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Moisture problems are the #1 cause of failed flooring installations. Often the result of aquifers or other environmental conditions, moisture may be invisible. So how do you know if you have a moisture problem? How do you fix the problem? What happens if you choose to ignore moisture readings? If you’re in a 24/7 operational facility, such as a call or data center, a police station, a flight tower or other critical space, how do you solve a moisture problem – adhesive breakdown, for example – without shutting down or compromising your core mission? Dave Long, president of Staticworx, Inc., discusses these and other issues related to mitigating moisture in new construction, renovations, and occupied workspaces.
Static Bursts #20: The Pitfalls of ESD Flooring Selection
How to Avoid Flooring Failure (Part 1)
Three fundamental mistakes account for a majority of ESD flooring failures: selecting the wrong floor for the application: failure to consider total cost of ownership; failing to test the floor after it’s been installed. Avoiding these mistakes helps ensure success. This first of a two-part series on avoiding ESD flooring failures explains why it’s important to select a floor based on the specific application and details the primary considerations that should be taken into account: assessing the type of footwear people will wear in the space and considering goals and objectives, including how the space will be used.
The Gist: The Pitfalls of ESD Flooring Selection: How to Avoid Flooring Failure (Part 1)
Avoiding 3 fundamental problems will help ensure a successful ESD flooring installation
- Incorrect pairing of flooring product and application
- Choosing the wrong floor for the space
- Failing to consider cost of ownership
- Forgetting to account for maintenance & repair
- Failing to test the floor after it’s been installed
- Necessary to establish a baseline
Podcast Part 1: Incorrect pairing
- When people walk on the floor, the contact and separation between their shoe soles and the floor surface generates static, which builds on their body;
- What type of footwear will people wear in the space?
- In electronics manufacturing applications, everyone walking in the space is required to wear special ESD -protected footwear.
- For these applications, footwear needs to be tested in conjunction with the floor to be sure they work together
- In end-user spaces, people wear regular street shoes – will the floor still prevent static?
- These floors need to be low static-generating
- Some conductive floors – e.g. vinyl and epoxy – still generate static
- Also take the environmental, ergonomic and other objectives into account
- Does the floor need to be durable – e.g. used with forklifts?
- Can the floor have seams?
- What are the ergonomic considerations?
- Do you need sound attenuation?
- What other considerations do you need to account for in the space?
- In electronics manufacturing applications, everyone walking in the space is required to wear special ESD -protected footwear.
“There are actually a lot of things that can go wrong with an ESD floor, but I think there are probably three main fundamentals that, if you can avoid those fundamental problems, you can end up with a successful project. “
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Rick: Welcome to Static Bursts. Our podcast series will discuss the threat static electricity poses to your business, and how to address those risks.
Dave: I’m your host, Dave Long, founder and president of Staticworx. We make static control flooring.
Rick: And I’m your co-host, Rick Frauton.
Dave, could you tell our listeners about some of the potential pitfalls or common mistakes that are made when choosing and installing an ESD floor?
Dave: There are actually a lot of things that can go wrong with an ESD floor, but I think there are probably three main fundamentals that, if you can avoid those fundamental problems, you can end up with a successful project. So very quickly, I’m just going to tell you what the three of them are and then we’ll break them down. So the first one is the wrong pairing of the ESD flooring product to the application. So by that I mean choosing a type of floor whether it’s an epoxy floor, carpet floor, vinyl, rubber and using it in an application or a space where it’s just not the right choice.
The second biggest mistake is not taking into consideration cost of ownership. And a big cost of ownership is the maintenance that will go on and the repairs that will happen over time. That’s a little bit complicated because some products last for a certain amount of time, and then they begin to deteriorate due to the activity that’s going on in the space. We’ll talk about both maintenance and repairs and the longevity of a floor. We’re going to talk about all of them from the perspective of Total Cost of Ownership.
Then the third mistake that many, many companies make, and I’ll actually give you some examples, because we run into these all the time, is people fail to test the floor immediately after it’s installed. And that can lead to all sorts of problems because now you don’t have a baseline.
