M50 Rubber Plastics Cork Lino Carpet tiling sheeting Checklist

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M50 Rubber/Plastics/Cork/Lino/Carpet tiling/sheeting (Checklist)

M50 Rubber/Plastics/Cork/ Lino/Carpet tiling/sheeting
About:

Design

Cradle to Cradle:

design carpets using only natural biobased materials
design carpets to avoid mixing natural (biobased) and technical (Plastics petro-chemical chemicals) ingredients
design carpets to enable easy seperation of composite construction carpets
design laying/securing method to simplify reclaim for reuse

Resource Efficiency:

Consider carpet roll widths when planning room sizes
Select carpet roll width (and multiples) to fit room size

Mat wells:

Avoid highly textured open weaved carpet which may hinder wheelchairs, trolleys, wheeled luggage, wheeled bins and wheeled furniture

Ensure:

Preparation & Conditioning

Ensure substrate (bases and backgrounds) screeds and concrete floors have dried out to recommended level
Follow the correct sequence and duration not the over optimistic programme
Test with moisture content test kit
Ensure space and materials are conditioned to manufacturer recommendations for the correct duration
Ensure all preparatory work by others is complete
- (e.g. electrics and plumbing)
Ensure all pipes and cables are made air tight through external walls with grommets
- (air leakage, smoke and acoustics) at abutments
Ensure all pipes and cables are made fire tight through fire resistant construction
Ensure all air leakage air passage routes are stopped or closed with tapes, sealants or filled with thermal insulation
- (make airtight behind finishes not at finishes)
Carryout any recommeded preparation and priming to receive finish
Any underlayment that creaks before laying finish will creak after laying finishes, secure it first
Acoustic isulation battens create batten zone voids
- (insulate to avoid air movement, thermal flanking, thermal bypass)

Consider:

Materials:

Natural fibre carpets and backings
Sheep’s wool from small flocks which are not dipped and other non-dipped flocks.
Switzerland keeps its flocks small to avoid need for dipping.
Cellulose fibre underlayment boards
Rubber crumb sheet underlay
Absorption of UV light

Underlayments

Reclaimed, locally grown UKWAS or FSC temporate species Plywood
- or other equivalent timber panel products
Cellulose fibre underlayment boards (thermal and acoustic properties)
Aerogel thermal insulation quilt or laminated to timber panel products
Vacuum Insulated panels (in modular resource efficient floor plans)
Rubber crumb sheet underlay (acoustic isolation impact sound)
Rubber sheet (acoustic barrier airborne sound)
Low-smoke halogen-free plastics in underground projects
- (London Underground has a list of permitted materials)

Finish

Linoleum to avoid plastics
Thin Linoleum or Rubber to exploit solar gains and thermal mass of screed or concrete floors
Rubber sheet flooring for slip resistance
Plant fibre carpets and backings to avoid plastics
Sheep’s wool from small flocks which are not dipped and other non-dipped larger flocks
- Swiss flocks are kept small to avoid need for dipping
Smooth flat surfaces for ease of cleaning and avoidance of dirt traps
Integral coved skirtings for ease of cleaning (but beware below)
Coved skirtings for improved room acoustics

Accessories:

Phthalate-free PVC coved skirtings below PVC and other resilient flooring
Phthalate-free PVC capping above coved skirting with PVC and other resilient flooring
Compatible coving, capping, flooring and adhesives
Solvent-free adhesives
Low VOC adhesives
Water based adhesives
Low-smoke halogen-free plastics in underground projects
- London Underground have a list of permitted materials

If you have to use PVC flooring:

Phthalate-free PVC coved skirtings below PVC and other resilient flooring
Phthalate-free PVC capping above coved skirtings in PVC and other resilient flooring

Warning:

Manufacturers are known to change recipes and make their materials incompatible with others
When failures occur some manufacturers distance themselves and lay blame at any other door
Some are making REACH illegal recipes of PVC and denying it.

