Tackifiers, spray adhesives, contact adhesives …. all methods that have traditionally been used to fix floor coverings to sub-floors over the years.
When architects and designers specify flooring, the flooring material itself tends to take centre stage in the decision-making. The way in which it is installed is often left to contractors, who may well rely on those traditional methods.
However, when it comes to adhesive-based installation methods, there are a number of hidden costs that specifiers should be aware of.
Alternatively, by specifying reversible, adhesive-free methods of installation alongside the flooring material, it is possible to design flooring for disassembly, saving time, money AND the planet.
Carbon Impact of Reusing Flooring
As protecting the Earth’s resources becomes ever more critical, we’d urge specifiers to consider flooring as a circular material – one that can be re-used and re-purposed a number of times before eventually being recycled.
All too often, floor coverings are seen as single-use items, changed because of a new lease or design, rather than when the flooring wears out. And when installed using adhesive, this can mean that the materials end up in landfill after just one use.
The UK Sustainable Flooring Alliance (formerly Carpet Recycling UK – CRUK) recorded circa 462,000 tonnes of carpet and textile flooring waste disposed of in the UK in 2021. Whilst around 80% was diverted from landfill, only a small fraction was reused, with the vast majority going for energy from waste recovery, recycling or incineration.
Many flooring manufacturers have made significant advancements in developing sustainable, recyclable floor coverings with low carbon footprints and offering material take-back schemes for reuse or recycling.
But the unfortunate fact remains that even 100% recyclable floor coverings cannot be recycled if contaminated with adhesive.
The key to keeping materials at their highest value and developing a truly circular flooring solution often lies in its installation method.
When it comes to waste reduction, we need to be designing and specifying flooring for recyclability and re-use, and considering the flooring material and installation method as a complete system.
Thinking about them in isolation is proving to be fundamentally “floor-ed”.
Comparison of contamination of flooring using adhesive-based vs adhesive-free installation
When flooring that has been stuck down with adhesive is uplifted, it’s likely to be contaminated by not only adhesive residue but also the subfloor to which it was adhered, meaning it’s not suitable for recovery or reuse and can’t be recycled.
Often the flooring is disposed of and needs to be replaced, incurring additional embodied carbon through the use of new materials.
Additionally, the sub-floor asset, often the highest embodied carbon element of the flooring system, is also damaged, and must be made good before the next installation, adding remedial costs for landlords and tenants in between leases.
And in the case of concrete sub-floors, further cementitious screeds may be needed to rectify the surface, introducing additional embodied carbon into the building.
Adhesive-free flooring installation addresses these challenges by enabling floor coverings to be affixed securely throughout the life of the installation, yet cleanly and easily uplifted, ready to be reused elsewhere.
This reversible fixing mechanism extends product lifecycles, vastly improving flooring circularity and making flooring manufacturers’ take-back schemes easier to implement.
Independent whole life embodied carbon modelling demonstrates that adhesive-free installation can lead to up to 80% carbon savings due to material reuse, whilst whole life cost comparisons calculate adhesive-free installation to be 40% less than traditional methods thanks to maintenance savings.
Financial Benefits of Reversible Floor Fixings
When you start to think about flooring as a circular material, then whole life costs, rather than just initial material costs, become the key financial consideration.
Adhesive-free installation brings efficiency benefits for contractors. A simple, intuitive dry-laid method, minimal preparation material and steps are required with no mess.
Multiple trades can work around each other more easily during installation and flooring can be trafficked immediately with no cure time needed. This dramatically improves programme time and efficiency, with minimal disruption.
Adhesive contamination on metal raised access flooring
Tackifier adhesive costing around £0.50 to £0.80 per sqm can render raised access floors worth between £60 to 90 per sqm for light/medium grade and £90 to 120 per sqm for heavy grade duty unusable (cost data from Gleeds).
Removing adhesive residue, often requiring messy and labour-intensive solvent-based cleaning, can add an additional £9 to 15 per sqm in costs.
With adhesive-free installation methods, these costs are negligible and the floor covering can be repurposed with no need for disposal.
Health and Wellbeing Considerations
Some adhesive products carry high levels of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), meaning installers should use Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to protect themselves from these respiratory hazards.
The associated odour can be very disruptive for all building occupants, both during and for some time after installation.
Tragically there have even been deaths attributed to the use of these products in confined spaces, with some distributors now removing large spray adhesive canisters from sale.
With adhesive-free installation, all VOCs associated with adhesives are eliminated for improved Indoor Air Quality for both contractors and occupants.
A Modern Method of Flooring Installation
Adhesive-free flooring installation addresses the challenges cited above by enabling floor coverings to be affixed securely throughout the life of the installation, yet cleanly and easily uplifted, ready to be reused elsewhere.
This reversible fixing mechanism extends product lifecycles, vastly improving flooring circularity and making flooring manufacturers’ take-back schemes easier to implement.
Leading developers and clients are taking notice. Developer Landsec prefers mechanical rather than chemically fixed methods for flooring within its Material Brief, whilst Google stipulates “pressure-sensitive corner tape, tiles or dots that allow for easy removal and replacement” in its global procurement guidelines.
Sustainability accreditations such as BREEAM and LEED recognise waste reduction and material reuse with additional credits, making adhesive-free an attractive option for architects and their clients.
By specifying reversible, adhesive-free installation for their chosen floor covering, whether it’s carpet, Luxury Vinyl Tile or any other material, specifiers can ensure their floors are designed for disassembly, with built in redesign, re-use and sustainability credentials.
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