So let’s go back to the first mistake, the wrong pairing of the product to the application. Let’s suppose you’re the specifier. Maybe you’re a designer, or maybe you’re an engineer that’s been hired by a company to help them choose the right floor. The very first thing you need to think about is, am I looking for this floor to reduce static electricity on people when they wear regular footwear? So what I’m saying is some floors are used in applications where part of the protocols of that space involve putting on special footwear. So for example, the electronics assembly industry, all employees who touch electronic products that they’re manufacturing, wear what are called heel straps, or ESD shoes. That’s part of the controls that are in place in that factory. And in fact, those special footwear protocols are mandated so that when an employee arrives at the workspace, they put the special footwear on and before they are allowed entry to the manufacturing area, they have to touch a button on a footwear tester. And they get either a red light or green light that either approves or disapproves of their going any further out onto the manufacturing floor.
So some floors only work with special footwear. So it’s not that there’s anything wrong with those floors but they are made to ground a human being who was wearing some kind of conductive materials on their shoe so that the human being is electrically bonded from their own body through their shoe. In this case, a conductive shoe, to the floor. A lot of these types of floors don’t prevent static electricity on a person, if they’re just wearing regular shoes. So an easy way for me to tell you this is you walk out onto the floor with a pair of athletic shoes on and you don’t put on these special heel straps. Even if the floor is conductive and verified as conductive by someone who’s tested it, if you walk on that conductive floor and it happens to be either vinyl or a epoxy you’re going to generate a lot of static electricity. It’s not because the floor doesn’t have conductivity. It’s because the floor is not a low-generating material.
So when you’re looking at pairing a floor with an application, you have to ask yourself, what type of footwear will people be wearing in my space. So, for example, in a 9-1-1 call center, the people who work there, they wear regular shoes that can be anything from dress shoes to work boots to maybe, in some cases, they kick their shoes off while they’re sitting at their position. So a floor in a 9-1-1 call center has to be a very low-generating material, because while the person is working, they’re going to be walking around with static-generating footwear.
On the flip side of it, an electronics assembly facility, they wouldn’t worry as much about the generation of static electricity, because they’re going to require the person to wear certain types of footwear. However, when you qualify the floor for the electronics manufacturing and assembly operation you need to test it to make sure that the footwear choices that you will be using in that space, work with that floor. We covered that in a previous podcast. But if you’re interested in knowing more about that, we have an article that was published by In Compliance Magazine called “Qualifying ESD Floors.” And we’ll get into that topic fairly deeply so I’m not going to spend a lot of time on it here.
Rick: So one consideration when selecting an ESD flooring material is the type of footwear worn by the people who will be working in the space. The resulting static charge generated by the repeated contact and separation of those two materials as people move through the space is a very important factor to be aware of. What other factors come into play when matching flooring material to a customer’s application?
Dave: So when you’re looking at applications, the first thing you need to think about is what type of footwear will people be wearing. And then there’s the more obvious application choices -durability. You’re not going to put carpet in a warehouse. But maybe in your warehouse, you need ESD flooring. Obviously, you’re going to put something in that warehouse that’s going to stand up to pallet jacks and forklifts and all the durability issues that you might have.
If it’s a clean room, you’re going to be installing flooring that in some cases can’t have any seams. So maybe you’re looking at a coating, maybe you’re looking at rubber ESD sheet flooring that can be seam-welded and cove-based up the walls so that you do not have any opportunity for particulate to collect.
So when we think about application and pairing floors, we’ve got epoxy, vinyl, rubber, paint, ESD wax and ESD carpet. Your concern and your space might involve ergonomics. So you might like the idea of using a hard surface floor in a call center because you know it’s very easy to keep it clean. But in a call center one of the more important aspects to the tasks that people perform is the ability to be aware and be helpful to the person on the other end of the communication. If it’s a 9-1-1 call center, the dispatcher needs to have complete understanding of the person they’re talking to, because that could be a matter of life or death. So in those spaces, they like the idea of the floor attenuating sound. So they may be more interested in ESD carpet tiles than they’re interested in ESD epoxy because they need the space to have some ability to absorb noise. So the takeaway here is, think carefully about the space and how many different factors the floor could physically contribute to its longevity, but also to making the tasks easier for the people working in that space.
Rick: Today we discussed the importance of matching ESD flooring material to the type of work performed in the space. This is one of three fundamental categories of mistakes that are commonly made in the selection process. In our next episode, we continue this conversation by discussing the importance of the Total Cost of Ownership, which should include any downtime associated with the installation process, as well as why post-installation compliance testing should never be overlooked.
