Cost Controlled Interiors...TeamPar helps professionals decide what to buy.
Newsletter – May 2010
Linoleum vs. VCT
Linoleum versus VCT…Friend or Foe? Is there room for both?
The 1970’s VAT (Vinyl Asbestos Tile) was the most budget
conscious flooring on the market and today, on average, 1 BILLION
square feet of VCT (Vinyl Composition Tile) is installed yearly. It is the building
standard worldwide and the most cost efficient flooring material on the market… Or is it?
VCT may be perhaps the cheapest most expensive floor covering you
can purchase because of the unrealized true cost of ownership – the product maintenance over
its life cycle.
VAT was banned for obvious asbestos health related issues…. While VCT does not
make us sick; its maintenance costs are making us poor. Heavy use of chemical based cleaning and
maintenance products for VCT are not in line with the current “green” way of thinking.
Two products have emerged on the scene in recent years to help improve this situation and
provide solutions compatible with the move toward an eco-friendly, sustainable environment.
MCT (Marmoleum Composition Tile
BBT (BioBased Tile – Migrations)
MCT is made from natural raw materials, including linseed oil, pine rosin, and wood flour and
is biodegradable. It is occupancy ready upon installation and has a 10 times higher indentation
resistance and better stain resistance than VCT.
The most astonishing fact regarding MCT is that
this real linoleum product has a 60% return on investment over a 20 month pay back period verses
the cost usage of VCT!
BBT is a true upgrade to the typical VCT flooring used today. It is compatible in size,
installation and maintenance procedures employed and perfected for years, but its patent-pending
BioStride polymers made with rapidly renewable US-grown plant ingredients is helping to reduce our
reliance on petroleum and fossil fuels. Furthermore, BBT has twice the indent resistance and more
then 5 times greater resistance to impact than standard VCT flooring.
Let’s quantify this with a simple math problem…
If BBT is used instead of VCT on a 20,000 square foot
vinyl composition tile installation then energy and natural resources equivalent to 72 gallons of
gasoline would be saved. Furthermore, 2,800 pounds of waste would be diverted from landfills due
to its usage of preconsumer recycled limestone.
Initial construction costs do not always explain the whole picture…. By choosing
PAR Flooring, Inc. for your next flooring installation; our product knowledge and installation
experience can help you make the right resilient flooring choices for your building and budget.
Check out our new website for more resources and examples of our ability to value engineer and
service your flooring needs. www.PARcorporation.com
Remember PAR Flooring when
developing your next cutting edge environment. We would enjoy being a part of it! Contact PAR Flooring today at 973-292-0089
In this issue
Linoleum verses VCT… Friend or Foe? Is there room for both?
Congratulations to
Dawn Scholz,
the winner of a $100
Visa Gift Card!
The correct answer to our Earth Day Contest is Linoleum flooring. Linoleum
is all about durability after all, it was not named the 40 year floor for nothing!
Linoleum is often confused with vinyl flooring, but the two types are not alike. The
popularity of linoleum flooring has waxed and waned over the years.
Linoleum is an environmentally friendly flooring that is biodegradable, allergen-free and
resistant to bacteria. The ingredients used to make linoleum are all organic in nature: linseed
oil, wood flour, pine resins, limestone and natural pigmentations. These pigmentations offer a
variety of colors including marbled and splattered effects as well as numerous solid colors. A
nonporous surface can be obtained by using a cross-linked primer and a top layer that is resistant
to scuff marks and is UV cured.
Frederick Walton, a rubber manufacturer, invented linoleum in England as a floor covering
for Victorian England. He patented the process in 1863. He was looking for a cheap substitute
for a rubber composition used in homes at the time. By watching the way linseed oil formed a
skin when oxidized on paint, he got the idea to mix the skin with ground cork and other materials.
He pressed this mixture into a jute backing, resulting in the first rendition of linoleum.
