How Real-time Monitors can Protect Floor Installations

In the world of construction, particularly in flooring installations, maintaining correct site conditions is critical. This is especially true when project warranties depend on environmental factors being well-controlled. Yet, achieving perfect site conditions is a rarity and maintaining them through the duration of a project can be even more difficult.

Let’s explore the case of a recent project that highlights this challenge.

During a summer heatwave, Northeast Floor & Wall Inc. was contracted to complete a luxury vinyl plank (LVP) flooring installation at an ivy league university in New England. The project successfully wrapped late one Thursday evening, just in time for the team to enjoy a long, holiday weekend. To keep an eye on site conditions, Northeast Floor left behind a sensor that remotely monitors ambient interior floor space conditions in real-time. The sensor was set to alert the company if any concerning environmental changes occurred, such as spikes in temperature or humidity, which can compromise flooring installations.

Later that evening, Northeast Floor began receiving urgent phone alerts from the provider of the remote sensor. The sensor detected that the ambient conditions in the building were rapidly deteriorating — both temperature and humidity levels were on the rise. The project manager for Northeast Floor quickly shared the reports with the general contractor overseeing the project and asked if the HVAC system had been turned off.

Upon receiving the call, the general contractor was equally puzzled but promised to investigate the problem immediately. Arriving on-site, the general contractor discovered the building owner, thinking the campus would be empty for the holiday weekend, had turned off the HVAC system to save on energy costs.

What the building owner didn’t anticipate was the potential catastrophic effect this would have on the newly installed LVP flooring. If elevated temperature and humidity levels were not controlled, the flooring materials would begin to expand and de-bond from the adhesive, causing bubbling and dangerous trip and fall hazards. Fortunately, the general contractor was able to turn the building controls back on to ensure the LVP remained in the proper specifications established by the flooring manufacturer. The early warning detection provided to all parties involved in the project saved more than $400,000 in repairs and many difficult meetings amongst the key project’s stakeholders.

This incident serves as a crucial reminder of how much warranties depend on correct site conditions. In the world of flooring installations, factors like temperature, humidity and ventilation can make or break the success of a project.

For Northeast Floor, the benefits went beyond just monitoring site conditions. Warranties can only cover so much and when site conditions fall outside of what is required for a proper installation, the blame can sometimes shift unfairly onto the installer. Having real-time data collected on-site provided concrete evidence of what went wrong. This protected Northeast Floor from lost time, significant financial claim and its reputation, and proved the company did everything in its power to maintain the correct conditions for the project.

Scott Banda is co-founder and CEO of Floorcloud, a technology company helping improve job site quality control for specialty and general contractors. With more than 26 years in the construction industry, Scott knows firsthand the importance of maintaining interior climate conditions for installation. He can be reached at 617-395-1668 or [email protected].