Dave: We hope you learned something today. If you have questions about the podcast, give us a call at 617-923-2000. Even though we specialize in solving problems with flooring, if you have a question about static discharge, how to install a floor, how to test the floor, we’ll be glad to help you. Thanks for listening.
Rick: Welcome to Static Bursts. Our podcast series will discuss the threat static electricity poses to your business, and how to address those risks.
Dave: I’m your host, Dave Long, founder and president of Staticworx. We make static control flooring.
Rick: And I’m your co-host, Rick Frauton.
Dave, could you tell our listeners about some of the potential pitfalls or common mistakes that are made when choosing and installing an ESD floor?
Dave: There are actually a lot of things that can go wrong with an ESD floor, but I think there are probably three main fundamentals that, if you can avoid those fundamental problems, you can end up with a successful project. So very quickly, I’m just going to tell you what the three of them are and then we’ll break them down. So the first one is the wrong pairing of the ESD flooring product to the application. So by that I mean choosing a type of floor whether it’s an epoxy floor, carpet floor, vinyl, rubber and using it in an application or a space where it’s just not the right choice.
The second biggest mistake is not taking into consideration cost of ownership. And a big cost of ownership is the maintenance that will go on and the repairs that will happen over time. That’s a little bit complicated because some products last for a certain amount of time, and then they begin to deteriorate due to the activity that’s going on in the space. We’ll talk about both maintenance and repairs and the longevity of a floor. We’re going to talk about all of them from the perspective of Total Cost of Ownership.
Then the third mistake that many, many companies make, and I’ll actually give you some examples, because we run into these all the time, is people fail to test the floor immediately after it’s installed. And that can lead to all sorts of problems because now you don’t have a baseline.
So let’s go back to the first mistake, the wrong pairing of the product to the application. Let’s suppose you’re the specifier. Maybe you’re a designer, or maybe you’re an engineer that’s been hired by a company to help them choose the right floor. The very first thing you need to think about is, am I looking for this floor to reduce static electricity on people when they wear regular footwear? So what I’m saying is some floors are used in applications where part of the protocols of that space involve putting on special footwear. So for example, the electronics assembly industry, all employees who touch electronic products that they’re manufacturing, wear what are called heel straps, or ESD shoes. That’s part of the controls that are in place in that factory. And in fact, those special footwear protocols are mandated so that when an employee arrives at the workspace, they put the special footwear on and before they are allowed entry to the manufacturing area, they have to touch a button on a footwear tester. And they get either a red light or green light that either approves or disapproves of their going any further out onto the manufacturing floor.
So some floors only work with special footwear. So it’s not that there’s anything wrong with those floors but they are made to ground a human being who was wearing some kind of conductive materials on their shoe so that the human being is electrically bonded from their own body through their shoe. In this case, a conductive shoe, to the floor. A lot of these types of floors don’t prevent static electricity on a person, if they’re just wearing regular shoes. So an easy way for me to tell you this is you walk out onto the floor with a pair of athletic shoes on and you don’t put on these special heel straps. Even if the floor is conductive and verified as conductive by someone who’s tested it, if you walk on that conductive floor and it happens to be either vinyl or a epoxy you’re going to generate a lot of static electricity. It’s not because the floor doesn’t have conductivity. It’s because the floor is not a low-generating material.
So when you’re looking at pairing a floor with an application, you have to ask yourself, what type of footwear will people be wearing in my space. So, for example, in a 9-1-1 call center, the people who work there, they wear regular shoes that can be anything from dress shoes to work boots to maybe, in some cases, they kick their shoes off while they’re sitting at their position. So a floor in a 9-1-1 call center has to be a very low-generating material, because while the person is working, they’re going to be walking around with static-generating footwear.
On the flip side of it, an electronics assembly facility, they wouldn’t worry as much about the generation of static electricity, because they’re going to require the person to wear certain types of footwear. However, when you qualify the floor for the electronics manufacturing and assembly operation you need to test it to make sure that the footwear choices that you will be using in that space, work with that floor. We covered that in a previous podcast. But if you’re interested in knowing more about that, we have an article that was published by In Compliance Magazine called “Qualifying ESD Floors.” And we’ll get into that topic fairly deeply so I’m not going to spend a lot of time on it here.
