cheltenham, Caledon, ON L7C 3L7 © 2020 by W.I. Media Inc. All rights reserved.

W. I. Media Inc. and Coverings disclaim any warranty as to the accuracy, completeness or currency of the contents of this publication and disclaims all liability in respect to the results of any action taken or not taken in reliance upon information in this publication. The opinions of the columnists and writers are their own and are in no way influenced by or representative of the opinions of Coverings or W.I. Media Inc.

Canada’s floorcovering magazine

3

COMMENTARY Pandemic has paralyzed business, so

Let’s talk about dope I AM AWASH IN COVID, SO LET’S TAKE A BREAK. Let’s talk about dope. I was talking to a landscaper the other day. He said he never thought he’d see the day that it’s legal to smoke grass and illegal to cut it.

But there it is: covid. Folks are out of work. Money is short for employees, and shorter for employers. You can’t run your business, but you can get cash for your workers. Back when my landscaper friend was a kid, help for employees was a job.

But we were talking about dope.

I was looking back at an investment advisory firm’s recommendaKerry Knudsen tions for Canada a year ago. Actually, it was June. The Motley Fool said, “the marijuana industry is expected to triple in the next five years…. Beyond consumption by Canadians, the upside thesis involves operations or distribution to other countries that have legalized or may legalize marijuana to various extents. This includes Germany and particularly the large market on Canada’s southern border.”

The Motley Fool went on to report, “Arcview Market Research and BDS Analytics project that Canadian marijuana sales will jump from around $600 million last year to $5.4 billion by 2022. That’s a compound annual growth rate of more than 55 percent.”

The April 15, 2020 edition of the Financial Post reports, “As of November 2019, according to calculations by cannabis analyst Chris Damas, there was (sic) at least 23 million square feet of cannabis greenhouses in Canada and more than three million square feet has since been shuttered.” There was a crash in cannabis, and people lost their shirts.

The cannabis crash happened well before the current economic crisis, but it’s worth noting that today’s situation did not happen in a void. There were ups and downs, with the losses in the cannabis sector being one example of a significant “down” that was not well publicized. Not as well as its rise, in any event.

The same edition of the Financial Post warns:

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May/June May/June2020 2020

“Bank of Canada unleashes billions to aid economy in what will likely be most severe recession ever.”

That’s harsh.

One thing we know from Economics 101 is that when governments print money in excess of the value it represents, the value increases to reflect the change, so a cookie that once cost a loonie now goes up to $1.35. Wages go up, but lag.

I’m not endorsing or disputing the Bank of Canada. We will see. But I think the inflation thing is a fact. The problem is, we are entering uncharted territory.

In the past, unemployment was a major indicator of economic health. Today, it may or may not be. With so many employees on CERB, it will be hard to assess whether they are unemployed or employment-paused.

Small business owners are not panicked; they are despondent. Panic is when you do something, anything, as long as it is something. Despondent is when you watch the ax fall. They have been forced to close, forced to pay, forced to borrow, threatened with fines, patrolled, examined and served notice.

As we emerge, what will floorcovering businesses do? It seems as though we can ramp up to meet the old levels of demand, but where is the evidence those levels will exist? Who will remain after weeks or months of leisure?

One thing is of special interest. That is the question of what happens to people on fixed incomes following the shutdown? Will they have more money as their pensions are pegged to inflation while the rest suffer from depressed production?

The fact is, nothing adds up. People are being paid to not work, producers are interdicted from producing. Work has been deemed “not essential,” and laying all day in bed has been deemed critical. It’s like the ghost of Andy Warhol has become emperor.

That said, I personally am not really that concerned. Although we still all have to think about whether our current business models are still valid, we are a country of vast wealth and resources, and it might not be bad to cut and trim here and there.

If not, what the heck! There are some really hot deals on dope stock out there, and they may be back on the rise.

Comment at www.coveringscanada.ca

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The forgotten marketing metric:

RESULTS

It was one of the few warm, early spring days in April. I was coasting back into the neighbourhood after a ride on the local bike trail, while such things were still open during the pandemic. Three of the little, neighbourhood girls were playing outside in the sun. The oldest saw me, stood up and yelled, “Hi, Kerry.”

I was going too fast to address each by name, so I called back, “Good morning, ladies.”

The middle one stood up, put her little fists on her hips and said, “We’re NOT LADIES!! Not YET!!”

What a kick! I had my kids, and my grandchildren are cute, but not five-year-old-cute. I love kids.

I was particularly amused that she, totally oblivious to my age, education, experience and profession, would announce my failings as a speaker of English. Ah. The innocence of youth.

Then my mind flipped, as it often does, to the business at hand, including a marketing article for Coverings and the crisis of the Covid-19 virus.

What does one do about that?

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May/June 2020

We at Coverings have access to a huge array of resources, both current, periodical and historical. In the periodical area, we are seeing self-acclaimed marketing experts confidently advising all and sundry to do what amounts to nothing new, but more of the same: blog, post, blast, cast, vid, snap, insta, face and twit.

Some more.

Going back to origins, marketing used to mean more. If I recall correctly, a seminal precept of professional marketing was to identify a market, study and understand the market and figure out how to attract, hold and get a response from the market, come up with original ideas and address the market. See how it works. Go back, make adjustments again and repeat. It would have been anathema to throw a lexicon of digital buzzwords at a stump and see if any would stick, let alone charge somebody for the experiment.

Half of my master’s degree is in PR. I interviewed back in the day with FleishmanHillard. Many of my friends in school went the PR route, following the siren’s call of big money. However, I had been watching, and it appeared to me that the big PR companies hired the best talent for the best starting wage, milked them of all their best ideas for three years and threw them to the wayside. I decided not to play.

So, on the side of the big PR agencies, their staff is always

young, fresh, eager to please and full of energy.

I am reminded of a major advertiser a few years back that advised me that, in all his marketing, he needed to, “go with the big guys.”

Uncharacteristically, I did not decide to argue. The fact is, though, he was not one of the “big guys,” unless viewed in the very narrow perspective of that industry at that time. The Big Guys (and Ladies) are advisors to governments, big pharma, big agra, big industry, big finance and so on.

However, everybody likes to think he or she is “big” (only in the business sense, please), and, having survived the grist mill of entry-level public relations, the only visible public-relations policy on the broad advertising field is monkey-see/monkey-do, yielding the above-mentioned strategy of charging to see if something works. Nobody wants to go out on a limb to see what gets results.

We at Coverings have surveyed you, our readers, regularly, and we have asked you many different ways how you respond to marketing efforts. For example, you have repeatedly said you don’t want your InBox bombed on a daily-or-more basis with commercial suggestions. My friends in the marketing profession discovered years ago that a new product release is “information,” so they equate every sales message with original thought and ignore you if you object. I am fond of quoting a once-big-guy in Canadian magazines as saying in a professional journal, “editorial is simply filler between cash.” Since he was a “big guy,” all the lookers-on went with it. Which makes you a commodity.

So let’s be honest. That’s what my mentor in public relations taught me. That was Dean Simms, the owner of Public Relations International in Zurich and Tulsa. (Go figure.) Simms was the agency of record when an unknown murderer replaced the Tylenol in capsules with cyanide in Chicago in 1982. It was Simms’s plan that rescued the brand from a travesty that would have killed any other. It’s a story.

Honestly, the readers of Coverings are not big guys. Some of our suppliers may be. Sort of. But even a Mohawk or Mapei, big enough in their own right, is not in the category of Procter and Gamble or Air Canada. For the rest of us, we have to get it right or die. We don’t have the luxury of millions of shareholders to shoulder the cost of a mistake.

What might a mistake look like? Let’s take a survey of a few trade publications over the past month and see if we can find a clue.

How about this headline from Media in Canada on April 13? “Only one-fifth of Canadians want brands to stop advertising entirely.” Only? That means 20 percent of Canadians are so

fed up with advertising that they would rather do without than endure more of the same. To the point, a huge conglomerate can “afford” to irritate 20 percent of its customers. We can’t afford that luxury.

