Adhesive-free Flooring – Specification Centre

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.

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.

IOBAC - Adhesive-free flooring uplift comparison
Metal raised access flooring adhesive contamination

 

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 

A Scale for Flooring Sustainability

 

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:

IOBAC CPD adhesive-free flooring
The Evolution of Modular Flooring: How flooring has evolved from sheet materials into different modular types and methods of installation
Why Specify Adhesive-Free Flooring?: Key benefits vs traditional installation methods
Overview of adhesive-free flooring types: Including loose-laid flooring, click systems, magnetic solutions and access flooring
Adhesive-free flooring in practice: Case studies from a range of sectors – residential, retail, office and hospitality and leisure

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

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.

IOBAC MAGTABS ADHESIVE-FREE FLOORING INSTALLATION SKA RATINGS
Sustainable Workplace - IOBAC MagTabs Case Study

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.

IOBAC Adhesive-Free Magnetic Flooring I Forecourt Refit

 

The flooring in the restaurant wasn’t in keeping with the rest of this historic buildingIOBAC Express Cure Resin came to the rescue to aid the installation of magnetic Luxury Vinyl Tile with minimal disruption to trade.

IOBAC Adhesive-free flooring The Piece Hall Restaurant

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.

BRE Adhesive-Free flooring for construction
IOBAC Adhesive-free flooring - Garden Studio 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.

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