FLOORING AND FINISHES with ATFA EXPO

It all starts on Thursday 19th July, 2012 at Jeff’s Shed (that’s the Melbourne Exhibition and Convention Centre for non-Victorians).

The FLOORING AND FINISHES with ATFA expo is co-located with DECORATION & DESIGN expo, among others.

There will be 80+ companies with a specific focus on flooring design and excellence. See the latest developments in texture, style, colour, industry standards and the like, across a whole spectrum of flooring disciplines.

Held within the expo are a number of seminars of great use to Timber Flooring professionals.

-David Hayward of the ATFA will be speaking on THE CHANGING WORLD OF TIMBER FLOORING
– Stephen Dadd of BORAL TIMBER will be presenting THE AUSTRALIAN HARDWOOD INDUSTRY IN TODAY’S FLOORING MARKET
– Peter Eynaud of the AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION (ACCC) will discuss various warranty and liability issues.
– Jacki Mitchell from BRANDSTORM will give us some tips on marketing and branding.

Don’t miss it! For registration details go to http://www.atfa.com.au, call 1300 656 184 or drop in and see us at Lagler.

 

 

Moisture looming

We at Lagler Australia have long been aware that when it comes to moisture testing concrete slabs to avert flooring failures, the goal posts are being moved.

Although it is not directly pertaining to Timber Flooring, Resilient Flooring Standard AS/NZ 1884 is often used or referenced by Timber Flooring stakeholders (manufacturs of flooring or related products such as adhesives etc) for specifications, including moisture testing parameters and methods. AS/NZ 1884 has been under intense review for the last 18 months and is due for release any minute.

A seminar in April 2012, hosted by the Floorcoverings Association of Victoria (FAV) and the Concrete Institute of Australia (CIA), declared that AS/NZ 1884 will dispense with MOISTURE CONTENT as an acceptable parameter and stipulate RELATIVE HUMIDITY (RH) as the industry-accepted indice for moisture measurement. It was also announced that the standard would reference American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) F2170 and F2420, which are the standards on HOW the testing is to be performed.

(Photo courtesty of Peter Craig, Concrete Constructives USA)

The good news is that all of the most comprehensive studies and industry R & D concludes that RH as the best measurement to predict whether a floor will fail or not as a result of moisture migration. So it WILL help reduce failures and resulting remedial nightmares.

The bad news is that moisture testing now becomes more complex and involved.

Over a series of blog posts we will attempt to provide as much detail as possible about the changes. Please note we will not attempt to provide comprehensive advice on how to test- this is up to contractors to examine the applicable standards, which are ultimately the “law” on the issue. However, we will give an overview of the methods AND go back to school on why moisture matters, and what the associated liabilities are.