From the April 11 edition of Ad Age: “Twitter discloses how it shares data with Facebook and Google for ads.” Our surveys show that you don’t want people following you, spying on your habits and using your activities to generate a deluge of product offerings. This one can be tricky if you are a curious sort or have to do research for your job. In my case, I had to look up Guerrilla

At the end of the day, that elusive quality,

TRUST

will carry the day in the real world of local business.

Warfare by Che Guevara and have been bombarded by all kinds of interesting offers since.

Once again, you are not Facebook or Google, looking through other people’s windows when they’re home is likely not on your list of honourable activities and you can’t afford to have your customers think you do that sort of thing.

The catch is, you either “Agree” to their policies, which can extend to dozens of pages, or you get cut off. There is no option to separate the access from the abuse. It’s kind of like the old secretary/boss relationship. If you want the job….

Over on Ad Age Digital, April 10: “Google ordered to

Canada’s floorcovering magazine

7

RESULTS pay for news snippets in French antitrust crackdown.”

From Strategy C-Suite, April 7: “Driving trust (and purchase) during a pandemic.”

Media in Canada, April 2: “Digital consumption is growing more in some categories than others.”

These are taken from a one-week period.

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Since it’s during the pandemic, we can go back and see in 2019 Strategy Ad Tech that, “A survey shows that while many Canadian execs feel like they’re lagging, it takes time to see ROI.” You can almost hear them cajole: “Trust me.”

When you review the professional marketing literature, it fairly screams out that things are not as they should be, but if we just try harder, spend more and jump from fad to buzz-word, everything will work out.

Well, it hasn’t.

The solution? Most of you can define your market. Most of you sell locally or regionally. So does it make sense to put money into websites, podcasts, YouTube videos and massblasts to an unfocused market extending to Nigeria and the Levant?

No. So identify your base of potential customers, study and understand the market and figure out how to attract, hold and get a response from the market, come up with original ideas and address the market. See how it works. Go back, make adjustments again and repeat. We may be talking local newspapers, sponsoring a sports team, launching a Covid-19 response, buying a billboard — the choices are actually limitless. You can try skywriting if you think it will get a positive response.

At the end of the day, that elusive quality, trust — the same stuff the journalists think can drive to sales in a pandemic — will carry the day in the real world of local business. In fact, that’s what the digital monoliths are trying to counterfeit with their fake “likes” and hired “reviews.”

We may not all be gentlemen and ladies. Not yet! But it’s worth wondering if it’s time now, before the markets get fed up and hide.

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Covid-19 information and resources The National Floor Covering Association (NFCA) based in Surrey, B.C., has issued a message to members about available resources and information related to business operations during the Covid-19 pandemic, including offering webinars to members at no charge. The association stresses performing due diligence in helping prevent the spread of the virus. It has also posted construction site guidelines provided the Victoria, B.C.-based British Columbia Construction Association, which suggest: reduce the number of people on-site — if needed, adjust schedules or scale back; wear personal protective equipment at all times as long as it is safe to do so — safety goggles, masks, and gloves; do not share your personal protective equipment; workers should not congregate

in break areas and lunchrooms; workers should not share tools; If possible, provide extra handwashing stations; do not share cigarettes and/or vaping equipment; do not rideshare or carpool to and from work; clean out jobsite trailers daily — arrange for commercial cleaners to clean and disinfect areas of the project; introduce an on-site Covid-19 committee to create a best practices plan to ensure worker safety; create a task force focused on supporting your company’s staff and customers; and, make sure workers know they should not come to work if they’re feeling sick. More resources with links can be found at www.nfca.ca.

Wetstyle opens award-winning showroom Wetstyle, a manufacturer of bath fixtures and furnishings for the North American market, has unveiled its new showroom, located in Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville, Que., on Montreal’s South Shore. The space marks the final component of the company’s complex that opened in January 2019, consolidating the brand’s

Mohawk, Fabric Sources partner to create medical gowns Calhoun, Ga.-based Mohawk Industries and Fabric Sources International (FSI) have combined resources to address urgent medical supply needs during the Covid-19 outbreak. Using fabric provided by FSI, Mohawk Home’s Daltonbased rug manufacturing facility is providing industrial sewing equipment for its skilled employees to produce medical protective gowns for doctors, nurses and other care providers. Healthcare providers wear these gowns in non-surgical settings to prevent their clothing from being contaminated by patient body fluids. The gowns are worn when a patient’s symptoms are consistent with Covid-19 or other infectious diseases and contact precautions must be taken. The Mohawk Home team quickly developed a process for cutting the fabric pattern and sewing together the gown components, the company says.

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May/June 2020

manufacturing operations, executive offices, and showroom in a single location. Atelier Moderno, a design and architecture firm, collaborated closely with the Wetstyle Design Lab team to create the showroom space. The project was honoured at the 2020 Grands Prix du Design with the Best Showroom Award.

Natural Stone Institute announces awards

Stephen Falk of Stone Truss Systems accepts the Grande Pinnacle award on behalf of Pei Cobb Freed & Partners during the Natural Stone Institute Awards Ceremony at TISE 2020. He is pictured with Veronafiere’s Chiara DeLuca and 2019 Natural Stone Institute president Greg Osterhout.

The winners of the 2019 Pinnacle Awards were announced during the Natural Stone Institute Awards Ceremony at TISE 2020 in Las Vegas, NV. Twenty-two projects were honoured with Awards of Excellence. The 2019 Grande Pinnacle Award was presented to Pei Cobb Freed

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NEWS

& Partners of New York, N.Y., for its detailed stone-clad lobby at 7 Bryant Park.

Two Canadian firms also received awards for 2019 from the Oberlin, Ohio-based Natural Stone Institute. In the Commercial Exterior category, Polycor of Quebec City, QC, won an award for its Grande Arche de la Defense in Paris, France. In the Public Landscapes/Parks/Memorials category, CED Stone North America of Montreal, QC, was recognized for its Drexel Square work in Philadelphia, Penn.

Concrete position statements published The Concrete Polishing Council (CPC), a subsidiary of the American Society of Concrete Contractors (ASCC), St. Louis, M0, has published five Position Statements on topics of concern to the polished concrete contractor and those who specify polished concrete.

The position statements clarify the polished concrete contractor’s point of view for architects, engineers, owners and others. The five statements are: Slab Protection by Others; Slip Resistance of Polished Concrete; Coordinating the Concrete and Polishing Contractors’ Subcontracts; Separation of Semirigid Concrete Floor Joint Fillers; and, Effects of Slab-Surface Finish Density of Polished Concrete.

The CPC has also developed two pre-construction checklists for floors to receive a polished finish. They are “Checklist for the Pre-Construction Conference” and “Checklist for the Polished Concrete Pre-Construction Conference.”

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May/June 2020

NeoCon 2020 cancelled After consultation with leaders and partners within the commercial design industry, NeoCon show organizer TheMart has decided to cancel NeoCon 2020 due to the on-going Covid-19 outbreak. The next NeoCon in Chicago, Ill., will be June 14-16, 2021.

costs associated with the entire CIM program, including application, content and assessment fees. The scholarship was created to honour Bruce Newbrough, an Ardex director of technical services and later applications development, who had a passion for advancing the flooring industry through education.

New Domotex Asia/ChinaFloor dates The organizers of Domotex Asia/ChinaFloor in Shanghai, China, have confirmed that August 31 to September 2, 2020 are the new dates after the spring flooring show was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. With the new date, the exhibition gets also a new location, the National Exhibition and Convention Center (NECC), the largest exhibition centre in Shanghai. Organizers say that September is the month with most international visits to Chinese suppliers. The NECC is located in the immediate vicinity of Shanghai-Hongqiao International Airport and the Hongqiao transportation hub, with connections to metro, highspeed trains and buses.

Wright joins Wagner Meters Rogue River, Ore.-based Wagner Meters has added Jason Wright to the sales team as a business development specialist for new products. Wright brings more than 32 years of experience Jason Wright specializing in hardwood flooring. Starting in 1986 with a small sundry distributor in Medford, Ore., Wright held positions in product development, support, and marketing programs for several flooring companies before becoming national sales manager for Tarkett Group.

