Funeral Home

[FlooringGirl]

Okay, I'm working on a job for a funeral home - they want 6' wide commercial vinyl in their "prep" areas, since the ceramic tile isn't working out. When they get blood on the grout, they worry that it isn't properly cleaned off, sanitary, and want something better.

Can someone please explain to me what heat-weld seams are made of and how they resist bacteria? It would be very helpful ... the big concern is the seams. I tried to explain that they are sufficient in medical settings, but the man wants to know why they are the best choice. Thoughts, proof?

Thanks, Tia

[Jon Scanlan]

FlooringGirl said Okay, I'm working on a job for a funeral home - they want 6' wide commercial vinyl in their "prep" areas, since the ceramic tile isn't working out. When they get blood on the grout, they worry that it isn't properly cleaned off, sanitary, and want something better. Can someone please explain to me what heat-weld seams are made of and how they resist bacteria? It would be very helpful ... the big concern is the seams. I tried to explain that they are sufficient in medical settings, but the man wants to know why they are the best choice. Thoughts, proof? Thanks, Tia

There are some good flooring manufacturers sites that have all the information that you would require in writing which you could then show your client I will let some of the other guy tell which product would be suitable but if they are washing the vinyl maybe an anti skid vinyl like Altro or similar could be the answer

[Daris Mulkin]

When the wife was in the hospital the las time and the time before I was sitting in my chair and was looking at the welded seams in the flooring. In most cases I saw the weld was pulling away from the seam line. There were little black lines where the dirt and water had gotten down in the seam. Now this is flooring that is less than 3 years old. Like Tia asked how can this be a medical setting?

Daris

[Barry Carlton]

Daris, if it was pulling away, it wasn't a good weld in the first place.

Tia, it is the best choice. Jon has a good idea, maybe get printed info from the manu's.

[BrianM]

The weld rod is composed of the same material as the sheet. When the weld is done right it's essentially one piece when you're done. Armstrong Medintech is the brand we lay the most in health care and research settings. In both settings they are using chemicals that stain and damage most floors. These vinyls are designed to withstand both the things that would be spilled constantly like iodine and blood but also the cleaning chemicals.

[BrianM]

Daris Mulkin said When the wife was in the hospital the las time and the time before I was sitting in my chair and was looking at the welded seams in the flooring. In most cases I saw the weld was pulling away from the seam line. There were little black lines where the dirt and water had gotten down in the seam. Now this is flooring that is less than 3 years old. Like Tia asked how can this be a medical setting? Daris

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Seam failure on welded seams is something that happens quite often for beginners. Done right these seams simply don't fail.

It's really no different than when you walk into a small local retail store and see all the glue-down carpet seams open and unraveling or covered up with duct tape. Done right glue down carpet seams do not fail either.

Most common failures on welded seams comes from not gouging out the correct amount of material on each side of the seam. Too much or too little are a problem to the point that one or both sides of the material will not be welded and you get a superficial bond. The next most common error is probably not having the gun running hot enough or running it too quickly for any given speed. In any case both sides of the seam and the weld rod have to melt together to achieve a solid weld that can be properly trimmed and will hold up over time. It takes time and experience to know when you're really welding the goods perfectly. The job should be done by people who handle hard surface commercial goods frequently.

[BrianM]

Jon Scanlan said There are some good flooring manufacturers sites that have all the information that you would require in writing which you could then show your client I will let some of the other guy tell which product would be suitable but if they are washing the vinyl maybe an anti skid vinyl like Altro or similar could be the answer

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Non-skid floors don't weld up so neat. They're also much harder to keep clean. I don't believe I can recall ever putting anything like Altro in a health care setting where treatments are done. I don't believe they would be satisfactory to meet our health codes.

Are your standards and practices different in that regard?

[FlooringGirl]

Thanks for the replies - we are looking at Mannington Commercial Assurance, which is a non-skid 6', and I have a guy who does a great job heatwelding, so that shouldn't be a problem. If the weld rod is the same material as the sheet like Brian said, that would make for a perfect explanation regarding the properties of the floor as a whole. I'm off to do some manufacturer research!

Tia

[rusty baker]

I hope your guy will work in a funeral home. I did once. That was enough for me. I was restretching carpet in a room with full caskets.

[BrianM]

FlooringGirl said Thanks for the replies - we are looking at Mannington Commercial Assurance, which is a non-skid 6', and I have a guy who does a great job heatwelding, so that shouldn't be a problem. If the weld rod is the same material as the sheet like Brian said, that would make for a perfect explanation regarding the properties of the floor as a whole. I'm off to do some manufacturer research! Tia

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I should clarify. In the case of HOMOGENOUS vinyls typically installed for the purposes of aseptic, integral installations the rod is essentially identical to the goods. With anti-skid floors the weld rod will not contain aluminum oxide grit for obvious reasons but will otherwise be virtually the same. With heterogeneous goods the weld rod would be the closest color match to the pattern on the surface and it's composition would be designed to integrate the core vinyl material within the sheet. Sorry for all the big words. For the purposes of selling the product all the customer needs to know is that the weld rod is basically the same as the goods on the floor.

[FlooringGirl]

BrianM said ********************* I should clarify. In the case of HOMOGENOUS vinyls typically installed for the purposes of aseptic, integral installations the rod is essentially identical to the goods. With anti-skid floors the weld rod will not contain aluminum oxide grit for obvious reasons but will otherwise be virtually the same. With heterogeneous goods the weld rod would be the closest color match to the pattern on the surface and it's composition would be designed to integrate the core vinyl material within the sheet. Sorry for all the big words. For the purposes of selling the product all the customer needs to know is that the weld rod is basically the same as the goods on the floor.

I appreciate the input, and love learning something new every day! The owner is pretty much sold on me, because he found out my name was short for my real German name and the next thing you know, we were talking the Deutsch together. But, it's important for me to answer his question about why a heat-welded seam is better than a grouted tile seam for sanitary and antibacterial purposes.

Curious, I think this product is both homogenous and anti-skid? Maybe I'm portraying it wrong - it has a bumpy surface texture, causing us to say it is more resistant to slipping. I wouldn't say it has grit like actual anti-skid products.

Rusty, I'm already concerned about going to measure the funeral home prep rooms ... hoping there aren't any bodies in there at the time. However, I'll do it because the carpet also needs replaced in that whole building and if this goes well, it may be a really good thing in the long run.

Tia

[rusty baker]

Tia, if you go in the prep rooms, take some Vicks to put under your nose, just in case.

[Barry Carlton]

Trust me, the morgue can be worse.

[Daris Mulkin]

I have done numerous funeral homes. In all of the the area we was working in the people from the home had removed the bodies ahead of time. But we were taken down into the embalming room in one and there were bodies. There was a little old lady on the table and three on a cart waiting their turn. We did all our work at night as the home was open during the day. It was weird hearing the embalming pumps running and knowing what was going on. I had to go back to the store to get supplies and left my helper there. Unbeknown to him the owner of the home who lived up stairs had come down and was standing behind the kid, who didn't know he was there, and coughed. The kid came unglued. Then a little bit later I snuck in on him and scared the crap out of him again. He wasn't much good the rest of the night.
The carpet in one which was a much nicer funeral home was all wool. The first time it was 27" good and the second time it was the same pattern only
9' goods. It was a fun job as the directors were fun to work with and always pulling jokes on us.
It works the best to work nights in those places.

Daris

[cproader]

Tia, yer installer will need a special skivin knife fer that product. It cost about 70.00 I think. He should not try it without it.....