CFI’s Jim Walker educates Surfaces 2007 attendees

By Louis Iannaco
Las Vegas— Installation becomes a featured attraction at Surfaces. From the Installation Showcase to educational seminars to new products and services, installers had a lot to choose from.

One exhibiting company making life easier for mechanics was Base King, a wall-base manufacturer that offers a carpet and rubber wall-base product as well as the BindnStix patented adhesive system. “The response has been very good,” said Base King’s Devin Schlisner. “We experienced quite a bit of growth in 2006, even though the economy was up and down. We look forward to 2007 as being our best year ever.”

Specializing in the production of upright floor laying tools, Danish firm iTools made its way to Las Vegas. With its mantra to “develop and manufacture intelligent new tools that help professionals work faster and, most importantly, in a way that’s gentler to the working body,” the iTools booth was one of the more popular installation exhibits at Surfaces.

First developed by carpenter Gert Winterberg, the floor hammer is iTool’s feature product. The hammer enables its user to remain upright while driving hardwood flooring boards together. On his first job using the hammer, Winterberg felt no pain in his knees and back, chronic trouble areas for installers. It was iTools founder/CEO Ulrik Bruhn who saw the tool’s possibilities. The assortment has since been extended with tools for upright application of adhesives and upright fitting of linoleum.

Mer-Krete Systems, known for its waterproofing solutions, crack isolation and underlayments, impressed show attendees with its new, patented self-curing Thin-Set 801. Unlike ordinary thin-set mortars, Thin-Set 801 does not require normal evaporation in order to dry, noted Mer-Krete’s Tim McDonald. “Its adhesion properties make it highly preferable for use with large-format tiles such as ceramic, stone and porcelain. Mer-Krete 801 cures within three hours, allowing for same-day grouting to help facilitate tight scheduling needs.”

Better Tools displayed its new line of scraper handles. The set is comprised of seven handles engineered to meet the toughest demands of the flooring industry, noted the company’s Bryan Dressman. Four handles are offered to accommodate a 4-inch scraper blade, one handle for a 5-inch scraper handle and two handles for an 8-inch scraper blade. The scraper handles come with the Ultimate Scraper Blade, a flared-base scraper that diverts material over the scraper chuck resulting in less force required to remove the material.

Schlüter-Systems was on hand with its new Schlüter-Trep-FL, a stainless steel stair-nosing profile with protruding rounded edge. The company has just added the product to its Schlüter-Trep stair-nosing profile line. As the company’s Lisa Schwartz noted, tiled stair edges are vulnerable to chipping and breaking. “Schülter-Trep stair-nosing profiles protect exposed tiled edges and improve safety on tiled stairways through increased visibility.”

Racine Industries, makers of the Host Dry Extraction Carpet Cleaning System, highlighted two products at the show: the Host Carpet Spot Removal Kit and Host Dry Carpet Cleaner Shaker Pack. The Spot Removal Kit removes spots and spills on all types of carpets and rugs, while the Shaker Pack is 2.5 pounds of Host Dry Carpet Cleaner in a shaker container.