Martinez awarded FCICA scholarship Eduardo Martinez is the most recent recipient of the Bruce Newbrough Memorial Certified Installation Manager Program (CIM) Scholarship.

Martinez is a Eduardo project manager Martinez with Sansom Park, Tex.-based Martinez Carpet Installations. The scholarship is provided in partnership with West Bloomfield, Mich.-based Flooring Contractors Association (FCICA) and Ardex Americas of Aliquippa, Penn. The scholarship assists with the

Braxton-Bragg welcomes Rice Braxton-Bragg of Knoxville, Tenn., has hired stone industry veteran Shawn Rice to manage its outside sales efforts. Rice has more than 25 years of experience in strategy Shawn Rice and sales with both market and product development skills. Most recently, Rice directed national sales at Lackmond Stone of Marietta, Ga. Prior to Lackmond Stone, Rice was with Minneapolis, Minn.-based Granite City Tool and at GranQuartz of Norcross, Ga.

WFCA inducts Dossche into Hall of Fame Dalton, Ga.-based World Floor Covering Association (WFCA) announced at TISE 2020 the granting of free primary membership, to build momentum for its “Be a Part of the Solution” initiative that includes the formation of the Floor Covering Education Foundation (FCEF), the industry-wide Piet Dossche effort to solve the installation crisis.

The WFCA also officially welcomed Piet Dossche, c.e.o. and founder of USFloors, into the WFCA Hall of Fame.

New leadership roles at AHF Products AHF Products of Mountville, Penn., has announced that Mike Bell, previously the chief operating officer (c.o.o.) for the company, has been appointed as the company’s chief commercial Michael Bell officer (c.c.o.).

Darrell Keeling, formerly c.o.o. of Northwest Hardwoods, with be joining AHF as its new c.o.o. The c.c.o.’s role will be to segment and expand AHF’s customer and distributor base, both domestically and internationally, and also to introduce products. As c.c.o., Bell will be responsible

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NEWS

NWFA launches Virtual Wood Flooring Expo St. Louis, Mo.-based National Wood Flooring Association (NWFA) has an-

nounced that its first-ever Virtual Wood Flooring Expo will be held Wednesday, April 29 to Friday, May 1. The three-day event will feature education sessions,

product demonstrations, technical skills demonstrations, and networking. Details include: six live education sessions with live Q&A; five recorded education sessions; four skills demonstrations from NWFA Regional Instructors; six exhibitor demonstrations; and virtual appointments from 11:00 to 3:00 on Wednesday and Thursday, as well as 11:00 to 2:00 on Friday. Free registration for the Virtual Expo is open at www.nwfaexpo.org.

DesignEx Vancouver Island Just before Covid-19 gathering restrictions went into place, the Interior Designers of Canada (IDC) of Toronto, Ont., and the IDIBC Vancouver Island Chapter hosted another edition of DesignEx March 12 in Victoria, B.C. The event brought together IDC members,

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manufacturers, suppliers, and industry representatives on Vancouver Island, B.C. With over 145 designers in attendance, the event was held at the Hotel Grand Pacific in Victoria and featured Vancouver, B.C., Interior Designers Institute of British Columbia-approved (IDCEC) seminars, a networking lunch, and the signature table-top show including a door prize draw. DesignEx Vancouver Island presented three seminars including “Design Thinking at Work,”“The Waltz of Light and Architecture,” and “Carving New Spaces Together: Interior Design in Cultural Collaboration with Indigenous Artists.” The event also featured a tabletop show where 52 companies showcased their latest products and services.

Attendees had the opportunity to explore new products and connect with manufacturers, suppliers, fellow interior designers, architects and others from the building industry, all in one place while enjoying drinks and snacks.

NFCA Expert panel tackles a daunting project

Their own perspectives Early in 2019, NFCA applied to speak at Vancouver Buildex 2020. The subject: getting the specification right for flooring installations and how starting the conversation early in construction can save time, money and avoid delays for everyone involved. Buildex accepted the proposal but came back with a suggestion — could NFCA expand on the idea by assembling a panel of experts to discuss the topic from multiple perspectives using a cross-section of the construction industry.

The result was a panel consisting of key members of the construction team involved in the ongoing Vancouver General Hospital OperatChris Maskell, ing room renewal project — a highNFCA c.e.o. profile, complex project involving the renovation of 16 operating rooms.

A major challenge for this project was the existing 40-year-old concrete slab, best described as ‘a dog’s breakfast,’ which had to be remediated. Thousands of deep cracks and fissures had to be filled and hydraulic cement underlayment poured to correct the slabs.

To add to that, this had to be done with live operating rooms working 24/7 immediately below the slab.

Stressful for everyone to say the least!

Team built on collaboration and communication And so the construction manager (Kirk Schutz, PCL), the flooring contractor, (Rick Wagner, Maxwell Floors), the hydraulic cement underlayment supplier (Sherri Wildman, Ardex), the floor covering manufacturer (Anthony Gatto, Nora by Interface) and the specification writer (Monica Baillie, Landmark Architecture), all agreed to participate on the panel and talk about their experience on this project and why this team worked so well together.

Early on, the specifications were written to guide concrete management accurately and ensure the provision of an acceptable concrete surface to the floorcovering contractor. Accurate, updated information was written into Division 3 to alert the construction manager to what was needed. Monica Baillie reached out to NFCA and suggested working on up-

dating the spec for flooring on this project, recognizing the significant issues that can develop if acceptable concrete surfaces are not properly planned for in advance. As a result, line items addressing surface porosity, concrete surface profile, flatness and quantifiable moisture testing were placed in Division 3 where they belong. This ensured that these important requirements were picked up early by the construction manager, triggering necessary budgeting, scheduling and action.

During the Buildex panel presentation: Wildman explained how getting in early to discuss in detail the subfloor challenges helped with product selection and getting the right products specified.

Gatto confirmed that the number-one issue related to flooring claims remains moisture-related issues. Avoiding expensive moisture-related repair work requires proper quantifiable moisture testing and that it’s about time the construction industry took this seriously.

Wagner talked about how the bond tests failed — much to the surprise of everyone present on site — and how the team had to re-think the process and perform the tests again.

Meanwhile, Schutz shared some of the challenging details experienced and planned for on this project, such as the complexity of the slab remediation and how thousands of cracks and fissures opened up in the existing slab when they began to prepare and clean its surface.

NFCA’s Quality Assurance Program (QAP) was also included in the Division 3 specification, ensuring early discussions around what was needed by the floor covering contractor for an acceptable slab surface. QAP reports detailing site metrics such as relative humidity, ambient room and slab surface temperature, along with input relative to critical bond (pull) tests, were a useful early warning tool instead of just bad news being delivered too late.

Communication promotes success This was an example of a positive outcome on a complex, highprofile project where those critical conversations were had by the construction team, several months in advance of the flooring installation start date.

The National Floor Covering Association (NFCA) promotes industry standards for resilient, carpet, hardwood, laminate, cork and bamboo floor covering installations. www.nfca.ca

Canada’s floorcovering magazine

15

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LAW Understand obligations during pandemic disruption

Contracts and Covid-19 As Covid-19 continues its rapid spread throughout the globe, it brings with it unprecedented disruption to every aspect of our lives, both personal and business. While our health, undoubtedly, remains our number one priority, Covid-19 is also bringing about momentous interruption to our businesses.

Government restrictions, travel restrictions, cancellations, supply, demand and labour shortages, are all having an adverse effect on most of our businesses. As a result, many businesses are unable to perform some or all of their existing contractual obligations, either because they or another party to contract has been impacted Louis Vouloukos by the disruption caused by Covid-19.

But, is party to a contract excused from performing its contractual obligations because of Covid-19? In this article, we explore contractual terms and legal principles that may be available to excuse performance of some or all of your contractual obligations.

