The fattening of America. This is an issue that we’ve heard so much about in the news of late that, believe it or not, is having a profound affect on floor covering. The problems, which are resulting in the filing of major claims, are primarily in the commercial sector of the market and specifically affect the failure of floor covering under rolling wheel chairs. In the last two years I have looked at, or been involved in, several large claims that deal with either delamination, buckles, wrinkles, soiling and appearance change on carpet and vinyl products at work stations. The complaint conditions are limited to the area directly beneath a rolling chair or stool with wheels, located at work stations.

The industry has always been aware of the affects of rolling wheel chair traffic on carpet. The continual movement and rotation of chair wheels on floor coverings places concentrated, unalterable, pivotal movement in an isolated area that can be harmful to the product. Coupled with the foot movement of the occupant of the chair, this activity exerts a tremendous amount of stress on a piece of carpet. To the credit of the carpet industry, specifically the commercial manufacturers, they produce products that are designed and engineered to perform under such strenuous conditions. Even if designated as carpet castor wheels, which are not supposed to be as aggressive on carpet as other types of wheels, there can be, and is, damage caused to the carpet. That damage could be as simple as grinding dirt into the carpet soiling it or actually wearing the carpet out, or as severe as the carpet suffering structural damage - and carpet isn’t the only product affected. Vinyl flooring material, especially if it has the slightest bit of cushioning, is also adversely affected by the movement of rolling chair traffic.

So we know that chairs with rolling wheels can have a damaging affect on carpet and vinyl flooring. There are even tests, such as the Phillips Roll Chair Test, which actually subjects flooring material to the back and forth and round about movement of an office chair. The chair is loaded with 150 pounds of weight plus the weight of the chair itself, for a total just weight of under 200 pounds. After several thousand cycles of the test there is evidence of whether the flooring material being tested will perform.

Now let’s go to the installation site and actually see the conditions the carpet is being subjected to that are generating a complaint. In almost every instance the floor covering under rolling chairs or stools characterized as failing are occupied by individuals whose weight far exceeds that used in testing – often by a wide margin. This is something the carpet and flooring industry has not taken into consideration. Yet the weight of the individual in the chair where the flooring material is failing certainly has a profound affect on the materials performance. The heavier the occupant, and the more time they spend in the chair, the worse the flooring material is going to look beneath the chair. There is a direct correlation between the weight of the person in the chair, their foot movement, the type of shoes they wear and the motion of the chair wheels on the floor covering material. This comparison will make the concept easier to understand. Heavy trucks and equipment driving on roads will damage and break them down in a relatively short period of time, while the normal weight of cars will subject the same roadways to far less damage over a longer period of time. A lighter individual in the same kind of chair will do less damage than a heavy one.

The weight of an individual will also have an affect on residential carpet in front of furniture, in traffic lanes and at pivot points and on vinyl or hard floors under a kitchen table. Rarely if ever does a flooring person take this very real situation into consideration when specifying or selling a product or evaluating a complaint. Certainly the right product has to go in the right place to optimize performance but in some situations it can be a stretch to make that happen. Chair pads would certainly prevent most of the damage in this type of situation but we’ve got pictures of chair pads that have been damaged under extensive weight and use. However, it’s easier to replace the chair pad than the flooring material.

This is a situation the floor covering industry is going to have to be aware of and sensitive to but it is a very real problem we are faced with, I assure you, and it is generating millions of dollars in claims losses.