Eugen Lägler Celebrates Facility Grand Opening

Eugen Lägler recently opened a new facility, co-located with Palo Duro Hardwoods, in Denver. Lägler finalized acquisition of Palo Duro Hardwoods, a wholesale distributor, last October. It now has expanded its parts and repair operations there. Lägler also highlighted the construction of its Premium Sanding Training (PST) area during the event.

Palo Duro has been the exclusive North American importer and sales agent for Lägler since 1995, and has facilitated Lägler’s annual Fly & Sand training event in Germany for contractors from North America. Lägler now has the capacity to provide professionals with PST opportunities year-round in the U.S.

“With our acquisition, the two companies are collaborating to further increase value in all our business relationships,” said Jeff Fairbanks, Palo Duro president. “The recent grand opening marks the beginning of an even higher level of commitment to success with our suppliers, customers and employees.”

INSTALL Announces Surface Prep Certification

INSTALL announced it has collaborated with nine underlayment mills, four INSTALL contractors and eight INSTALL instructors from around the country to create a prototype for the INSTALL Surface Prep Certification.

The certification’s training comes from the INSTALL curriculum and is an evaluation process in which the installer will demonstrate they have mastered the following skills: substrate evaluation, primer selection and application, product estimating and application, mixing operations-knowledge of and application, and ramping and gauging for height.

Included within the certification process is a classroom orientation to increase awareness of concrete and flooring prep issues. The topics covered in the orientation stage are moisture and alkalinity awareness and testing, moisture mitigation, basic substrate prep, major substrate prep and self-leveling underlayments.

Following the orientation will be a written test that covers all of the technical knowledge related to surface preparation. The final stage is the hands-on demonstration which will be an evaluation of the installer’s command of substrate, product knowledge and proper application techniques.

For more information, visit installfloors.org.

National Names New President, Training Center

Derek Olson has been promoted to president of National Flooring Equipment. He has been with the company since 2009 and succeeds Marty Anderson. Olson brings extensive experience in sales, account management, public relations, advertising and brand development to his role.

National has also opened a new training center in Bloomfield, Colo. The facility anticipates more than 30 training programs will be held in 2016, with added growth throughout the year. The training programs will provide hands-on usage of machinery, with opportunities to actually destroy flooring.

Technicians will gain experience with various floor removal techniques from grinding and shot blasting to scarifying and polishing. The program also features components on customer service, floor removal systems and calculating the highest return-on-investment.

Technicians can also tap into National’s online training resources through the website (nationalequipment.com) and online programs to address specific issues and machinery-specific details.

QEP Collaborates in Charity Renovation Project

QEP Co Inc. collaborated with the American Association of Caregiving Youth (AACY) to help a local family in need.

In this particular Boynton Beach, Fla., household, the children take care of their single and ailing mother. Upon hearing this, the AACY introduced the family to QEP. The company teamed up with local partners at Home Depot Deerfield Beach Store #218 and The Scotts Miracle-Gro Co. of West Palm Beach to provide generous donations.

From a complete makeover of their house to a renewal of the exterior landscaping, more than 50 volunteers teamed up. A comprehensive makeover was performed inside, including new subfloors, Faus laminate flooring, paint, general repair and interior decorations.

After a long week of work, the final reveal came as QEP introduced the renovated home to the mother and her daughters. The family sent their thanks in a heartfelt message to all of the QEP team: “How grateful we are for everything you have done for us. We are very happy and enjoy our new home.” The mother went on to say that she and her two daughters “finally have a home I love thanks to amazing people.”

FCICA Announces CIM Scholarship Winners

Rich Harter, St. Paul Linoleum and Carpet Co.; Robert Lucio, Walter Daniels Construction; Stephen Ruggeri, Steve’s Carpets and Ernie Nogales, Big Bob’s Flooring Outlet are the winners of the first Bruce Newbrough Memorial Certified Installation Manager (CIM) Program Scholarship.

The Bruce Newbrough Memorial Scholarship was established to provide educational opportunities to floor covering installation managers who have demonstrated exceptional commitment to and excellence in proper substrate preparation and installation of floor covering. It is named after the late Bruce Newbrough, former director of technical services and later applications development for Ardex.

As winners of this scholarship, each recipient will receive a fully paid tuition in the CIM Program compliments of Ardex and nora systems.

For more information, visit fcica.com/training-program.

CFI Training Facility Classes Under Way

Beginning last month, the International Certified Floorcovering Installer Association (CFI) Training Facility just outside of Dallas in Forney, Texas, commenced training a fresh cadre of students in its new proprietary residential carpet installation course. The class, which is only offered at the CFI school, turns out certified installation graduates ready to begin work immediately in a record five-week timeframe.