Review your key contracts If your business is unable to perform its contractual obligations, begin by gathering and reviewing your key contracts to assess whether there are any contractual provisions that may be of assistance. Many, but certainty not all, contracts contain a “force majeure” clause. Force majeure clauses may excuse a party from performance of some or, less often, all of its obligations under a contract. “Force majeure” clauses are typically easily identified in a contract, but sometimes contracts contain other clauses that, while not specifically identified by a heading or reference to the term “force majeure”, contain language that can be characterized as a “force majeure.” Even if your contracts do not contain a force majeure clause or other analogous provision, you may be able to rely on the legal doctrine of “frustration.” You should also carefully look at the terms and coverage afforded to you by your business insurance contracts. We now explore each these areas in a little more detail.

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Force majeure “Force majeure” clauses may excuse a party from performance of specific or, less often, all obligations under a contract where non-performance of an obligation results from circumstances completely beyond that party’s control (for example, because of “acts of God”) or upon the occurrence of certain specified events (for example, government regulation, strikes, labour shortages, war or terrorism). Some force majeure clauses may even list an event like a “pandemic”, or “epidemic” as a force majeure event, but that is not as common. Whatever language is used, the commonality among force majeure clauses is that they list events that are completely outside of a contracting party’s control.

If your contract contains a force majeure clause, the next step will be to determine if the pandemic — in this case Covid-19 — falls within the language of the force majeure clause. If you are fortunate enough to have the words epidemic or pandemic listed, the clause may be applicable. If not, your force majeure clause may use the term “acts of God.” The words “acts of God” have been interpreted by our courts, and generally speaking interpreted as a (supernatural) event that is unexpected, unforeseeable and beyond either party’s control or foresight. Arguably, Covid-19 could be considered an “act of God,” but it remains to be seen how our courts would interpret such a phrase in the context of Covid-19. One thing is certain, however, and that is that each contract and each force majeure provision must carefully be reviewed and interpreted with reference to the entire contract as a whole.

If the force majeure clause is applicable, a party would need to demonstrate that the force majeure event is the reason for the non-performance. There cannot be other reasons for non-performance, such as intentional delay on the part of a contracting party, to name but one example. In short, there must be a clear link between the non-performance and the force majeure event. Even if there is a clear link, if relying on a force majeure provision, you need to take all reasonable steps to mitigate (or lessen) the damages caused or to be caused by the force majeure event, especially in a case where only a specific portion of your contractual obligations is incapable of being performed. For example, a claim by a party that it cannot perform its supply contract because Covid-19 is an applicable force majeure event that is preventing the supply of an essential component that is needed to complete production of that

party’s products. Whether or not that party will be successful relying on the force majeure clause in this instance, will depend, for example, on whether that party could have reasonably obtained the essential component it requires from other sources, even if at a higher price. In short, if relying on a force majeure, a party should be able to show that it took all reasonable steps to mitigate its damages. Remember, performance has to be impossible and completely beyond a party’s control.

A party also needs to consider the extent to which the force majeure event excuses that party from its contractual obligations. Is the party excused from the contract as a whole, or just a specific contractual obligation? Further, for what the period of time is the non-performance excused — permanently or is performance simply delayed for some specified period of time (for example, six months), or until the end of the end of the force majeure event that gave rise to the non-performance? Finally, if relying on a force majeure clause, a party must comply with any notification provisions contained in the contract, and, also, the relevant time periods for notification. Delivery of any force majeure notice should be made in accordance with the contractual provisions and only by methods of delivery permitted by the contract. It is always a good idea to use more than one method of delivery provided for in the contract.

Frustration What if your contract does not contain a force majeure clause or other analogous provision? In limited circumstances a party may be able to rely on the common law, and, specifically, on the legal doctrine of “frustration.” Pursuant to this doctrine, as enunciated by the Supreme Court of Canada, ”frustration” occurs when a situation has arisen for which the parties made no provision in the contract and the performance of the contract becomes a thing radically different from that which was undertaken by the contract. While an examination of what constitutes “radically different” is beyond the scope of this article, it should be noted that a contract becoming more onerous or more expensive is not enough to frustrate a contract. It should also be noted that the legal threshold for establishing frustration is higher than force majeure, and, therefore, it is more difficult to establish the requisite elements of frustration as opposed to relying on a force majeure clause. This stems largely from the fact that a contract that has been frustrated results in all contracting parties being discharged of their obligations, whereas a force majeure event is dictated by the language of the contract as agreed upon by the parties and may act to excuse only one party to a contract, or excuse a party from some, but not all, of its obligations. Having said that, it remains to be seen if our courts will “relax” the frustration threshold in light of the novel Covid-19 pandemic.

Insurance Finally, you should also carefully review your commercial general liability policies and business interruption insurance policies, if any, to determine if they can be relied on to alleviate against some of your businesses lost profits or protect your business from any claims related to Covid-19. For example, if your business is sued by a customer or employee for failing to take appropriate protective measures to prevent the spread of Covid-19, your general commercial general liability policy may contain some protection. Similarly, if your business subscribes to business interruption insurance, determine whether Covid-19 is a peril contemplated by your business interruption policy. If so, you may be able to recover some lost profits because of any losses caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. As insurance coverage is wide-ranging and the specific perils that are covered (or excepted from coverage) varies greatly across business sectors and industries, every case may be different and insurance policies need to be carefully reviewed and analyzed on a case by case, policy by policy basis.

Conclusion As businesses try to deal with the economic and business disruptions caused by Covid-19, it is essential that business owners gather and review their key contracts to determine if they contain force majeure or analogous provisions that may assist in the event your business is no longer able to perform some or all of its contractual obligations, or if your business receives a notice of a force majeure event from another contracting party. Each case will depend on the facts and the language of the specific contract. If no force majeure clause has been contemplated in your written contract, you may be able to rely on the legal doctrine of frustration to relieve all parties from their contractual obligations. Insurance contracts may also provide some economic relief against lawsuits or business interruption losses. As Covid-19 is a novel and unprecedented event, it remains to be seen how flexible our courts or insurance providers will be when dealing with claims of non-performance of contractual obligations or insurance claims related to the disruption caused by Covid-19.

Louis Vouloukos of Brampton, Ont.-based Lawrences, specializes in corporate, commercial and franchise law.

Canada’s floorcovering magazine

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CFCRA Practises after pandemic

Associations have role to fill It has always been a bit unusual to write a column six-toeight weeks in advance and be able to deliver a message that is suitable for the times. You never knew for sure what would happen in the coming weeks, but you could write considering for what will “likely happen.” But the world has changed and it’s unlikely to ever become the same place again.

For associations, the change may be the final nail in the coffin, or it may be the cause for a resurgence in membership. Let me tell you why.

The classes we host at the CFCRA are typically a combination of handson training and written theory. The subject matter is not always easy to cover fully in an online streaming Lee Senter, format. Videos can be used for visual CFCRA President demonstrations online and may be adequate for certain segments of the candidates we offer our classes to. But there are a lot of blue-collar workers who do not learn that way very well and do want to get their hands dirty, so to speak, and learn by doing.

Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, almost all the cleaning classes we had scheduled in a classroom setting for the spring and summer have been cancelled. There is still a need for these classes, and the IICRC among others have moved ahead with their e-learning initiatives. Maybe the better description would be the certification bodies are moving at warp speed to catch up with the times and offer online classroom alternatives. The instructors who have previously been booked solid with in-person classes are sitting at home idle at the time of writing this article. Some instructors are adapting their presentations to be able to be live streamed, some instructors are actually beta-testing their presentations.

The conclusions so far? Surprisingly enough, the presentations that normally take 14 hours of in-class instruction are being done in about 10 hours. So the length of time for “in-class” instruction is not being met. So, what do we do? Add videos or more written materials? Add quizzes?

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For some people, their reaction to this progress is nothing less than “it’s about time.” The large distributors, manufacturers and retailers of cleaning and restorative chemicals and equipment are running with this idea. The distributors already have their e-learning classes and modules ready to roll. But what about the people who learn by doing, discussing and group assignments?

In these days when the industry associations seem to have started losing pertinence in the grand scheme of things, all of sudden, they have relevance. The days of mentoring and holding hands-on classes appear to now be back in the hands of the associations. There are other great things happening for associations as well, including the need for data from the government and society in general.

