Tinting Finish

For residential, commercial, and sport floors, contractors traditionally stain the properly prepared bare hardwood, followed by (a) coat(s) of sealer, and then finish.  This is still the predominant method to change the color of hardwood flooring.

Some contractors, however, have begun sealing the floor first, then applying coats of tinted finish. The benefits are numerous:

1. On the front side, this process is faster and provides greater control over the depth and consistency of color. 
2. On the back side (when it’s time to re-sand the floor), there’s less work, because contractors don’t have to take off as much of the top layer of flooring to remove the stain and/or worry about the stain seeping further into the tongue and grooves. 
3. Plus, because less sanding is required, more sandings are possible, saving customers significant costs over the life of the floor.

HyperTone Stains is roughly 10% of the cost. When you add the cost of finish plus stain, there’s a whopping 23% savings!

But the advantages don’t stop there.

Spurred by all the buzz, we worked with a sport contractor to quantify the benefits in terms of their savings.  We kept things simple—1 gallon of finish with comparable paint and stain levels—and the results showed that HyperTone Stains is roughly 10% of the cost. When you add the cost of finish plus stain, there’s a whopping 23% savings!

Paint Versus Tinting Finish

Although stain was applied to plenty of sport floors in the past, use skyrocketed once the MFMA recognized the practice at their convention in 2018. While paint for game lines and logos continues to be the dominant process, we have encountered sport floor contractors using a heavier load of HyperTone Stains to tint finish instead—again, with various upsides:

1. Using the same product for lines/logos as the finish could reduce chipping that is often seen with paint (time will tell if this holds true, but so far, so good).
2. Significant reduction in the cost of paint—both in the number of gallons purchased and the paint gallons that go unused due to shelf life. 
3. When the paint lines or painted logos are abraded (to prepare to accept finish coats), the heavily pigmented colored dust from the paint can contaminate adjacent colors (or flooring), which can be tough to prevent or remove (for example, a bright red paint logo contaminating the adjacent white).  When HyperTone Stain is encapsulated into the finish and used like a paint, the pigment load is reduced significantly, and the issue is virtually eliminated. 
   

We again calculated the cost savings when working with a contractor to tint the finish with heavier pigment loads, so the product could be tested in lieu of game line/logo paint.  When comparing 1 gallon of stain plus finish with comparable game line paint, tinting finish was roughly half the price! While this may or may not be a savings large enough to make the switch for any one job, just like tinting the finish above, the contractor sees tremendous cost advantages over the entire season. 

When comparing 1 gallon of stain plus finish with comparable game line paint, tinting finish was roughly half the price!

Ultimately, the jobsite benefits and cost savings have more contractors rethinking processes to improve their offering. If this is something that might interest you, let us know by clicking here to fill out the online form. We’ll be more than happy to work with you to see if these or other innovative HyperTone Stain application methods could enhance the value of your operation, as well as calculate your potential savings.

To learn more about HyperTone Stains, please click here. 

Myth #1: The more solids, the better.
Solids can be anything that does not evaporate during the curing process, so you have to look at what makes up the solids and what each of them does. Merely comparing finishes by percentage of solids is not an adequate test of their capabilities and performances. Finish solids are often a blend of several ingredients, each having a specific purpose. Many of these have nothing to do with how long a finish will last. These various ingredients help the finish resists scuffs, reduce bubbling, improve adhesion, alter clarity, regulate sheen, and last but not least, determine overall durability. Ingredients used to adjust sheen or to control bubbles, for example, may add to the solids, but they do nothing for the durability.

Myth #2: Taber abrasion tests are always accurate.
The only scientific data less reliable than a Taber abrasion test result is what you get from your local weatherman. The American Society of Testing and Material (ASTM) states that the accuracy of one Taber abrasion machine compared to another may vary up to a range of 90% to 106%. This is considered the normal range and means the tests can be off by 100% and still be considered accurate. These results can occur even when documented test procedures are used. In a nutshell, this is why we don’t value Taber abrasion tests as the one and only way to determine the durability of a finish.

