• Concrete Moisture Testing
• Floor Material Acclimation
• Floor Prep and Substrates
• Jobsite Considerations

For more information, click here!

Five winners, as well as one honorable mention, were named across a variety of markets. The annual program, which is open to conference exhibitors showcasing new and innovative products launched since the Nightingale 2009 awards, seeks to promote and recognize excellence in product design that enhances the quality of healthcare.

Congratulations to the all winners on their excellent work!

Winners will receive editorial coverage in an upcoming issue of Contract magazine, as well as on the publication’s ContractDesign.com Web site, and receive a certificate and personalized glass award.

The Project results were due by the first of October and they repeatedly demonstrated a theme of saving energy, using fewer materials, less emissions, or more recycling, Centiva said.

Third place winner was Heritage Contact Floors of Buffalo, New York.

Heritage partnered with local area Lees representatives and a local area construction firm to beautify eight Buffalo public schools. The team planted trees at 30 schools and at 8 of the 30 students participated in planting them. The Centiva team then held classes to teach students how to care for for the trees.

Second place winner was Sergenian’s Floor Coverings of Madison, Wisconsin.

Sergenian’s established a campus wide reclamation program for the University of Wisconsin Housing Authority. This program insured that all used carpet, rugs, carpet cushion, and even foam futon cushions did not end up in a landfill after students moved out of dormitories.

Five campus reclamation sites are now established and so far over 20,000 pounds of material has been collected for reprocessing.

First place winner was Consolidated Carpet of New York City.

Consolidated convinced 11 area design firms to partner with them and Bentley Prince Street local area representatives. First, the design firms were asked to accumulate all types of textile samples, including carpet, fabric, drapery, etc. that were to be discarded. Second, each firm was asked to select one of their design teams to be involved in a fun competition with Middle School students from the Bronx.

Next, Consolidated got The Salvadori Center (a not for profit that fosters learning through architecture and design) to host an event in which four students and designer formed a team to compete creatively using the old samples to create new art. In addition, all students were taught the value of recycling.

Congratulations to everyone involved!

“For the first time since January 2008, the Architecture Billings Index (ABI) indicated a growth in design activity in September, increasing for the fourth straight month. As a leading economic indicator of construction activity, the ABI reflects the approximate nine to twelve month lag time between architecture billings and construction spending. The American Institute of Architects (AIA) reported the September ABI score was 50.4, up from a reading of 48.2 the previous month. This score reflects an increase in demand for design services (any score above 50 indicates an increase in billings). The new projects inquiry index was also up sharply, moving from 54.6 to 62.3 – the highest mark since July 2007.

“This is certainly encouraging news, but we will need to see consistent improvement over the next few months in order to feel comfortable about the state of the design and construction industry,” said AIA Chief Economist Kermit Baker, PhD, Hon. AIA. “While there has been increasing demand for design services, it is happening at a slow rate and there continue to be other obstacles that are preventing a more accelerated recovery. Still, the strong upturn in design activity in the commercial and industrial sector certainly suggests that this upturn can possibly be sustained.”

Key September ABI highlights:

Regional averages: Northeast (56.7), Midwest (51.0), South (47.0), West (44.5)

Sector index breakdown: commercial / industrial (56.3), institutional (47.9), multi-family residential (47.0), mixed practice (44.2)

Project inquiries index: 62.3″

Wonderful news!

“We are pleased to announce that Natural Creations luxury vinyl tile can now be installed using the recently introduced S-543 Premium Plus adhesive. This expanded recommendation allows Armstrong to offer customers a solution for installing Natural Creations luxury vinyl tile on concrete slabs with moisture levels up to 90% relative humidity, as measured by an in-situ probe, or 7 lbs. CaCl.

Along with increasing the allowable subfloor moisture on an installation, the S-543 adhesive has an excellent working time of up to eight hours. This working time provides more flexibility in large commercial installations. Furthermore, S-543 is solvent free, easy to trowel and is ready for light traffic in just 24 hours, causing less disruption to the space. Having zero VOC emissions also means that S-543 complies with LEED Credit EQ4.1. The applicable substrates and porous vs. non-porous installation recommendations will be the same as S-288, and the back-roll procedure will still be required, when using S-543 to install Natural Creations luxury vinyl tile.

This is another step toward expanding Armstrong’s portfolio of products to offer solutions for high-moisture installations. We continue to develop the necessary installation products needed to make it easy to shop one supplier. That supplier is Armstrong – our name and our reputation is synonymous with consistent quality, innovative design and customer satisfaction.

Available in either a 1-gallon or 4-gallon size, and positioned under the Armstrong brand, S-543 Premium Plus Commercial Sheet Flooring Adhesive can now be used to install Armstrong commercial vinyl sheet and Natural Creations luxury vinyl tile flooring products. S-288 will remain in the offering as the recommended adhesive for standard Natural Creations luxury vinyl tile installations.

Updated S-543 Quicker Hits and a new comprehensive Armstrong Moisture-Resistant Adhesives Brochure are being distributed now. These two selling tools will provide additional details about the expanded S-543 recommendation.”

Armstrong is pleased to be participating in a new NBC show called School Pride! The show has a very similar concept to “Extreme Makeover Home Edition”.

If you watch any programming on NBC you may have recently seen a trailer for the show. The pilot episode airs this Friday at 8 p.m. Eastern/7 p.m. Central. The premier episode will highlight the triumph of Enterprise Middle School in Compton, CA. This episode will feature Migrations® BioBased Tile®.

We are also pleased to have a Twitter page and a Facebook page for our commercial efforts in the education market. You can find us on Twitter and on Facebook at Armstrong for Education.

A School Pride installation was featured on this month’s Floor Focus cover. The school is the Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies [LACES]. Armstrong standard VCT, Stonetex, LVT, Linoleum, and Wall Base products were installed for this episode; VCT is pictured on the front cover.

You can also see more details on our home page. We have a badge at our Corporate site; this initiative was an Armstrong Flooring and Ceilings joint investment.

Part one is here

Part two is here

Part three is here

And everybody, please remember to send Pam your stories, news, and photos!