The government is very interested in the quantification for the level of “cleanliness” for surfaces these days with the Covid-19 clean-up projects. How do we get the data? Who do we go to get this data? Well, lo and behold, it’s the associations.

Now more than ever, the internet social media sites and discussion boards cannot successfully fulfill the requirements of the public. There is a role for the associations to fill!

It is my opinion, now more than ever, we need to create one unified voice for our government to come to when it comes to cleaning our flooring surfaces in the built indoor environment.

Anybody who has ideas on how this can be accomplished, please write a letter to the editor of this magazine, it’s time to kick start this initiative.

The Canadian Flooring Cleaning and Restoration Association (CFCRA) was preceded by the Flooring Institute of Ontario (FIO), a not-for-profit organization which proudly served the needs of flooring industry professionals in Ontario since 1962. www.cfcra.ca

DESIGN My take on the ultimate how-to manual

The Joy of Design Lately, I’ve found myself busy being a designer. It seems that I should describe this as working, but it actually feels more like playing. That might be more accurate, as there isn’t likely to be any remuneration downstream, but it’s still essentially the same activity that paid my way through much of my working life.

When I’m doing this work, I confront a challenge. That’s what design is. Whether its self-defined or provided by a client doesn’t actually make that much difference. A challenge is a challenge and its useful to take them all personally, regardless of their origin. We seem to do a better job of resolving these opportunities when they feel like they are impactPaul Epp ing us directly. Obtaining that firstperson based perspective can even be described as one of the steps in a design process.

By our natures, we’re selfish creatures and we reflexively look after ourselves first.

Apart from identifying with the task at hand is the task of defining its parameters. What problem is it that we are trying to solve? While it would seem to be critical that we get this nailed down early on, so that we can proceed, I find its actually a kind of work-in-progress. I’m always adjusting my view of what the problem is, as I gain a better understanding of it. The longer and harder we focus on it, the more we will learn about it, finding its nuances and the necessity to adjust our earlier perceptions and assumptions. That can send us right back to the beginning and a fresh sheet of paper. Images of playing Snakes and Ladders come to mind. But it’s no hardship to be compelled to start over, because it gives us more opportunities to play and to indulge ourselves in the joy of design.

What is the joy of design? In my view, it’s the searching for new solutions. It’s the mental gymnastics of turning a problem around and around in my mind (and not just my mind), considering different configurations and potential new versions. It can be frustrating, but I’ve never complained about that.

I got my start at this early, through a bit of good luck.

It was our family’s habit to spend a lot of time in church, and the wooden pews were far from ergonomic. To help me endure the interminable sermons, I would redesign what I saw.

A new pulpit. New pews (my start as a furniture designer).

New pendant lights. Once I had the interior redesigned to my satisfaction, there was the exterior and when that was done, a whole parking lot full of cars that would surely benefit from my designer attention. I can thank the hard benches for nudging me along.

I’ve learned a lot since, and one lesson is that design isn’t as easy as just imagining things. The real work starts when one is faced with turning these dreams into reality. One especially hard lesson is that our imaginations lie to us, pretending things are possible when they are not. But, an experienced designer will allow for this and have devised checks and tests to keep him honest.

I’ve earlier described the process of design as an alternating use of our right brain and then our left, with the discipline to indulge our creativity without restraint and then, in turn, subject our dreams to the hard discipline of our rational criticism. It turns out that most of our good ideas aren’t that good after all, but we’ve learnt that if we have enough new ideas, the chances improve of having one or two worth keeping. So, we have to play that first part very hard, twisting and turning ideas around and pushing, pushing, for more. It’s almost like work.

Books have been written about the Joy of Cooking, and the Joy of Sex. There is probably a worthy book about the Joy of Design. But I won’t write it, I’ll be too busy designing.

Knowing Paul, I think I’ll bookmark this one and see what happens. — Editor

Paul Epp is an emeritus professor at OCAD University, and former chair of its Industrial Design department.

Canada’s floorcovering magazine

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Who can see the post-pandemic future?

Business planning — BLINDFOLDED Coverings’ CFCRA columnist Lee Senter in this issue notes the fact that it’s odd trying to write a column six or eight weeks out from the time it hits the street. I’d like to say you get accustomed to it, but after writing for magazines for over 40 years, you don’t.

As of presstime, as the saying goes, the world remains on lock-down, although there are indications from several governments they are planning on easing restrictions. Some of those indications stem from countries that have had success already easing restrictions, and its common to see analysts refer to China, which country never had a stock-market crash and has never locked down the country entirely, while the epicenter and large economic generators in Wuhan, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Beijing, are back up-and-running while the rest of the world hunkers down.

So we wonder what the landscape will be as you read this, versus what we see as we compile.

One thing that is becoming more evident as the lockdown progresses is that all the milk-of-humankindness stories in the press are not playing out on the streets. The police presence is reported to be evident and substantial, which we can confirm by having seen four patrol cars at once in a small village north of our office — a sight that is not only not normal, but unprecedented.

In the area around our office, all the parks, trails, lakes and forests have been closed, with a single exception that may just be an oversight. Some people are having trouble reconciling a social-distancing rule 22

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that requires six feet of space between people and groups of no more than five, on the one hand, with a rule that prohibits two guys fishing in a 17-foot boat five clicks from any other human.

Why close a forest or trail?

Businesses are having it worse than individuals, at least on the enforcement side. Lawyers are telling us that the rule prohibiting non-essential businesses is overbroad and vague. How is a garden centre, for example, not an essential business? If we are looking at an extended period of restriction, aren’t beans, corn, tomatoes and basil essential?

Following consultation with counsel, one landscaping company in Ontario decided that maintenance is essential and went to work … and earned a $50,000 fine for its efforts. This cause another small-business owner to ruefully observe, “I never thought I’d see the day I could smoke grass legally and get arrested for cutting it.”

On some level, people will gripe, no matter what, and the government must be able to ignore the slings and arrows and continue with what is necessary. On the other hand, people are saying the government is taking advantage of ambiguous grants of power and is becoming irrational, nonresponsive and arbitrary.

We noted in the April issue of our monthly e-letter that small businesses are seeing little benefit from the promised largess of the government, and we observed that a tick cannot create a deer, so the funds to repay the outflows will come from businesses. If you don’t receive the e-letter, it’s free, it only comes once a month and we only send a commercial extra a maximum of twice a month. See our marketing feature this issue on page 6.

I heard this (my time) morning from Parliament that we will see the $40,000 limit on interest-free loans lifted so companies can pay their employees now, then pay the banks back when the lump-sum, retroactive wage subsidy is distributed, likely in a month or so. My source also noted that many small businesses will go bankrupt before help arrives.

We predicted a while back that there will be huge social costs associated with this plan to defeat the virus, to include problems with alcoholism, crimes associated with lower illegal narcotics supplies, domestic violence and mental issues associated with isolation. Some of those predictions, unfortunately, are coming true.

The purpose of this feature is not to be a doom-sayer. It’s not our style. However, this is a business magazine, and you are business people and you are facing the task of making a plan with virtually no certainties left as cornerstones.

Here are a few excerpts from the April newsletter, in case you are not a subscriber. We hope they may help fill out some questions and options. We regret that we have no answers. By the time you read this, I hope it’s all in the rear-view mirror. As one source yesterday told me he is telling his adult children: “Keep your eyes open. You are living history.”

First, this is untrodden territory. Nobody knows what’s next. We see journalists on every news show demanding to know what date this will end, how many will die, what the

final cost will be, when a vaccine will be available, etc. To me, this seems a waste of time, unless somehow they believe information is available and is being withheld.

The leaders – in our case, Trudeau and Trump. – are desperate to decide. As I pointed out in an earlier note, a government cannot create an economy any more than a tick cannot create a deer. It needs an economy to tax, and shutting down the economy is to set the timer on a bomb. There is no Santa Claus.

Right now, the U.S. is reporting 550,000 cases of coronavirus, with 22,000 deaths. That yields a four percent death rate for reported cases. I will use U.S. figures, since I believe the U.S. has and will have the best testing regimen for the near future, and as testing increases the numbers of positives will doubtless go up, while the numbers of deaths will remain as reported, since people don’t fail to find dead bodies. This means as the testing increases the mortality rate will likely decrease. For us in Canada, we can simply use the 10x multiplier in lieu of anything better.

