Adhesive-free installation represents a new way to think about flooring, transforming it from single-use material to a flexible, circular design element.
Specifying adhesive-free flooring represents a sustainable choice, with added design flexibility and operational cost benefits.
Explore our Specification Centre designed to make specification easy for architects and designers.
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THE CHALLENGE: What’s the issue with flooring installation using adhesive?
No matter how recyclable a flooring material is, it becomes very difficult to recycle and reuse if it is installed using wet adhesives such as spray adhesives and tackifiers.
That’s because when the flooring is uplifted, it’s likely to be contaminated by not only adhesive residue but also some of the subfloor to which it was adhered. It’s not suitable for recovery or reuse and can’t be easily recycled.
Compare this to adhesive-free installation where uplift is clean and easy, and flooring materials can be reused multiple times.
Plus the sub-floor (often metal raised access flooring) is also contaminated, and has to be rectified before the next installation, adding additional time and remediation costs for building owners and tenants.
Carpet tiles are “engineered to perform well in the harshest commercial locations. Often, their design life of 15 years is much more than their fashion-led actual life of 7-10 years. This means a second life is well within their asset lifetime.”
Contract Flooring Association (CFA) report: “Zero Avoidable Waste in Flooring – Towards a Circular Economy”
THE BENEFITS: Why Specify Adhesive-Free Flooring?
SUSTAINABILITY
FLOORING AS A CIRCULAR MATERIAL
- Adhesive-free installation enables reuse of flooring materials/diversion from landfill
- Floor covering life extended beyond single use
- Help towards sustainability goals such as RICS SKA ratings
- IOBAC products recyclable, reusable and contain recycled components
DESIGN FLEXIBILITY
FOR TODAY’S AGILE SPACES
- Proven award-winning technology across range of floor covering types – carpet, LVT, woven vinyl …
- Quickly repurpose and adapt spaces with modular, swappable floor finishes
- Secure, durable hold for high traffic areas due to Dual Grip technology
- Easy access, repair and maintenance
COST EFFICIENCY
REDUCED LIFECYCLE COSTS
- Reduced labour and material costs – both installation and maintenance
- Access floor uncontaminated so no remedial costs
- Minimal disruption during installation – up to 3 times quicker – no odour/delays
- No need to purchase new flooring – reuse existing
RESOURCES: Explore Adhesive-Free Flooring
A Scale for Flooring Sustainability
An interactive pdf for assessing the sustainability of your floor covering and installation method combined
An interactive pdf to help specifiers incorporate reuse at the design phase of projects.
Provides a practical and visual indicator of how to assess and specify flooring systems at the highest levels of circularity by considering the floor covering and its installation method combined.
Using a traffic-light system, the scale clearly shows how the overall sustainability of a floor covering can be improved by changing the installation method.
CPD “A Specifier’s Guide to Adhesive-Free Flooring”.
A free downloadable, online 30 minute narrated presentation covering:
Download our whitepaper: The need for flexible flooring in the modern workplace
developed in partnership with Loughton Contracts, the UK’s leading flooring contractor
Inside you’ll find:
- The key trends driving workplace design
- Why adhesive-free installation means single-use flooring is a thing of the past
- Why modular is the way forward, changing once static flooring to an agile and versatile design element with a seamless range of covering choices
- How fit-outs and maintenance can be carried out faster and more cost-effectively, with less mess, fewer materials, and minimised disruption to business operations
- How flooring access, repair and maintenance processes can be vastly simplified
- Handy selection guides, case study examples and product details
Read articles and blogs on adhesive-free flooring
Article: Adhesive-free flooring in the workplace: sustainability from the ground up
Videos: What are the benefits of specifying adhesive-free flooring? Benefit 1: Waste Reduction
Videos: What are the benefits of specifying adhesive-free flooring? Benefit 2: Enhanced Design Agility
Videos: What are the benefits of specifying adhesive-free flooring? Benefit 3: Operational Efficiency
Blog: What Lies Beneath – The Hidden Risks of Adhesive-Based Flooring Installation
Opinion Piece: The Missing Jigsaw Piece – Why the Flooring Industry needs to take a Holistic Approach to Sustainability
INSPIRATION: Case studies using adhesive-free flooring
WORKPLACE
When adhesive-free flooring was specified for this HQ refit, the contractor needed an installation method that was compatible with carpet, LVT and woven vinyl tiles. Our next generation MagTabs were the ideal partner for raised metal access flooring.
Sustainability is key for this company. So when an area within their prestigious London office needed to be refurbished, both the architect and client specified adhesive-free MagTabs to install carpet tiles on raised metal access flooring.
RETAIL, LEISURE & HOSPITALITY
Saving time, money and the planet in Retail Refurbishment – learn how IOBAC Express Cure Resin helped Shell Malaysia with their forecourt shop refit programme.
The flooring in the restaurant wasn’t in keeping with the rest of this historic building. IOBAC Express Cure Resin came to the rescue to aid the installation of magnetic Luxury Vinyl Tile with minimal disruption to trade.
RESIDENTIAL
Find out why adhesive-free IOBAC Ezy-Install Underlay was specified by multi award-winning sustainable house builder Etopia for its BRE test house showcasing best-in-class sustainable buildings.
With a growing physiotherapy and CBT practice, Mark decided to invest in a garden building as an additional space in which to treat his clients. He wanted flexible flooring that looked good and was easy to install …. step in IOBAC Ezy-Install Underlay.
PRODUCT SPECIFICATION
STEP 1: SELECT MAGNETICALLY RECEPTIVE BASE
STEP 2: SELECT FLOOR COVERING
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