Once every five years, the CFA publishes one of the most significant documents in its library. Apart from British Standards, this is perhaps the most significant technical installation document the industry creates – The CFA Guide to Contract Flooring 2022. Richard explains.
WHAT makes the CFA Guide to Contract Flooring (GCF) so important? There is more than one answer to that question, and mine would include the fact that it is the only technical installation document in our industry that covers the installation of all the soft floor coverings (textile, resilient, and timber) in one volume. As a starting point that is hugely valuable.
In addition, I would add that the GCF not only benefits from the foundation of British Standards, which are quoted wherever relevant, but it also features best practice and innovation that often later appears in the British Standards themselves, which is especially valuable, as these are generally published less frequently.
That’s not to say that innovation doesn’t occur outside of the CFA guide, but perhaps one of the other significant elements of the content of the guide, is that it is all reviewed by a wide section of the industry (the CFA manufacturers’ committee) before it’s included and published. So, its credibility and accuracy are almost beyond dispute.
In fact, there’s an even longer process for innovation, where new and larger sections are first published in between the five-year cycle as guidance notes for exclusive use by CFA members. They are accessed on the members area of the CFA website and absorbed into the full guide when it is next updated.
Examples of this appear in this edition and include guidance on screed boards and how to prepare them, something that was universally identified within our manufacturers’ committee as being poorly understood in relation to the installation of soft floorcoverings. A critical eye has also been cast across areas such as subfloors, where the still widely used traditional sand and cement screeds have been well represented for many years, but the development of flowing screeds and anhydrite are also now covered in more detail.
Underfloor heating was a hot topic (see what I did there!) and I suspect discussion will continue beyond the publication of the 2022 Guide. In fact, I am pretty sure it will, and CFA members will be at the forefront of this.
The GCF will, as usual, appeal to a multitude of readers. Specifiers will use it as a reference document that is easy to search to find information and to build a specification. Members will use the exclusive individual sections option on the CFA website to send to clients to underpin a quotation.
Alongside the CFA logo, this all helps to win business and stand out from the crowd as part of a fully supported and vetted, quality supply chain. For 2022 the guide is available in hard copy, page turner, and PDF formats that are fully searchable, meaning you can find that critical bit of information quickly to include in an email.
I can’t write an article launching the 2022 version of the CFA Guide to Contract Flooring without mentioning the army of people who have contributed. As mentioned above, part of what makes this guide so significant is that it’s written by industry for industry.
Many of the contributors come from our manufacturers’ committee. But it also includes contributions from contractor members of the CFA council, as well as other relevant experts. There are genuinely too many people to list, so I can only thank you once again through these pages for your help.
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