For the sake of argument, let’s assume the mortality figures comprise the entire set of corona-linked deaths since the beginning, and the beginning was February 16, so we are dealing with a two-month window.

Also, it appears for now that no numbers from China can be deemed reliable – not in the disease’s appearance date, its numbers of infected, its numbers of deceased or its mortality rate.

For context, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism in the U.S. says approximately 88,000 people die from alcohol-related disease annually. That means over 14,600 people die from directly alcohol-related disease every two months, not including traffic accidents, suicide, falling, etc.

Tobacco is alleged to kill 480,000 people in the U.S. annually, or 80,000 every two months.

This is not to make light of the threat of Covid-19, but rather to show by context that world leaders have decided elsewhere to accept a certain level of mortality as the cost of keeping a balance of some sort, and many other, similarly damaging (sometimes voluntary) causes have not caused a shutdown of the economy.

Broadening the perspective, the Toronto Star reports that deaths in Canada may reach as many as 700 by April 16. The population of Canada is estimated to be 37 million, so the mortality rate as of April 16 may be about .00002, or 2/1000 of one percent of the entire, not the infected, population. Conversely, 99.998 percent of the population is being economically, socially, spiritually and familial–ly, affected by a disease they will not die from by April 16.

Total deaths attributed to Covid-19 in the U.S. are just over 22,000. The population of the U.S. is about 330 million.

Using the same math, the death rate in the States is currently standing at about 0.00007, or 7/1,000 of one percent.

Current projections of total deaths in the U.S. are 60,000. Recall that this is down from 2.2 million at one point,

then 100,000 to 220,000.

Please note: Dr. Deborah Birx, coordinator for the White House of its Coronavirus Task Force, has said that all deaths reported with coronavirus are being reported as deaths from coronavirus. This could affect the numbers in cases where somebody with high blood pressure, diabetes, coronary artery disease or some other risk factor gets coronavirus and dies, where the victim may have succumbed whether or not coronavirus was a factor.

All these facts argue nothing. You can change the variables as you wish. However, it leads me to the opinion I mentioned.

My guess is that [Trump] will reflect on the decisions of other presidents, such as whether to risk nuclear annihilation as Kennedy did in Cuba, or any other decision of major, fatal consequences by any other president, and he will choose to take the medical risks and send the country back to work.

I also think that Trudeau, while he disdains Trump and will make a big show of having a better plan, will not be able to watch the States waking up from hibernation alone, and be content to wait. We can’t afford it. So I think Canada will follow the States at some social distance….

My guess is that many of you are using this eye of the hurricane to puzzle out how to decrease employee costs, decrease benefits, reduce inventories, cut utilities and prospect new business.

One last point. I think that across North America we will see an imperative that we reduce the size, cost and influence of unions. As far as I can tell, not a single public-service employee is set to take a cut in ANYTHING as the result of the surgery the rest of us are undergoing, yet we will no longer be able to pay, let alone afford.

One major clue I see for this idea is that we have not heard a word from the unions during this debacle. Not a word. And I am certain if they had one, we would know. The handwriting is there on the wall. As the Canadian Union of Public Employees declares in the first line on its pension page, “Every Canadian deserves to retire in dignity with a decent retirement income.” Don’t business owners qualify as one of “every Canadian?” A tick cannot create a deer, and a parasite that kills its host is a candidate for extinction. We are not their vassals.

Like Trump, small business is facing possibly the hardest decision of its life. My money is on the decision to survive.

I will be interested to see how far off we are when this issue hits the street.

Comment at www.coveringscanada.ca

Canada’s Canada’sfloorcovering floorcoveringmagazine magazine

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INSTALLATION Temp, fast-track installations in the pandemic era

Necessity: Mother of invention First, to my readers, I hope that you, your colleagues and all of your families are keeping well in these uncertain times. As I am writing this, I have started my second month staying and working at home. I could fill these pages with what it has been like to live and work in these circumstances, but I am well and so is my family. I wish the same for all of you!

As this deadline approached, I asked our editor, Kerry Knudsen, how things are in Canada, overall, and found that it’s not too different from the U.S. and many other places in the world with the Covid-19 Pandemic having a dramatic impact, to say the Christopher least. Canada’s three largest provincCapobianco es have begun setting up temporary hospitals to expand their number of available beds in anticipation of an influx of patients.

Joseph Brant Hospital in Burlington, west of Toronto, is building a modular structure that will contain 93 beds as a temporary pandemic unit to accommodate patients who need treatment. Moving forward, there is anticipation of the need for flooring in newly created spaces for medicine.

Sure enough, Kerry had no sooner said that to me, and I received several inquiries in this vein from design professionals that often ask me for advice on floorcovering selection, installation and maintenance.

These questions regarding temporary installations or installations in most unique circumstances are coming my way.

The thought process brought me back to a 1992 project that I did in New York’s Central Park. A major carpet mill wanted to have a 12- by 100-foot piece of a new product they were coming out with installed at the finish line for a big “walkathon” to show how good this carpet was. The idea was, “thousands of people have walked across this carpet and it still looks new!” Pieces of the actual walkathon carpet were to be distributed to carpet retailers as an example of the product’s durability. The challenge for me was to install the carpet temporarily, without

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adhesive, in the middle of a roadway. All I could think about was how to put it down securely so there was no possibility of anybody tripping over it! I assembled a team to make the installation happen and really had to improvise. We had to forget about “by the book.” It was an interesting process, but we got it done. A lot of similar improvisation is happening today.

With the demand for hospital space, many are dealing with converting existing spaces to hospital spaces and doing so in very short order. Some of these questions I’ve heard recently have been pretty unique. In one case, an emergency tent hospital with over 1,000 beds was being planned for an athletic field.

The plan was to install heat welded sheet vinyl flooring over fire retardant plywood on top of wood sleepers over a sheet of polyurethane on grass athletic fields. They wanted my advice for the proper prep for this unusual condition.

My advice was to make sure the polyurethane is as thick as possible to hopefully block moisture from the ground from affecting the plywood. No matter what, the plywood is going to react to moisture and will most likely expand. Even a slight expansion would cause the plywood seams to telegraph. I advised that they should be prepared for those seams be visible through the floor, even with careful preparation. Another concern is going over fire retardant plywood. This is not a recommended application because of the potential chemical reaction between the adhesive and the fire-retardant chemicals used to treat the plywood. I advised that the installation of a 9 mm (3/8”) layer of underlayment-grade plywood over the top would provide more stability to the entire system, less likelihood of joint telegraphing and a proper bonding surface for the vinyl.

I was also asked twice recently about converting an existing space that had carpet installed to a space where resilient flooring would be installed for these hospital uses; one a college dormitory and the other administrative offices. In one case, they were planning to install a “floating” plywood substrate to protect the existing carpet and wanted to install resilient flooring over the top. The other one was even more interesting because of the questions. Can we keep the carpet?

Can we cover carpet with a membrane — what kind, and how do we seal it? If we rip up carpet, what about the residual ad-

hesive? Do we need to shot blast or grind the floor, or can resilient flooring can be installed on top?

First, as far as going over the carpet, I made a very unexpected recommendation that’s not “by the book.” If it is a loop pile carpet that’s glued down, install laminate flooring over the carpet. The HDF (High Density Fiberboard) core makes this a rigid material that’s installed with a “click” tongue and groove joint which is fairly watertight. The surface is non-porous and resistant to scratching, soil and staining, so sweeping and disinfecting with a damp mop is all that should be necessary.

Since they are normally installed with a pad underneath, the carpet becomes that pad in this case. Again, not “by the book,” but I have had success covering level loop, glue-down carpet with HDF core floating floor products in the past.

Generally, I would not recommend ANY products with a

“click” installation where a lot of rolling traffic would be present because of concern for stress on the tongue and groove joint.

But, for a temporary space? Worth considering. Another option could be pouring a self-leveling underlayment over the carpet.

