OMAHA, NEB.—It started with glueless laminate floors. Then locking hardwood became the rage. More recently the first floating luxury vinyl tile hit the streets. And now the clic concept is being extended to porcelain with the full rollout of Avaire interlocking floating porcelain tile.

While a locking porcelain system is not exactly groundbreaking given the ill-fated attempt by Edge Flooring to penetrate the market (the company declared bankruptcy last November after a four-year run), Avaire’s construction not only separates it from the Edge product, but renders it entirely different, according to Rob Tarver, who came over from Wilsonart in July to serve as Avaire’s vice president of sales and marketing.

“First of all, our porcelain is at least 50% thicker—making it a more durable, crack-resistant tile.” But more important is how the product is made. Avaire porcelain is mounted to a moisture impervious plastic tray with interlocking tabs on all four sides. It will neither expand nor contract. In contrast, Edge’s was mounted to high density fiberboard (HDF), a substrate that not only is not moisture impervious, but expands and contracts based on climate conditions, movements inconsistent with the product to which it was attached. “The result was cracking, and it was more difficult for the grout to stay together,” Tarver said.

What’s more, the Edge product offered two tiles glued to a piece of HDF with the locking mechanism on the two long sides. “When the product was locked together, similar to a laminate, the only things holding the short sides were a butt joint or grout,” said Jonathan McIntosh, Avaire’s president and CEO. “If there was an imperfect subfloor the grout would crack. And, when the product was locked, you had two different movements—push on one end, the other may go up, which puts stress on the grout.”

But CoMc, the company that markets Avaire, would rather not compare its product to other locking porcelain systems. Rather, it markets Avaire as a better solution than traditional tile installations. For starters, it is more cost effective as it requires no subfloor prep, mortar or underlayment, so fewer tools and accessories are required to install it. This also addresses installation speed. “You can grout right away as opposed to traditional ceramic installations, where you typically have to wait 24 hours for the mortar to cure,” Tarver said.

This is mutually beneficial for the end user and installer, McIntosh said. “An Avaire installation typically takes no more than a day, which results in fewer headaches and inconvenience for the homeowner.” And the installer can now schedule more jobs. “It may take only a half-day to grout, but he will not start a job in the afternoon, so by saving a half-day he is really saving a full day.”

Gary Cissel, director of flooring, Nebraska Furniture Mart (NFM), which has had the product for two years, put it in perspective. “Avaire will improve the way we install tile. For the average installer, a 200-square-foot job takes two or three days. With Avaire, he can do it in a day. So he can do five jobs in a week as opposed to two. I have guys who don’t want to install anything but this product.”

Installation is also expedited by the four-sided locking tabs. “Our system is non-directional, unlike any other glueless floor,” Tarver said. “Not only do you have the flexibility to start anywhere in the room, you can have multiple people installing it at the same time, which means saving money.”

Each tray is also equipped with a rubber grid backer that acts as both a self-leveling and sound-deadening device. This makes Avaire applicable for the multi-family segment, where traditional ceramic is rarely installed because of the sound barrier requirement. The product is also non-skid, so it remains in place during installation.

Manufactured here, Avaire also separates itself from traditional tile installations because of the aforementioned tabs, which allow the connecting trays to be evenly spaced without the use of spacers. “Traditional ceramic tile installations require spacers to ensure even grout lines,” Tarver said. Other benefits include:

1. Repairability: Tarver said replacing any existing tile today requires it to be chiseled out, a difficult and expensive repair. “This is a floating floor, so all you do is remove the grout, cut the tabs on three sides and replace with a new tile—which has to be adhered to the floor— and regrout. Simple.”

2. Reusability: The interlocking system allows the floor to be disengaged and re-engaged multiple times. Just remove the grout on the floor and the tiles can be taken apart, he said. “It’s a more effective tearout if the consumer ever wanted to replace the floor.” And then there’s the sustainability story. Since it can be reused, a reclamation program can be set up with groups like Habitat for Humanity.

3. DIY friendly: Most consumers would never install ceramic because of the requisite skill level and time. “This product can be installed by novices and professionals with professional results,” Tarver said. “Professionals embrace it from a productivity standpoint. Retailers will embrace it because we all know ceramic installers are the fastest declining group of skilled installers in the country.”

4. Versatility: Avaire can open up certain applications that had not been suitable for traditional ceramic because of subfloor instability. And the product is not constrained by labor, Tarver said. “You can use anyone with fundamental, handyman-level skills to perform professional installation.”

5. Profitability: Retailers can make more money selling Avaire than traditional tile because some of the cost of the installation is built into the product. “Therefore, the retailer is making more money on the total price of the floor than with traditional ceramic, where he is paying out more money in labor vs. what he is making on the product itself,” he said.

Tarver believes the revolutionary nature of the product will yield explosive growth. In fact, he noted the company is already seeing that occurring. “We have far exceeded our sales expectations over the last 12 months. More important, we have received only one claim, and that was settled for less than $150. We outgrew our second manufacturing facility in less than a year and are moving to one that will be three times larger to allow for growth.”

Cissel noted Avaire is now NFM’s second or third largest supplier of porcelain tile. “Pretty good in less than two years.” What’s driving the success? “The feedback we’ve received is consumers like the color palette, ease of installation and that the bathroom or kitchen is not out of commission for long periods of time. And female consumers like if they get tired of it in five years they can easily rip it up. From a retail perspective, it gives us an opportunity to reduce the replacement lifecycle of ceramic.”

Avaire has a 10-year residential warranty and is available in two modular sizes—6 and 12 inches—and eight colors. Cissel called it basic styling that fits with any décor. Tarver noted by Surfaces ’09 the line will also include 6 x 12 and 18 x 18 tiles—all working with which each other—and 20 designs. Retail prices range from $4.79 to $6.49.

Goals

CoMc has four major goals for the next 12 months:

1. Establish full North American distribution by the middle of next year. “I’m not looking to expand faster than our capacity will allow,” Tarver said. “We have already set up Herregan in the Midwest and PHF in Hawaii. In addition to those, I’d like to add three more this year in targeted regions.”

2. Develop and innovate the design of the product.

3. Establish an exclusive network of retailers through the distributors CoMc sets up.

4. Launch a new merchandising unit by Surfaces to showcase both the benefits of the interlocking system and the tile’s dimensional modularity.

Product development began in 2003 and took three years to get to market. McIntosh became involved in 2005 and reengineered the product to what it is today. “The challenges that eventually led to Edge ceasing production forced us to be most stringent in our lab and field testing. We wouldn’t launch the line until we were positive it would not fail.” In illustration, the company gave away 5,000 square feet to average homeowners during its testing phase and observed everything about the process. “All we asked for was feedback and access to the floors both during the installation process and afterward.”

The first Avaire products were shipped in mid-2006 into various channels and entered the specialty retail segment toward the year’s end, when top 5 flooring retailer NFM picked it up in late September 2006.