The five week CFI Residential Carpet class, which is designed to take new students and turn them into accredited professionals at an accelerated pace, has never been available before on a continual basis.

Interested students do not need any previous installation experience to attend the class. The course offers a comprehensive line-up of all the technical aspects required of basic residential carpet installation. In addition to the accelerated carpet class, the school also offers long- and short-term training programs in every flooring product category for students at all levels.

For more information, visit cfiinstallers.com.

Nat’l Academy of Floor Covering Training Announced

Flooring Technology Institute (FTI) has been acquired by the National Academy of Floor Covering Training (NAFCT). Claudia Lezell, former co-owner, will stay on board as an instructor and help organize future events.

The goal of the NAFCT is to provide the information needed to create opportunity and advance in the floor coverings industry. With more than 50 years of combined experience in floor covering, the trainers and professionals at the NAFCT are positioned to offer specialized certification and training for all aspects of floor covering.

NAFCT offers classes designed for installers, project managers, store owners and inspectors. While NAFCT is designed to handle seminars with a few hundred people in attendance, ranging from the novice to the seasoned veteran and everything in between, the group can also cater a training session for any store’s team.

Find out more at NAFCT.com or contact Paul Pleshek at paul@NAFCT.com.

Herregan, Schönox Partner

Herregan Distributors Inc. and Schönox recently announced a strategic partnership to carry the full line of Schönox subfloor products.

Herregan serves 12 Midwestern states supporting over 3,500 dealers throughout the region and comprehensive plans have been put in motion to ramp up the availability of Schönox products in all of Herregan’s warehouse locations, as well as provide extensive training and support to the company’s sales and technical teams.

The product rollout will include primers and moisture mitigation systems, subfloor repair products, floor leveling compounds and adhesives.

“Herregan is such a strong strategic partner that will further our critical objective of providing availability to those seeking Schönox products, while elevating the quality of each flooring project that Herregan’s end customers complete using Schönox,” explained Doug Young, executive vice president, HPS Schönox.

Wagner Introduces Online Estimator

Wagner Meters’ new online Service Temperature Estimator webApp easily and quickly estimates the relative humidity (RH) at service conditions from concrete at non-service conditions, according to the company.

Jason Spangler, Rapid RH product sales manager for Wagner, said flooring experts and general contractors can access vital information to help determine realistic project deadlines and ensure compliance with the ASTM F2170 standard for concrete slab RH measurements.

Wagner emphasized that the Service Temperature Estimator webApp is for estimation purposes only. To use the app, visit wagnermeters.com/RhEstimator/.

ProSource Wholesale Celebrates 25th Anniversary

ProSource Wholesale is celebrating its 25th anniversary of creating franchise opportunities and trade professional partnerships across the U.S. and Canada.

ProSource opened its first showroom in St. Louis in 1991, and has grown to more than 141 showrooms in North America, with 66% multi-unit owned.

According to the company, ProSource showrooms have become an extension of the trade professionals’ business. These one-stop showrooms are available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year while featuring more than 40,000 product choices in floor covering, kitchens and baths—including private label and name brands.

ProSource showrooms are designed exclusively for builders, remodelers, installers, designers, contractors and other trade professionals. For more information, visit prosourcewholesale.com. 

WFCA Joins Forces with fcB2B

The World Floor Covering Association (WFCA) has partnered with the Floor Covering Business to Business Association (fcB2B) to make fcB2B’s digital business model a reality for the flooring industry.

Over the past 15 years WFCA’s team members have worked to create a seamless digital program for the flooring industry. Once that model gains wide acceptance across the industry, the execution of transactions and the overall pace of doing business will be streamlined and new efficiencies will become the norm, the trade group noted.

As part of the arrangement, WFCA will cover the costs of a full-time executive director for fcB2B.

MAPEI Donates to R.I.S.E.

In support of a continuing series of specially adapted custom smart homes being constructed for wounded heroes by the Gary Sinise Foundation through its Restoring Independence, Supporting Empowerment (R.I.S.E.) program, MAPEI has supplied mortars, grouts and adhesives for installing tile and stone, wood, carpet and vinyl flooring in the home of U.S. Marines Staff Sergeant Jason Ross of Fallbrook, Calif.

MAPEI first became aware of R.I.S.E. through the National Wood Flooring Association’s (NWFA) efforts to “play it forward” at the NWFA Wood Flooring Expo last year. MAPEI has worked with NWFA for many years to promote the installation of wood flooring in homes and commercial projects, and welcomed the opportunity to support the association and local communities through R.I.S.E.