There are products out now that can be used in this way. However, in this case, I’d be concerned that there would be some “give” in the substrate that could cause indentation from the beds and equipment, so I did not put this option on the table.

As the discussion continued, they were inclined to remove the carpet and install VCT. I suggested the option of vinyl tile or plank in the 5 mm thick “loose lay” format. These products are normally glued around the perimeter of the room and are thick and heavy enough that they stay in place quite well. In this case, the carpet adhesive might actually help it stay in place. Although the material cost is higher than VCT, floor preparation cost would be less and “no wax” maintenance would save money. You literally could rip up the carpet, do a small amount of substrate preparation, install this material and move into the space immediately. Again, if this were intended to be a permanent installation, I would recommend complete removal of the carpet adhesive residue and a “skim coat” of patching compound if not a ¼-inch pour of self-leveling underlayment. But for fast-and-temporary, it’s a different story.

I am hearing many other stories about these temporary installations for health care settings. Have you had any? I’d love to hear from you about it.

Christopher Capobianco has been in the floor covering industry since the 1970s in various roles including retail and commercial sales, technical support, consulting, journalism, education and volunteer work. He currently is part of the sales team for Spartan Surfaces in New York City. You can reach him via christopher@SpartanSurfaces.com.

Emergency environments must provide the same protections found in permanent installations.

Canada’s floorcovering magazine

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PRODUCTS Wood-look laminates

modified timber has many applications and is suitable for decking, flooring, cladding and general joinery such as doors and window frames. www.lignia.com Versatile sanded grout

grouting most types of ceramic and porcelain tiles, quarry tiles, pavers, natural and engineered dimension stones, granite, slate, glass tile and mosaics. The efflorescence-free grout is said to provide colour consistency, rapid-curing for fast-track and time-sensitive projects, is easy to apply and clean, and provides good compressive strength characteristics. The product resists mold, mildew and bacteria growth, exceeds ANSI A118.6 and/or ANSI A118.7 requirements, and contributes to LEED objectives and requirements. www.proma.ca Radiant under floor heating

The Adore laminate flooring collection from Taiga Building Products features real wood looks in a variety of styles and colours. Valinge Drop Lock 2G technology decreases installation times by half, the company says. Features include a 25-year residential warranty, glueless locking system, four-sided V-groove, formaldehyde free and E1 emissions rating. The 1216 x 196 mm size planks are 8 mm thick. www.taigabuilding.com Modified timber meets flooring needs Modified timber from Lignia produced for architects, designers and other professionals is said to be a durable real wood that delivers beauty, high performance and sustainability through a unique modification process. The product, also called

Polyblend Plus Sanded Grout from Custom Building Products has all of the features of its original Polyblend, plus some enhancements to improve performance, finished colour, and colour consistency. It is now an ANSI A118.7 polymer-modified, cement-based sanded grout that produces hard, dense joints that resist shrinking, cracking, and wear. The product is suitable for vitreous, semi-vitreous or non-vitreous tile types such as ceramic, mosaic, quarry or cement body tiles. Formulated for durability, the new grout accommodates 1/8- to ½-in. joints for interior or exterior installations, including floors, countertops, walls, ceilings, showers, fountains and pools. www.custombuildingproducts.com Grout for narrow and wide joints

Lignia, starts out life as a softwood (radiata pine) from FSC-certified managed plantations, and is modified in the company’s manufacturing plant to give it the appearance and properties of hardwoods. Using proprietary grading rules, the company is said to ensure the wood used is carefully selected from large-diameter pruned logs which are cut to produce heart-free boards free of warp and with minimal surface defects.

Classified as small movement, the 26

May/June 2020

Pro Grout Max from Proma is a grout formulated with an aggregate for grouting both narrow and wide joints (1/16 to 1 in.).

The VOC-free product is suitable for

The Strata_Heat radiant floor heating system introduced by Laticrete consists of a floor heating wire, an uncoupling mat, a Wi-Fi enabled thermostat and what is said to be the world’s first heat conductive thin-set additive. The system provides comfort and warmth in spaces where more uniform and efficient heat source is valued, the company says. The digital programmable thermostats are dual voltage 120/240 V and can be controlled through smart phone technology.

The thin-set additive reduces energy costs by 15 percent and the uncoupling floor warming mat makes for easy and secure wire placement, the company adds. www.laticrete.com Broadcast materials enhance resinous floors Mapei has introduced Mapeflakes and Mapefloor DQ to its line of industrial resin-flooring products. Mapeflakes are composed of water-based resin materials, inorganic minerals, additives and various pigments. Mapefloor DQ is composed of a medium-grade aggregate. Both products are designed to add colour and flair when

North American Hickory and Hard Maple with a colour palette that includes naturals, lights, taupe and earthtones. The Big Sky

broadcast into resinous flooring systems.

The products are chemically compatible with several resin formulations and are available in a variety of solid colours and colour blends. The products can be added to resinous flooring systems in healthcare facilities and department stores, as well as commercial and general-service industrial environments. www.mapei.com Mobile dust extractor Festool has announced the CT 15 Dust Extractor. The mobile dust extractor is HEPA Certified, meeting or exceeding all requirements of EPA RRP guidelines. The 24 lb. unit is compatible with the company’s other systems, capable of removing dust, water and dirt. The extractor comes with touch-operated control panel for easy operation even while wearing gloves or in a dusty workshop, the company says. In

addition, the tool-triggered activation is said to be a time-saver as the extractor starts and stops in-sync with the connected tool when it is plugged into the supplied socket. The four-gallon capacity unit has an externally accessible filter so that users can change filters quickly and tool-free. The variable suction force capability means that the unit regulates air flow for applications like fine sanding. www.festoolcanada.com Hickory and hard maple hardwood flooring LM Flooring Grand Mesa and Big Sky hardwood floor collections have been introduced by AHF Products. Grand Mesa features variable brushed texture planks in

collection is said to capture the natural beauty of the European white oak species, with subtle stains and tints inspired by nature. The planks are 9/16 in. thick x 9 in. wide, in lengths up to 86 in. with a dry sawn European white oak veneer. www.ahfproducts.com Modular carpet tile collection

Patcraft has announced Organic Interruption, a modular flooring collection in two styles, Underlie and Linear Tension. Inspired by the natural interaction between organic elements and man-made structures, the company says, the two 18 x 36 in. carpet tiles feature linear patterns disrupted by organic textures. With 12 accents that are incorporated within six neutral bases, the collection is designed for education environment applications. The collection is said to offer ease of maintenance, as each product can be cleaned with just hot water extraction, and the tile format offers opportunity for selective replacement to minimize operational interruptions and cost. Constructed with Solution Q Extreme and EcoWorx backing, products are Cradle to Cradle Certified Silver and are backed with limited lifetime warranties against stain, colourfastness to light, static and abrasive wear for maximum performance and appearance retention. www.patcraft.com

Wood-effect porcelain stoneware The Aspen wood-effect collection announced by Ceramica Rondine is said to be inspired by alder wood. The product can be used for the flooring and the covering of a mountain cabin, as well as in a loft in the city, the company says, due to

the range of colours ranging from a more classic Beige, to the more modern Dark.

The collection is made in two moulded sizes: 15 × 100 cm and 20.5 × 100 cm. The range consists of 4 colours and a decoration, in 20.5 × 20.5 cm format, for the realization of “carpets” and wall coverings. www.ceramicarondine.it/en/ Smooth self-leveling underlayment TEC Specialty has introduced Level Set 500 HF self-leveling underlayment (SLU) that is said to achieve a smooth surface without time-consuming sanding or skim coating, cutting labour costs by up to

two-thirds. In addition, the company says, testing shows flooring adhesive coverage can increase by up to 20 percent. The product pours like water and is pumpable for interior applications, as well as providing installers with both extended working time and longer healing time, it adds. The underlayment is walkable within 2 to 3 hours for ceramic tile installations.

