Fiberglass floors taking over: Second time around a charm for resilient category

HomeNewsFiberglass floors taking over: Second time around a charm for resilient category

While every category has taken some kind of hit as a result of the prolonged recession, it has not been all doom and gloom when it comes to residential flooring products. During this down time, the resilient category has fared pretty well as the consumer of today is shopping for value as much as she is design and performance. Within this area, the fiberglass-backed segment is one of the reasons why the resilient category has been able to pick up market share in recent years following a more than decade-long decline.

For those who have been in the industry since the 1980s, it may be hard to believe a product like this now commands upwards of 30% of residential resilient sales, by some estimates. And, manufacturers across the board feel it will remain the fastest growing product type in the category. David Sheehan, vice president of resilient business for Mannington Mills, believes fiberglass floors are approaching $120 million in annual sales at wholesale.

In fact, companies are so bullish fiberglass is the wave of the future two mills have invested over $100 million in the last year to begin producing the product in the U.S.

Armstrong invested more than $25 million in its Lancaster, Pa., facility to convert it to a state-of-the-art fiberglass plant, and IVC has spent over $75 million to build a new plant in Dalton. That is on top of the investment Tarkett made over five years ago to transform its Farnham, Quebec, Canada, factory to make fiberglass flooring in North America.

“Today’s fiberglass floors have little in common with those introduced initially into the U.S. market,” noted Allen Cubell, vice president of product management for Armstrong Floor Products. In fact, the company not only thinks it is an extremely viable category, “We feel it will eventually become the preferred resilient floor of choice. We see this as the fastest growing sheet category.”

So why has this type of product taken off in an economy that has claimed the life of many others? “A still lean economy saw many consumers enter the flooring market with minds open to a wider variety of flooring options,” explained Mario Allard, director of resilient products for Tarkett Residential. “This actually opened up the entire resilient category to a large consumer base that may never have considered resilient sheet, let alone fiber-backed, flooring products before. Once consumers have been exposed to the fiber-backed products they see the overall benefits.”

Stefaan Debusschere, IVC’s vice president of marketing and sales, added the product is successful because “it is superior on many attributes. Our Flexitec product is 100% dimensionally stable. The floor does not contract, curl, shrink or expand because of the fiberglass membrane at its core. Thanks to the product’s composition, the fiberglass membrane is double-encapsulated with PVC and therefore provides a unique resistance to water, mold and mildew. This makes it great for kitchens, bathrooms, laundry rooms or any room where water can be an enemy of traditional resilient floors.”

Allard said products like Tarkett’s FiberFloor “resonates with consumers who want products that provide excellent performance and value. They appreciate—and seek out— flooring that is warm and comfortable underfoot, is resistant to water and moisture, stands up to scratches, scuffs, stains and indentations, is easy to maintain and is affordable.”

Cubell said with the recent investments being made in the category, dealers should continue to see their sales improve with fiberglass floors. He pointed to Armstrong’s CushionStep collection as an example because it “has been completely refreshed with new designs, colors and improved warranties. Plus a new fiberglass collection, Duality, combines ultra-realistic, 3-D visuals with our new ToughGuard Flex backing and offers unmatched durability.

Duality is not only a trade-up from CushionStep, it replaces high-end felt with better looks and even better performance.”

Speaking of felt, Pat Buckley, vice president of product management for Congoleum, said many of the benefits touted by fiberglass floors—the cushioned feel is one key advantage that consumers like the flexibility while easier handling properties are the main advantages fiberglass offers in terms of installation—can be found in the company’s AirStep products which are marketed as “a better alternative to fiberglass. We developed AirStep to be similar to the fiberglass floors but to overcome their deficiencies. Our products are constructed like fiberglass, but we use our felt as an inner-liner rather than fiberglass. In doing so, we have the same great features as fiberglass—flexibility, toughness, cushion, lay flat property—but we have controlled stability as opposed to dimensional stability in the fiberglass products. That is why our products can be loose laid or perimeter installed (which is not a fiberglass option) over most any substrate with no restrictions as to size or seams.”

IVC’s Debusschere pointed out technological advancements have given mills the ability “to improve the quality of our fiberglass backed products so that indentation is no longer a threat. Advancements in embossing, color and design have also elevated the quality of fiber floors. Plus, the ultimate benefit to consumers is fiberglass-backed vinyl not only looks great, it offers high quality flooring at a value price.”

Mannington’s Sheehan agreed, saying Sobella is not only made in the U.S. but “we just introduced Stainmaster Hi-Def resilient at Surfaces. The product features Mannington’s exclusive high definition visual technology that provides a more vivid, realistic visual utilizing proprietary technology.”

-Matthew Spieler

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