Myth #3: Pure urethane solids are best.
Like the first myth, this one concerning urethane solids is also incorrectly based on the idea that “if a little of something is good, then a lot must be better.” Many people (and some manufacturers) think omitting acrylic will improve a waterbased coating. We’ve found the opposite to be true, and we are not alone.  Like most everything else you can buy, there are expensive acrylics and inexpensive filler acrylics, and the same is true for urethanes.  It is possible to have more expensive acrylics in a finish formula than the urethane used in the same formula. For flooring applications, urethane resins work best when blended with acrylics.

Trial by Fire
Like countless mornings before, you plug Old Faithful in, switch off the safety, and start her up. With the grain of the wood, you walk her forward and then walk her back, walk her forward and then walk her back, each new strip of sanded floor slightly overlapping with the last. The first quarter of the room is done, then the first half, you’re nearing three-quarters now, done! You power her down, walk over to your Starbucks, and you’re taking a sip of coffee when you smell it. Is something…burning? You look over at Old Faithful, and her collection bag is ablaze! Thinking quickly, you run towards the machine as you pull the lid from your Starbucks cup, and you douse the fire with your cold brew. The flames die, and you think how easily the entire job could have just gone up in smoke.

So, What Happened?
You’ve heard of it happening, but you didn’t think it would happen to you: spontaneous combustion. Although uncommon, wood dust can and does catch on fire in the dust collection bag when sanding wood floors. The heat created from the friction of the machine and sandpaper on the floor can increase to the point—400 degrees Fahrenheit, to be precise—that the sawdust begins to smolder inside the bag and ignite. Combustion happens much more frequently when an old floor is sanded, because the old finishes on the floor become ground into a fine powder, and when a floor freshly coated with a solvent-based finish needs to be sanded. Though rare, combustion in the latter scenario is especially dangerous due to increased flammability. Spontaneous combustion of wood dust can also occur after the dust has been removed from the collection bag.

Only YOU Can Prevent Wood Dust Fires
It is the responsibility of the contractor to minimize the potential for spontaneous ignition. Follow these steps to ensure that spontaneous combustion of wood dust from your job stays only in your mind’s eye:
• Dust bags should be emptied often. Do not let them become more than half full before emptying them.
• Empty dust collection bags before transporting the machine or leaving the job site, even if you are just leaving for a short time.
• Always advise keeping fire extinguishers in the truck or on the job.
• Smoking should be prohibited on the jobsite and in the truck.
• Any saw blades should be sharpened such that heat buildup due to friction is minimized.
• Always remove dust receptacles from the job site at the end of every day.
• To ensure dust and shavings do not ignite, spray them with cool water.
• When dried, dispose of the wood waste according to state and local waste disposal regulations. Disposal guidelines will vary depending on the area of the country, so you should consult your local waste disposal office for specific guidance.

Don’t play fast and loose with wood dust. Taking steps to avoid spontaneous combustion could save a piece of equipment, an entire job, or even a life.

A snowy, slushy mess doesn’t end after it dries as unmelted rock salt and stains can be left behind. The stains appear as white as snow across all types of floor surfaces. There is good news; these stains are actually preventable and your floors are savable. Salt stains are not harmful if attended to quickly.

A great solution to this winter weather woe is to use a reliable matting system. A matting system acts as a first line of defense against tracked-in contaminants on your floors. Over 80% of dirt and residues are brought in by people entering the facility; a good entrance matting system can trap 90% of this dirt and debris that is brought in!

A successful matting system includes:

• A high thread count mat with a rubber back to avoid slipping
• Keeping outside entries  clear by shoveling  snow and ice up to 25 feet away from the building
• Scraper mats in your entries, which contain rough threads that will buy tadalafil usa trap more dirt and grime from shoes
• Wider mats allow more time for shoes to dry before entering the facility
• Regular maintenance cleaning can help regulate the amount of contaminants brought in—vacuuming floor mats daily can eliminate excess ice melt and dirt from entering the building

It is important to keep in mind that hardwood floors are vulnerable during the winter. There is danger afoot due to a combination of increased moisture and salt that can potentially harm your hardwood floors and finish. A white film forming on the surface of the floor boards will appear from salt residue. The stain not only looks bad but if it remains too long it will begin to diminish the floor finish and shine. It is extremely important to use a matting system on high traffic entrances with wood floors. Keeping these entrances clean and free of debris, melted snow and slush is the most proactive step to protect your hardwood floor investment.

