the End is Near

Mikey P

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The real deal is going away when it comes to hard surface flooring.
I cleaned for the owner of our nicest flooring shop in town the other day. He asked me to stop by and check out his shop. it was a bit of an unsettling experience seeing all the non absorbance choices.
An amazing assortment of LVP caught my eye..
https://shawfloors.com/flooring/vinyl/_/_/_/_/_/tile-and-plank
The new PVC base/core LVP planks are now available up to 72" long. Other cool features include: It takes 35 planks to find a repeat, price is cheap, completely water proof, instillation can be performed by a YouTube trained husband with good knees and they look and feel amazing!
Carpet will continue to go in bed rooms and and family rooms but for hard floor choices the home buying millennials wont be going ala' natural.
Rug sales and cleaning should continue to grow and grow but the question is, will those rugs be hand tied wools or woven plastics?
At least we wont have to worry about hacking them out in the home over those water proof planks.

Luxury-Vinyl-Flooring-New-Home-F.jpg
 
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FredC

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PVC core and vinyl top?

How would a goober ruin that aside from the glue down variety...

water on the subfloor? Acid (and other chems) in rinse fn up finish?

  • While vinegar makes a great cleaner for household dirt, over time it can damage your floors because it is not pH balanced.
  • Also, please do not use steam to clean your floors. The extreme temperatures can cause expansion of the vinyl which could lead to wrinkles and glue bond issues.


I know the odds of screwing up vinyl or the substrate are remote but I don't think I would take the approach that it was indestructible
 
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Jim Nazarian

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Cost more to clean some of these rugs bought at Pottery Barn then just replace...glad I am retiring soon.
 
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Desk Jockey

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I don't think they are buying "nice" rugs. They want colors that match their furnishings. Custom rugs are very popular, oriental styles are what your mother & father had.

We still see a lot of Oriental rugs but more and more custom. Some wool but most just unique design.
 

Shorty

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Thanks Mikey, for me, this is a great post.

It shows me what we'll be getting down under in the next couple of years.

By then, many here will have posted on any problems they encounter, and how they've solved them.

The terrible plank floors we currently encounter are completely unsuitable for their purpose, in my opinion.

I can see myself now, in retirement, sitting on Whiskey all day long and still being able to drive to the store. :winky:

Down under, in the tropics, more people are going for marble, tile & other flooring, except slate.

Slate's :stir: without the stirring.

Carpet is slowly going, except as you say in bedrooms & lounge.

Many rental condo's now have no carpet.

:yoda:
 

encapman

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Residential carpet has been declining for several years. That trend will continue.
Commercial carpet will maintain its segment of the carpet industry.
 

mmarkovic

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These vinyl flooring products and the porcelain plank that's catching on fast still needs turbo-cleaning. The grout and the tile texture can still trap tons of dirt that won't mop well at all. As for the LVP...Nafco came out with this idea years ago and they all share one problem, If it's plastic is soft and will scratch. When it scratches the scratch fills with dirt and that dirt won't mop out. Micro abrasions will trap micro dirt as well and again mops just don't cut it. High pressure again wins out over chemistry alone.
Another angle on this vinyl veneer is that in order to make it look real the manufacturer likes to engineer simulated grain and that will trap soils as well so get out your Turbos and clean like no one else can.
I found that eventually your'e going to have to turbo-clean then wax over the floor to bring back the sheen when the abrasion has dulled down the traffic lanes. Not my gig but when a realtor is trying to sell the home and the seller doesn't want to replace the floor I get to come to the rescue at over $1 per square foot to renew with a high solids seal.
 

mmarkovic

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I forgot to remind everyone how the laminate "PERGO" world flopped but still keeps lingering even at .35 per square foot purchase price. The edges allow water, pet urine, most any liquids to contact the hydroscopic wood composite under the surface skin to absorb and swell making this product a stinker. One flood and it's over. Not restorable.
 

jwfoulk12

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IMG_0048.JPG

So how do we clean this stuff? Its a grouted Vinyl plank floor. Its in a bar so it gets a fair amount of traffic. That used to be a light colored grout when they opened 6 month ago. The upstairs also has a wood look plank floor with no grout. According to Armstrong they dont like steam or excess water to clean it.
 

