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J UNE 2018 | 41 Resilient Flooring These creative formats are available in standard glue-down and in a loose lay, further expanding the creative possibilities over raised access flooring and in areas transitioning to carpet. Forever exploring new boundaries, LSI will challenge designers' knowl- edge of geometry and help them create some of the most exciting flooring patterns ever seen in luxury vinyl tile. Altro Floors has introduced its Altro Cantata line, which, in joining Altro XpressLay, has formed a duet of adhesive-free flooring ranges. In contrast to Altro XpressLay, a slip-resistant floor, Altro's latest addition is here to provide a smooth and attractive, yet still durable solution for any time-sensitive installation. "Altro Cantata's 16 soft-look shades in subtle natural tones to vivid colours help create stunning surroundings, and with no adhesive required makes for both minimal installation time and disruption," says Richard Finnegan, Altro marketing manager. "This is especially helpful for areas that cannot be shut down for long, like a busy hospital or school." Though its finish is smooth, Altro Cantata can handle medium to heavy traffic, meaning that this adhesive-free floor executes well even in busy spaces. The easy cleaning and maintenance regime ensures that its striking shades look as great throughout the performance as they did at the beginning. Helping installations achieve sustainability goals is its 12 percent rapidly renewable bio-based content and five percent post-consumer recycled content, along with being phthalate-free. "The adhesive-free nature means there are no odours or VOCs from adhesives, and 100 percent recyclability allows Altro Cantata to be taken up and recycled at the end of its long life," Finnegan says. Nora systems, Inc. is pleased to relaunch nora- ment grano, a premium rubber floor covering that brings the classic tradition of Italian terrazzo tiles to interior spaces. Norament grano offers a redesigned pallet of 32 new colours with a harmonious balance of base shades and colour-accentuated granules. This granular-rich design and the floor's hammered surface make norament grano the right choice for hard-working spaces and high-traffic areas without sacrificing style. "We've reimagined the timeless elegance of Roman villas and palazzos with an extensive range of inspiring colours," says Tim Cole, VP of marketing at nora systems, Inc., North America. "The enduring appeal of norament grano delivers a distinctive, bold expression to a building's character." Uniting modern performance with time-honoured style, norament grano is a versatile floor covering with an uncoated surface that reduces maintenance costs and increases value throughout its lifecycle. In addition, the floor delivers ergonomic and acoustic advantages to create quiet, comfortable indoor spaces. The premium rubber flooring also provides these important attributes: a simple maintenance regi- men that requires little more than water and uses no waxes, sealants or harsh cleaners; improved acous- tics thanks to excellent footfall sound absorption; naturally bacteriostatic and fungistatic; a dense, nonporous surface that helps repel dirt and bacteria while resisting stains; an absence of polyvinyl chlo- ride (PVC), plasticizers (phthalates) and halogens (such as chlorine) for improved indoor air quality; Greenguard Gold Certified for low-VOC emissions; and an extended lifecycle, which reduces the need for frequent removal and disposal. Like all nora floor coverings, norament grano co- ordinates with other products in the nora portfolio of more than 300 standard colours and patterns to cre- ate a co-ordinated look throughout any facility. Pentagonals from Tarkett's Johnsonite brand is a collection of three dis- tinct shapes – Shell, Monument, and Zircon – created with Johnsonite's cradle-to-cra- dle-certified rubber flooring. For more than a century, math- ematicians have been trying to solve one of the world's most intriguing geomet- ric puzzles – searching for pentagonal shapes that "tile the plane," or fill a surface without overlapping or leav- ing gaps. "Only 15 such pentagons have been discovered, but the quest will likely go on forever as no-one knows how many actu- ally exist," says Terry Mowers, VP commercial design, Tarkett. Now Johnsonite has turned three of these con- vex polygons into eye-catching rubber tiles. Each shape collection is available in the full rubber floor- ing line, meaning designers can choose from nearly limitless textures and colours to create truly unique flooring. "Rubber flooring is naturally slip resis- tant with shock absorbing qualities, and natural acoustic properties," says Mowers. "It's also a truly sustainable product, with a long lifecycle and low- maintenance requirement." ADHESIVES To make sure beautiful floors are secured, Mapei is breaking new ground in floor-covering installation by bringing to the market a complete set of subfloor- preparation products and adhesive systems that are designed to function at any moisture condition of the concrete subfloor. "With the introduction of Planiprep MRS – a moisture-resistant, high-compressive-strength skimcoating compound – combined with the repo- sitioned Ultrabond G15, a high moisture-resistant, fast-setting epoxy flooring adhesive, Mapei can now offer a warranted installation system for solid rub- ber and vinyl flooring that does not require an epoxy moisture-barrier system to be in place," says J.D. Eckmire, director of sales, western Canada. Planiprep MRS is an advanced, hydraulic cement- based skimcoating compound that is specially formulated for skimcoating and patching interior horizon- tal concrete surfaces with high moisture content, or where environmental controls are not operational. Planiprep MRS has no moisture vapour emission rate (MVER) limitations and can be installed without prior testing on properly prepared concrete substrates. Ultrabond G15 is a fast- setting, two-part, high moisture-resistant reactive epoxy adhesive with low VOCs, designed for the installation of rubber and vinyl flooring. "Ultrabond G15 provides the ulti- mate in bond and shear strength, can be used on concrete slabs with high moisture vapour emission rates, and is recommended for high-traffic installations where superior indentation resistance and performance are required," Eckmire explains. "With the introduction of these two products, Mapei can now offer a warranted installation system for solid vinyl or rubber floor- ing over concrete slabs with 25 pounds [11,3 kg] MVER and 100 percent RH without the need for an epoxy mois- ture barrier to be installed," says Jeff Johnson, busi- ness manager for Mapei's Floor Covering Installation Systems. "The combination of Planiprep MRS and Ultrabond G15 provides groundbreaking techniques for fast-track installation of resil- ient floor products, and removes traditional roadblocks and time delays that result from try- ing to resolve high-moisture-related issues." Planiprep MRS joins Mapei's line of high-moisture- resistant subfloor products that include Mapecem Quickpatch and Ultraplan Extreme 2. With these three products, Mapei is now able to offer subfloor- preparation products that skimcoat, level, patch, and deep fill without respect to subfloor moisture emis- sion rates or conditions. A Hexagon shaped tiles from LSI North America. norament grano from nora systems inc. Zircon Pentagonals from Tarkett's Johnsonite brand.

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