COMMERCIAL flooring manufacturer Shaw Contract has partnered with flooring technology experts IOBAC UK in highlighting the crucial role adhesive-free flooring installations can play in a move to a circular economy approach for commercial interior projects.
Following comprehensive site and internal testing, Shaw Contract has approved IOBAC MagTabs as a preferred adhesive-free installation method for its extensive carpet tile collections in the EMEA region.
Andrew Jackson, business development director at Shaw Contract EMEA explains, ‘The Cradle-to-Cradle philosophy we helped pioneer in commercial flooring solutions looks to continued innovation. MagTabs offer a new option for installing our flooring products that contributes to a Cradle-to-Cradle way of thinking and a shift to a circular economy approach. We’re pleased to be working with IOBAC to realise this opportunity in the EMEA market.’
Innovation award-winning MagTabs enable a wide variety of floorcoverings to be installed adhesive-free to metal raised access floors and IOBAC’s magnetically receptive range of underlays and resins.
Ian Spreadborough, co-founder and director at IOBAC UK comments, ‘Adhesive-free installation represents a different way of thinking about flooring installation – moving it from single-use to a flexible design element that can be reused and repurposed several times before being recycled.
From a design perspective, this also gives flooring a new agility and adaptability to today’s flexible space requirements, whether that’s rental properties, flexible work environments or pop-up retail spaces.
‘Specifying ‘hard to shift, yet easy to lift’ MagTabs in conjunction with Shaw Contract’s Cradle-to-Cradle certified flooring solutions is a straightforward method by which clients and architects can support their sustainability targets, with design flexibility and operational cost benefits added in. It’s a win-win for all concerned.’
A robust option that enables easy reuse
The method by which flooring is installed has a significant impact on the ease with which overall flooring systems can be reused or recycled.
Adhesive-free installation facilitates flooring reuse as it ensures the floorcovering and subfloor are left clean and contamination-free on uplift. In contrast, flooring products installed using adhesive-based methods can end up in landfill after one use as adhesive residue and contamination hinders recyclability.
Magnetic on one side and self-adhesive on the other, these MagTabs enable floor tiles to be removed cleanly and easily for reuse or recycling, with the sub-floor left contamination-free and ready for the next flooring installation straight away. Excessive subfloor remediation costs are eliminated.
2-Dimensional Hold:
Not only are tiles held together horizontally as per conventional floating floor solutions, but owing to magnetic attraction, MagTabs also enable a strong grip in the vertical direction, ensuring tiles are secured well in place until the time comes to uplift them.
Dual Grip technology:
MT4+MagTabs incorporate IOBAC’s patented Dual Grip technology which combines dry-tack adhesion with magnetism for phenomenal grab in the highest of footfall areas.
IOBAC has created an online ‘Adhesive-Free Flooring Specification Centre’ designed to make specification easy for architects, designers, and contractors.
The resource contains whitepapers, case studies, technical data and a downloadable ‘Specifier’s Guide to Adhesive-free Flooring’ CPD, all accessed at www.iobac.com/adhesive-free-flooring.
www.iobac.com