Cleanworks

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View attachment 20176
So how do we clean this stuff? Its a grouted Vinyl plank floor. Its in a bar so it gets a fair amount of traffic. That used to be a light colored grout when they opened 6 month ago. The upstairs also has a wood look plank floor with no grout. According to Armstrong they dont like steam or excess water to clean it.
Is that the same type of grout they would use on a ceramic tile floor? I wouldn't think it bond the same way.
 

Zee

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What exactly is "grouted" meaning here?

Is it some type of plastic caulk kind grout?
 

jwfoulk12

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I'll have to find a little more about it. I was reading a little on Armstrongs website, its a premixed Sanded Acrylic grout.
 

PrimaDonna

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I don't think they are buying "nice" rugs. They want colors that match their furnishings. Custom rugs are very popular, oriental styles are what your mother & father had.
We still see a lot of Oriental rugs but more and more custom. Some wool but most just unique design.

I think many will want these cheaper rugs cleaned and not just throw them away. This is where our industry needs to innovate and find a cost effective way for the "average" cleaner to service these kinds of rugs with out a rug plant and expensive equipment.

I see The Rug Sucker along with the marinator "ponds" filling this void. Easy set up and break down, don't need a lot of space and not the cost of a more traditional rug plant set up....which you don't need for synthetic rugs and cheaper versions of wool.

Just my opinion, but I think the Rug Sucker is worth keeping an eye on and there will be more innovations to follow. They are already being carried by Interlink and I would bet other distributors who are seeing this market trend in hard surface flooring will want to make sure carpet cleaners keep buying from them and will add it to their stock so they cleaners can service these rugs.

I wouldn't be surprised the national franchise cleaning companies will be jumping on the rug sucker to add to their arsenal. Sears, Stanely and the likes will have to keep up with the trend of cheap area rugs and stay competitive. They've already added tile and grout cleaning...I think this is the next progression for them as well as us smaller and O/O companies.
 

billyeadon

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I think many will want these cheaper rugs cleaned and not just throw them away. This is where our industry needs to innovate and find a cost effective way for the "average" cleaner to service these kinds of rugs with out a rug plant and expensive equipment.

I see The Rug Sucker along with the marinator "ponds" filling this void. Easy set up and break down, don't need a lot of space and not the cost of a more traditional rug plant set up....which you don't need for synthetic rugs and cheaper versions of wool.

Just my opinion, but I think the Rug Sucker is worth keeping an eye on and there will be more innovations to follow. They are already being carried by Interlink and I would bet other distributors who are seeing this market trend in hard surface flooring will want to make sure carpet cleaners keep buying from them and will add it to their stock so they cleaners can service these rugs.

I wouldn't be surprised the national franchise cleaning companies will be jumping on the rug sucker to add to their arsenal. Sears, Stanely and the likes will have to keep up with the trend of cheap area rugs and stay competitive. They've already added tile and grout cleaning...I think this is the next progression for them as well as us smaller and O/O companies.

Stanley already is cleaning rugs. I have seen their execs at the IICRC Instructors meetings and also at Tom Monahans Rug Symposium. Many of the better Chem dry franchises have added in plant cleaning.
 
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billyeadon

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There is no doubt that carpet is losing market share, but the manufacturers actually sold more carpet last year ( $30 million) than the year before. The pie is bigger but carpets share is smaller.

The focus needs to be you are a service provider rather than a carpet cleaner.

My fear is a repeat of laminate's rise and fall. When Pergo first was introduced it was revolutionary and sold like crazy. Then all the competitors came in and like any industry many went after the market with low prices. We know how that ends. Now LVT has been embraced by all the major mills. This is adding a glut to the market. The Chinese producers are not going to drop their production. They are not OPEC. That means they will start dumping cheap LVT into the market place and once again history repeats itself.
 

Jamesh921

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I've been installing a TON of this stuff over the past couple years and I agree that it's going to need periodic turbo cleaning. And I stress that to the homeowner on every installation. However, I think that custy's will wait longer between cleanings than they do for carpet. I think the best way to get a cleaning on these surfaces will be to upsell when we are already in the home to clean their carpet.
 
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