MAPEI will continue to support R.I.S.E. through the donation of installation materials for additional smart homes planned for construction in 2016. The homes will be spread across the U.S., including locations in Tennessee, Iowa, Texas, Florida, North Carolina and California.

Because MAPEI is a single-source supplier for the installation of all types of flooring, the company has volunteered to donate the installation materials for all of the floors in the smart homes.

Ardex Academy 2016 Training Open

Ardex Americas has opened registration for nearly 200 free hands-on training classes available at eight locations across North America. Training is offered in English or Spanish with the language noted on the schedule.

In response to industry trends, the two-day underlayments and toppings seminar is now a one-day underlayments seminar. Toppings has been added to designer floors and is a one-day designer floors/toppings seminar.

Seminars are available for Ardex Underlayments, Ardex MC Moisture Control Systems, Ardex Designer Floors/Toppings, Introduction to Ardex Polished Concrete Systems and Designer Floors, Ardiflo Pumping Systems, Ardex Tile & Stone Installation Systems, Ardex Engineered Concrete Repair Systems and SystemOne.

Class size is limited to provide maximum participant experience so class availability will change. There is no fee for attending. Ardex provides hotel accommodations, some meals and ground transportation.

The most current schedule is posted and regularly updated on the Ardex Americas website at ardexamericas.com.

RD Weis Acquires CTS Flooring

RD Weis Cos. recently acquired CTS Flooring of Limerick, Pa. Founded 56 years ago, CTS Flooring has made its name as a specialty firm, focused on multi-location/national account rollouts where flooring installations are often combined with other commercial building needs such as painting, signage and other services.

Drew Guinan, who has led CTS for the last decade, will continue in his role as CEO to assure business continuity throughout the organization.

Additionally, the official name for CTS Flooring has changed to CTS Flooring Group. For more information, visit ctsflooring.com. 

Engineered Floors Announces Merger with J&J Industries

Engineered Floors and J&J Industries Inc. have announced a company merger.

“J&J Industries has, for more than 60 years, demonstrated strong support for northwest Georgia, while producing commercial carpets of outstanding quality,” said Robert Shaw, chairman of Engineered Floors. “They are a perfect fit to complement our residential-focused manufacturing business, and as such, we plan for J&J to operate as a separate, commercial division of our company.”

Engineered Floors and J&J are both family-owned businesses with similar values of commitment to their employees, their customers and their community, Shaw stated.

Mohawk Announces LVT Expansion Plans in North America, Europe

This year, investments in North America and Europe will double Mohawk’s worldwide luxury vinyl tile (LVT) production capacity and add new product capabilities, according to the company.

In 2015, Mohawk’s acquisition of IVC added manufacturing capabilities in both sheet vinyl and LVT in North America and Europe, including a production line in Dalton. Mohawk is investing again on both continents to expand capacity in both flexible LVT and rigid LVT (WPC) products.

To support the increased consumer demand for LVT, Mohawk is investing in two new LVT facilities, one to support North American market growth and one to extend the company’s leadership in the European market. These new facilities will include unique capabilities to manufacture both flexible and rigid LVT products for residential and commercial applications.

According to the company, Mohawk will invest about $200 million in these facilities this year and 2017, with production anticipated to begin during the second half of 2017.

New Hires and Promotions 

Laticrete has promoted Susan Dolata to director of strategic accounts group. Most recently, Dolata worked as Laticrete’s global account manager where she helped oversee architectural and national account sales for all business units and divisions of the company.

Doug Metchick has been named president of Laticrete Supercap where he will prepare the company for rapid and sustained growth. Metchick comes to the company from Morris Yachts, where he served as CEO and was responsible for business strategy, marketing, sales, customer service, production, finance, HR, advertising, social media and digital.

Bryan Day has joined Schönox as regional business manager for Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina. Day will be working extensively to support the development of Schönox in the mid-Atlantic region all the way from specification to the application of the product by installers and contractors.

Schönox has also announced that Todd Gates joined the company as vice president of sales and business development for the Western U.S. Based in Las Vegas, Gates will further the development of distribution and support opportunities for Schönox across one of the fastest-growing regions for the company.

Upcoming Events

Fuse Alliance 2016—Nashville, March 13-16. www.fusealliance.com

Floor Educational Guild: Carpet—Dalton, Ga., April 4-6. www.flooringinspectorsguild.org

Starnet Spring Meeting—Miami, April 14-17. www.starnetflooring.com

Coverings 2016—Chicago, April 18-21. www.coverings.com

NWFA Wood Flooring Expo—Charlotte, N.C., April 27-30. www.nwfa.org.

For more industry events and training, visit www.fcimag.com and click Calendar of Events under the More tab.