Avoid:

Finishes

Plastics in carpets and carpet backing
PVC in carpet backings See Z50
Bitumen in carpet backings See Z50
Polymer migration between plastics
- e.g. PVC to adhesives,
- PCV to coving and capping,
- adhesives to coving and capping
Floor finishes which will affect the exhibits in museums and art galleries
- British Museum has a database of compatible materials and finishes
Slip resistance can be obtained with rubber flooring
Carpet and upderlay over underfloor heating: it will act as a thermal insulator and underfloor heating relies on radiant heat to warm objects in the space
Carpet and underlay over concrete floors if thermal mass is to be exploited.

Minimise:

Virgin plastics:
- Petro-chemicals are non-renewable
- Instead use recycled content products, which are becoming increasingly available. See Z50
Use of PVC: becuase of potentially high phthalate content
Recycled plastics containing PVC
- (older PVC is probably not REACH compliant)

Substitute:

REACH REGULATIONS

All materials and ingredients fit for purpose and not identified and/or restricted by REACH or its supporting lists and guidance.
SVHC Substances of Very High Concearn
SIN-list Substitute It Now list
Not classified as dangerous under:
Dangerous Substances Directive 67/548/EEC or
Dangerous Preparations Directive 1999/45/EC
Not classified as hazardous under the CLP Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008; or
Not a substance that is: (as defined in Annex XIII of REACH)
- persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic (PBT), or
- very persistent and very bioaccumulative (vPvB); or
Not a substance that included in the European Chemicals Agency’s ‘Candidate List’ of substances of very high concern for reasons other than those listed above.

Precautionary principle:

Avoid Phthalates in PVC Plasticisers
Avoid PVC (recent testing for REACH-compliance found blatent breach of rules)

Resource Efficiency:

Reduce:
- Match component size (and multiples of them) to the size of the space to minimise waste due to off cuts
- Reduce component size at perimeters to minimise off cut waste
Reclaimable:
- Use dry laying technique
- Use dry laying carrier system
- Lay without adhesive,
- Use low tack self-adhesive,
- Use adhesive tabs at corners only
Reuse:
- Reclaimed materials
- Off-cuts to minimuse use of more cutting of whole tiles

Recycle:
- Off cuts
- Use in recycled textile underlay
- See Carpet Recycling UK (CRUK)
- Interface Europe (US) and Milliken (US) offer recycling services for petrochemical based carpets
- Acoustic isolation: recycled rubber chip sheet underlay to minimise impact noise transmission from above to below
Recover:
- Nutrients from bio-based materials
- Avoid combustion of plastics due to highly toxic pollution potential
Remanufacture
- See Centre for Remanufacture and Reuse (CRR)
- Interface will take any manufacturer’s products and refurbish, retexture, reprint and resell or give to charity

Waste Issues:

Waste Category:

Carpets: Textile
Textile ban from landfill is in place

making carpet waste expensive
Accessories: Adhesives: Hazardous

Waste statistics:

30 m tonnes (33% of 90 m. tonnes/year) of waste is offcuts (not all floor finishes, carpet or underlay)

End of Life options:

reclaim and reuse as much as possible
reclaim and remanufacture
reclaim and recycle

Health and safety issues:

Sheep’s wool carpet

If organophosphates from sheep dipping are still present.
Organophosphate compounds (OPs) were developed as chemical warfare agents because of their action in inhibiting blood cholinesterase activity: this means that in effect they can cause continual and uncontrolled stimulation of organs and muscles.
There are a number of recent reviews of OP toxicology.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that there are about 3 million acute severe incidents of pesticide poisoning every year.
Up to half of these may be due to OPs.
Dipping is no longer compulsory in UK but it continues.
Reports of adverse effects following dipping come from many parts of the UK, Australia and New Zealand as well.
See http://www.pan-uk.org/briefing/sheepdip.htm

PVC

Maintenance issue:

Textured flooring can create dirt traps that the cleaners may not reach.
Coved skirtings can make internal corners easier to keep clean,
- but beware of PVC coved skirting, coving and capping problems
There are densly packed fibre carpets and water proof backing that are pee, poo and spew resistant