For the best solution to protect your hard surface floors from salt and other winter debris, use the Basic Coatings® Squeaky Floor Care System. Squeaky™ is designed for daily cleaning of wood, VCT, laminate and other hard surface floors. Using a daily maintenance cleaner during the winter months is one of the most important steps to extend the life of your floors.

Let’s go back a few years to 1997 when the TyKote system was first developed. Back then, the cleaning process of the TyKote system was done by wrapping towels soaked in cleaning solution around push brooms and tacking the floor. Pretty labor intensive, right?

But, bigger floors needed a bigger, better solution. This is where the idea for the Dirt Dragon was evolved.

Basic Coatings saw an opportunity in markets like gym flooring, where large automatic scrubbers were needed for agitating the cleaning solution and extracting it from the floor. Knowing that scrubbing and extracting cleaning solutions is always better than mopping, the Basic Coatings team got to work to improve the TyKote system for the residential and commercial markets.

The foundation of the TyKote system is to get beautiful floors with less mess, so the first task on the docket was to figure out how to ensure that the majority of the dirt and contaminants are removed from the floor instead of being left behind. This system would need a machine with superior mechanical agitation from the brush to help loosen unwanted dirt. One of the suggested improvements was to use a grout scrubber on wood floors.

Dirt Dragon Numero Uno

The first Dirt Dragon was a grout scrubber that was designed for scrubbing and extracting tile floors. The brush movement from a cylindrical brush is superior to a rotary brush on floors like tile in order to be able to get deep into the grouted joints between tile.

This first machine was successful at cleaning wood floors better than a mop and bucket, but it had some limitations. One of the main issues with this machine was that it was difficult to remove all water from the floor. Nonetheless, Basic Coatings had introduced an entirely new business model to flooring contractors and the system took off. This success led Basic Coatings to develop a scrubber that uniquely met the needs of wood floors.

While the first Dirt Dragon was not the first scrubber to enter the market, it was the only scrubber uniquely designed to be used on wood floors. Every other competitive scrubber marketed to the wood floor industry was first sold as a hard floor scrubber by cleaning companies. This is the key factor that sets the Dirt Dragon apart in the industry.

New and Improved

The development of the second generation Dirt Dragon had wood floors in mind first. The guiding principles for product development were:

• Water and Wood – we were sensitive to the issue that wood is hydroscopic and excessive moisture can cause problems for wood floors.
• Wood is Unique – wood is a unique surface that is different than tile, concrete or other hard surfaces. Wood can dent, splinter and scratch. The finishes can burnish or dull due to different types of abrasion.

Understanding the uniqueness of wood led to all of the machine features that the Dirt Dragon is known for today, like:

• Brush Type – brushes can come in many different specifications and Basic Coatings tested hundreds of different variations on different species of wood. The brush needs to be able to abrade the dirt without abrading the finish or scratching the wood. It needs to be flexible enough to get deep into open wood grain but stiff enough for cleaning performance. Different Brush Bristle Materials were tested. The amount of brush strands inserted into each brush holder hole were varied.
• Brush Pattern – another brush characteristic is the chevron pattern of the bristles. The entire brush needs to be wet for cleaning. Once wet, the chevron design helps funnel the cleaning solution towards the vacuum port. This pattern was chosen due to our desire to remove all solution from the floor.
• Vacuum Power – the vacuum is 2x stronger than what typically would have been specified for a floor scrubber. This ensures all solution is removed.
• Squeegee Design – the machine has forward and reverse squeegee holders and 4 squeegee sides that completely surround the brush. This design really helps to contain the solution.
• Flow Control – Most scrubbers have an on/off feature. The Dirt Dragon also has a flow control knob that allows the user to dial down the solution applied to the floor for sensitive floors.

To learn more about the Basic Coatings Dirt Dragon or the TyKote system, click here!

