Posted by Nana Hinsley on Mon, Aug 29, 2011 @ 10:52 AM
Question:
I have a small home business, and use carpet protection sheeting to protect carpeting on my stairs from foot traffic. In the last year I have been unable to find locally, plastic protecting sheeting that will stick well. The product I used to use has become cheap, thin, and the adhesive is poor. It does not stick well, which is dangerous, as peoples shoes catch on the loose plastic, which then tears. I am looking for somewhere to purchase a better quality product that will stick for more than an hour.
Answer:
Thank you for your e-mail and interest in our Carpet Plastic. 
We believe we have the best quality self-adhesive Carpet Plastic on the market today. Most of the current products in the market are imported, and are made as cheaply as possible. Even the ones that say they are 3 mil usually measure about 1.7-2.0 mil. Our product is not only a 3 mil plus, but it is made from a very high quality film that will stretch to absorb impacts, even from High Heel shoes. We also have the same proven adhesive system we have had in the market for over a decade. Carpet Plastic is so reliable it works well on wood blend carpets as well as synthetics. Another thing to consider is you can get the fire retardant version of Carpet Plastic, named, Carpet Plastic FR.
We still make Carpet Plastic in the USA of top quality materials. We do our best to compete with the imports, and price the Carpet Plastic as competitively as possible.
Posted by Nana Hinsley on Wed, Aug 24, 2011 @ 03:33 PM
Question: What do you recommend for an outdoor storage cover that is 8 mil plastic sheeting ?
Answer: We have a number of choices in 8 mil products for outdoor storage. Outlined below are a few ideas and the most popular sizes. We can fabricate these products into very large sheets (up to 500’ wide). Some of the products can have hems, d-rings, grommets, bung ports, 3-d fabrication plus many other options. We stock a product called Dura Skrim 8WB in several sizes. This is a 4 layer lamination containing a polyester string reinforcement extrusion laminated between White and Black outer layers of polyethylene. This product is tough, puncture and very tear resistant. It can be used with either side facing out depending on the circumstances (affects heat reflection, condensation…). This product is available in 30’ x 100’ rolls. In wider widths we can make this in 24’ increments of width, plus can add one or two 6’ panels to any increment of width. The cost is a little higher for the wider widths. We offer an extrusion laminated, polyester string reinforced polyethylene, called Poly Scrim, in 8 mil, both regular and fire retardant versions. These are available in 4’ increments of width up to 40’ wide at the standard cost, and up to 200’ wide at a slightly higher cost per square foot. This product line allows us to make 3-D shapes, add hems, pipe loops, d-rings, etc. If any custom fabrication would be helpful, we will be happy to provide quotes. These two products are two of our most popular in 8 mil thickness. If you are looking for more of a construction grade, non-reinforced, we have them available also in clear, black, and fire retardant versions.
Posted by Nana Hinsley on Fri, Aug 05, 2011 @ 11:42 AM
Last week we received a question from a project manager that we thought might be helpful to others. On one of his projects, a remodel in a 4 year old $1.6 million dollar home, they replaced the flooring in the lower level of the home with an engineered flooring product with a metal base containing what I can best describe as a thin layer of hardwood. This floor was designed for fast and easy installation with an interlocking system, with all the good looks of a finished in place hardwood floor. The designer had picked it out, and the flooring was $35,000, plus installation. The floor went in easily, but several other trades had things to do that required their walking on the floor after its installation.
As the project manager, he had acquired red rosin paper, as recommended by the supplier of the flooring. This was done during rainy times, so the paper got wet and torn up, and sections had to be replaced a number of times. When the other trades were done, and the paper removed, it appeared that a lot of small pieces of sand or gravel had gotten under the paper somehow, and had caused quite a lot of dents, dings, and scratches in the floor (very dark, almost black finish over a light wood, so they really showed up well). The customer was understandably VERY upset about this, and wanted it fixed. At significant expense, the flooring company was brought in to repair the damage, which required sanding and refinishing the entire floor (after baseboards and other items were once again removed). Finally, the floor looked perfect, but there was no longer any profit left in the job for the project manager, who had to absorb this cost of refinishing.
When the customer received all of the paperwork on the floor, and found out it could only be re-finished two times, then the entire floor must be replaced, the customer was MOST unhappy, and demanded that they receive a new floor with its full lifespan. No way in the world they were going to get stuck with a floor that could only be refinished one more time when they had just spent all of this money. After much ado, many threats, the involvement of legal folks, and similar ugliness, the project manager's company had to pay to have the floor replaced in this home. He would not divulge how much money they lost on this project, but stated it was more than they made on the three previous projects. It was quite a hit to their bottom line.
My recommendation would have been to use a product called Padded Floor Plastic from Global Plastic Sheeting. This material is lightly self-adhesive, so it stays in place on the flooring, won't scoot around or abrade the floor. Because it is lightly adhered to the floor, things should not have any opportunity to get under the covering and move around as was the case with the paper. The padding also helps keep the floor from being damaged, as this product is 80 mils thick. The top layer of the Padded Floor Plastic has polyethylene, so the rain would not have damaged the covering, and could have been wiped or mopped up easily with no damage to the flooring. The initial cost for this product is several times the cost of the red rosin paper, but it is also re-usable, so may be less actual product cost after a few projects. The big difference is in the cost caused by the damage. The cost of this products would have been borne by the customer had it been used in the first place. All of the costs associated with the damaged flooring were borne by the contractor. I told him that had they given this customer the option of using the cheaper red rosin paper, and being responsible for any damage that might be caused, or paying a little more for an appropriate covering, and having the contractor be responsible for any damage, I would bet that they would have very few customers choosing the red rosin paper. You might want to consider this for your next project, especially if using any of the engineered products with limited times they can be sanded and refinished.