Moisture-sensitive floor coverings can be installed in 15 hours, a significant improvement over the 24 hours cure time typically needed for traditional SLU products, the company says. www.tecspecialty.com

Canada’s floorcovering magazine

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BULLETS Current business highlights The total value of building permits issued by Canadian municipalities increased 6.7 percent year-over-year to $8.6 billion in February. —Statistics Canada The trend in housing starts in Canada was 207,809 units for Q1 2020, compared to 192,384 units for Q1 2019, an increase of 8 percent. —Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation Builders started construction on new homes in the U.S. at a pace of 1.6 million units in February. This represented a 1.5 percent decline, however, year-on-year there was a 39 percent increase in starts. —U.S. Department of Commerce The U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) increased 2.1 percent in the fourth quarter of 2019. By contrast, the Canada GDP growth for the same period was 0.3 percent.

—U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis/Statistics Canada.

In a Covid-19 survey on April 8, country populations of at least four million and over two thousand confirmed cases were ranked by the rate of infection per one million inhabitants. Using this measure against 2018 population census data, Spain had the most severe rate with 3,038 cases, followed by Switzerland and Italy. Eighth place U.S., the country with by far the most cases at that time, still had a relatively low figure in comparison, 1,222, while Canada came in at a distant 482. —John Hopkins University/World Bank For the two weeks ended March 21, 2020, total U.S. consumer packaged goods sales (in-store and online) increased $8.5 billion US from the two weeks prior. For context, that’s 15x the average rate of change for a typical two-week period. —Nielsen Japan’s imports of wooden assembled flooring rose 23 percent in January 2020 compared to a month earlier but year-on-year the value of imports was almost unchanged.

—Japan Ministry of Finance EU imports of flooring products from tropical countries increased 0.5 percent to 25,690 tonnes in 2019, while import value was up 1.2 percent at €59.4 million.

—IMM/Eurostat China’s 2019 sawn hardwood imports from Canada surged 56 percent to 170,000 cubic metres, with the Philippines and Germany imports rising 18 percent and 8 percent respectively. —China Customs 28

May/June 2020

Peruvian exports of wood and wood products in January 2020 totaled almost $3.7 million US, down 4 percent year on year. The main markets were China, the U.S., Canada, South Korea, Switzerland, India, Chile and the United Arab Emirates. —Peru Association of Exporters U.S. imports of hardwood flooring rose by 10 percent in January, recovering from four straight months of decline.

Despite the gain, January totals still trail January 2019 numbers by 22 percent. While imports from China rose 87 percent and imports Malaysia grew nearly 250 percent, the monthly totals from those two countries are still well behind totals from a year ago. —U.S. Census Bureau/Foreign Trade Statistics February marked the sixth straight month of revenue growth for U.S. architecture firms. The Architecture Billings Index score of 53.4 for the month reflected the strongest growth in billings at firms over this period. —AIA Amid the various media options consumers have to choose from, including streaming platforms and connected TVs, a recent survey found that 83 percent of American consumers say they’re listening to as much or more radio as they were before the pandemic. —Nielsen In 2017, the global crowdfunding market reached $3.9 billion US. By the end of 2018, it grew by more than 35 percent to reach $5.3 billion US. Since then, the transaction value of the entire crowdfunding industry increased by 60 percent to $8.5 billion US. —Statista In the U.S., 68 percent of workers said they would accept a 10 percent pay cut in return for being able to work from the comfort of their home. Almost half of all workers surveyed said they would take a pay cut and work more hours just for not having to show up to the office every day. —Platform.sh

Looks like they got their wish. – Editor The Consumer Sentinel Network reports that business and personal loan scams top the list of loan or lease frauds in the U.S., with nearly 44,000 complaints, or over 40 percent of all loan fraud reports in 2019. Compared to 2018 data, business and personal loan scams jumped 116 percent over the last year. —U.S. Federal Trade Commission

EVENTS Aug. 12 – 14 CFI Convention & Expo Orlando, Fla. https://cfiinstallers.org/events/ Aug. 31 – Sept. 2 Domotex Asia/Chinafloor Shanghai, China www.domotexasiachinafloor.com Oct. 13 – 16 Sicam Pordenone, Italy www.exposicam.it/en/ Nov. 4 – 7 GreenBuild Expo San Diego, Calif. www.greenbuildexpo.com Dec. 2 – 4 The Buildings Show Toronto, Ont. www.thebuildingsshow.com Jan. 15 – 18, 2021 Domotex Hanover, Germany www.domotex.de/en/ Jan. 25 – 28 TISE: The International Surface Event Las Vegas, Nev. www.intlsurfaceevent.com Feb. 9 – 11 Kitchen and Bath Industry Show Orlando, Fla. www.kbis.com April 13 – 16 Coverings Orlando, Fla. www.coverings.com

ADVERTISERS Ardex www.mapei.com. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Custom Building Products

NAC Products Inc. www.nacproducts.com.. . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Proma

www. custombuildingproducts.com. . . . .

9, 31

Mapei

www.proma.ca. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16, 17

Schluter Systems Canada www.schluter.com. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

www.mapei.com. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Mohawk

5

Shnier www.shnier.ca. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

www.mohawkflooring.com. . . . . . . . .

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Tarkett USA Inc. www.tarkettna.com. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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marketers: YOUR

biggest asset IS YOUR reputation

readers.

WITH OUR

Stephen King | 416-802-1225

sking@wimediainc.ca Rates and details: www.coveringscanada.ca Canada’s floorcovering magazine

29

THEN-AND-NOW Cirque twist in atrium townhome

Vertical refresh A POORLY CONSTRUCTED 1970s TOWNHOME in the Westmount area of Montreal, QC, was purchased by a family with one thing in mind — a total gut job. Architectural firm RobitailleCurtis, also of Montreal, was given the mandate to turn the tired atrium house into a modern home.

Principal architect Andrew Curtis admits there were a lot of issues with the house. “The people who bought it knew they were going to renovate it. They came into it eyes wide open.”

Curtis says the unit was not well insulated, the parquet floor was coming unglued and the windows were cheap.

“That obviously doesn’t do well in this climate,” he says.

The firm’s design highlights the dramatic vertical and horizontal axis of the home. On the ground floor, the linear hearth and views across the atrium and kitchThe ground floor was completely opened, en terminate at with new steel structure installed to support the new garden a concrete radiant floor. window wall. The vertical axis is highlighted by the two-story bookcase and vertical grain Douglas fir slats.

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The material palette of wood slats, polished concrete floors, and white lacquered millwork achieve brightness, warmth, durability and sleek minimal design.

Concealed floor-to-ceiling pocket doors and stainless steel mesh curtains provide flexible separation.

A trapeze net ‘floor,’ installed by riggers from Cirque du Soleil, replaced the need for guardrails at the top of the expanded atrium and serves as a unique, “death-defying” play surface on the third floor where children’s rooms are located.

According to Curtis, radiant heating was installed under the concrete on the ground floor and upstairs bathrooms. Engineered white oak hardwood with an oil rub finish is in all of the bedrooms, and sealed, QueMay/June May/June2020 2020

Old areas of parquet wood flooring (right) were replaced with a combination of quarter sawn white oak and polished concrete, shown above. bec-quarried St. Mark’s stone covers the stair treads.

Two major challenges faced Curtis. First, the atrium was too dark and needed to be opened up.

“There wasn’t much transparency through the atrium because there were 36-inch-high drywall guardrails with railings sitting on top of them,” he said. “If you can imagine, the atrium space mostly filled with drywall — it just wasn’t super appealing.”

Second, the new owners wanted an extra floor of living space inserted into the structure. “The only way we could do it was to take up the old floor structure and put in new steel joists,” says Curtis. “That was a big job.”

The clients, a young family, wanted an open convivial layout with the ability to close off space so their Great Danes and cats could be kept out of the kitchen and living room, details that Curtis was able to accomplish. Unforeseen circumstances, however, led the family to sell the property to another family in short order.

He reports that “the new family is very happy” in the space, with a teenage son that shares the trapeze net as an awesome hangout area with his buddies. For safety reasons, the new owners have been advised to have the net expertly inspected once a year.

The finished Then-and-Now project is featured on each issue’s cover.

Please submit project suggestions to news@wimediainc.ca.

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