Carpet and flooring professionals are among the top specialties hired for renovations without a general contractor. Flooring was reportedly replaced in over half of all interior renovation projects in 2014. Of the 29 percent of millennial respondents that renovated a kitchen, over half replaced kitchen flooring (55%). Among the 25% and 21% who renovated guest bathrooms and master bathrooms, respectively, over two-thirds (69%) replaced flooring on average. Flooring was replaced in 51% of all other remodels and additions.

One of the most interesting details from the survey shows a trend in homeowners shying away from traditional carpeted rooms and opting for harder floor surfaces. Nearly one third (27%) of homeowners on Houzz plan to replace non-carpet flooring in the next six months while only 13% plan to purchase carpeting.

Kitchens continue to be one of the most popular remodeling projects among all age groups, with nearly one-third of survey respondents taking on this renovating in 2014. While millennials are spending roughly half as much as younger Baby Boomers on major kitchen remodels, millennials still spent an average of $26,300 on large kitchen renovations and $16,100 on small kitchens.

Specialty contractors and professionals are still a necessity for homeowners who need help with renovations. Eighty-four percent of all homeowners hired a professional; 47% using general contractors. Among the other specialty professionals hired were: landscape contractors (19%), interior designers (17%), architects (10%) and landscape architects/designers (10%). Specialty service providers are also still in demand. Forty-eight percent of those surveyed hired a specialty service provider such as electricians (18%), plumbers (17%) or painter (15%) directly, without going through a general contractor.

Visit www.basiccoatings.com for all your floor care and floor refinishing needs. Visit www.Houzz.com for more information about this survey.

Our friends at The Philadelphia Floor Store, Inc., thought that testing floor finishes on maple wood would be a great opportunity to separate the good finishes from the great finishes. The Philadelphia Floor Store has a room filled with a variety of wood floor samples for the sole purpose of testing products. They decided to put Basic Coatings® EasyStreet™ to the test against the notoriously difficult maple wood floor.

Before we tell you how it went, we are going to let you in on a little secret. EasyStreet, a one-component waterbased floor finish, provides outstanding clarity and durability without an outside catalyst. It is ideal for commercial, residential, and sports floors, including those that are maple!

Now, back to EasyStreet. The Philadelphia Floor Store chose to test the Satin finish (EasyStreet comes in four different sheens: Gloss, Semi-Gloss, Super Matte and Satin). The reasoning for choosing Satin was that Satin is more likely to highlight finishing flaws that have to do with flow and leveling. What they found was that EasyStreet’s Satin finish responded flawlessly. Mike Glavin from the Philadelphia Floor Store commented on EasyStreet, saying, “It’s forgiving and easy to use for a single-component water based product; it’s a great overall product, and we would recommend it to any of our customers!” The company saw no blemishes, streaks, or bubbles. They also found that EasyStreet is one of the easiest finishes to use that is available in the market.  It is compatible with A, B, and C mechanics.  Since it is a single component finish, you do not have to worry about mixing a catalyst to get your desirable outcome. Another added benefit of EasyStreet is that unlike most floor finishes, EasyStreet can be applied with two different methods, rolling and pulling.

Basic Coatings strives to stay current in the hardwood floor finish industry, providing you with the most technically advanced products. Visit Basic Coatings® today!

Basic Coatings has unique one-on-one training seminars for distributors and contractors across the country. Basic Coating’s training center features and impressive 700 sq. ft. sports floor area and a 900 sq. ft. mock apartment floor area, allowing our customers to train in a realistic environment and ensure optimal learning.

“I would say this was the best residential class I’ve ever attended, and I’m very heavily into residential and have been for 20 years; therefore, I’ve attended many training programs. This class was paced well, very informative, and had great hands on training. I walked away feeling very confident that I could implement this in my business to the point that I walked into the convention center, went right to the counter and purchased everything needed and related to wood floor care.” —Mike Vitti, Superior Cleaning.

Mike recently took part in our residential wood floor maintenance class. Our floor care experts worked with him in a hands-on training session to show him how to correctly take care of residential flooring.

Basic Coatings works daily to stay current with advancements in floor care technology to provide you with the most accurate information. Mike Vitti is one of many successful training stories at Basic Coatings. Visit our training page to learn more about our variety of training programs designed for you and your business.