Rick: So one consideration when selecting an ESD flooring material is the type of footwear worn by the people who will be working in the space. The resulting static charge generated by the repeated contact and separation of those two materials as people move through the space is a very important factor to be aware of. What other factors come into play when matching flooring material to a customer’s application?
Dave: So when you’re looking at applications, the first thing you need to think about is what type of footwear will people be wearing. And then there’s the more obvious application choices -durability. You’re not going to put carpet in a warehouse. But maybe in your warehouse, you need ESD flooring. Obviously, you’re going to put something in that warehouse that’s going to stand up to pallet jacks and forklifts and all the durability issues that you might have.
If it’s a clean room, you’re going to be installing flooring that in some cases can’t have any seams. So maybe you’re looking at a coating, maybe you’re looking at rubber ESD sheet flooring that can be seam-welded and cove-based up the walls so that you do not have any opportunity for particulate to collect.
So when we think about application and pairing floors, we’ve got epoxy, vinyl, rubber, paint, ESD wax and ESD carpet. Your concern and your space might involve ergonomics. So you might like the idea of using a hard surface floor in a call center because you know it’s very easy to keep it clean. But in a call center one of the more important aspects to the tasks that people perform is the ability to be aware and be helpful to the person on the other end of the communication. If it’s a 9-1-1 call center, the dispatcher needs to have complete understanding of the person they’re talking to, because that could be a matter of life or death. So in those spaces, they like the idea of the floor attenuating sound. So they may be more interested in ESD carpet tiles than they’re interested in ESD epoxy because they need the space to have some ability to absorb noise. So the takeaway here is, think carefully about the space and how many different factors the floor could physically contribute to its longevity, but also to making the tasks easier for the people working in that space.
Rick: Today we discussed the importance of matching ESD flooring material to the type of work performed in the space. This is one of three fundamental categories of mistakes that are commonly made in the selection process. In our next episode, we continue this conversation by discussing the importance of the Total Cost of Ownership, which should include any downtime associated with the installation process, as well as why post-installation compliance testing should never be overlooked.
Dave: We hope you learned something today. If you have questions about the podcast, give us a call at 617-923-2000. Even though we specialize in solving problems with flooring, if you have a question about static discharge, how to install a floor, how to test the floor, we’ll be glad to help you. Thanks for listening.
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Other Podcast Episodes
Have you ever wondered why we recommend static-dissipative flooring for some applications and conductive for others? Shouldn't both types of flooring work for any application? No, because electrical standards vary by industry.In episode 2 of Static Bursts, Dave and Rick discuss the technical difference between static-dissipative and conductive floors. Standards for flight towers, communications facilities and other end-user applications require flooring with electrical resistance measuring between 1.0 x 10E6 and 1.0 x 10E9. Standards for electronics manufacturing, however, allow for any floor measuring below 1.0 x 10E9. Dave explains why it's important to know and follow industry standards for the specific application where the ESD floor will be installed.
How can you predict whether an ESD flooring material will perform in your workspace? What tests should you do to qualify the floor & why does it matter how the tests are performed? In 2014, ESD standard S20.20 changed to include point-to-point and system resistance tests as well as walking body voltage tests. Learn why these tests matter, what they entail, how to perform the tests properly, and why it’s crucial to evaluate the flooring-footwear combination. Dave Long, president of Staticworx, discusses a process called the Qualification Phase – i.e., the tests that should be performed on flooring materials under consideration, before you select an ESD floor.
New floors are typically installed over the following pre-existing surfaces: VCT (vinyl composition tile), VAT (vinyl asbestos tile), or coatings over concrete. While it is possible and sometimes preferable to install a new floor directly over an old surface, a number of steps should be taken to ensure that the new floor does not fail. The steps including destructive testing to determine whether the bond between the existing surface and subfloor (or existing surfaces) is intact and exactly what lies below the current surface - subfloor? Old tile or coating? Layers of tiles? – as well as testing for asbestos and other regulated chemicals. Dave Long and Rick Frauton discuss situations in which companies have run into trouble, installing new flooring over old, and explain the steps necessary to avoid similar problems.
Moisture or vapor in the concrete subfloor can cause your floor to fail, resulting in serious costs down the line – in some cases, vacating the premises and installing a new floor. People often assume, falsely, that in arid climates, moisture is non-existent. In this episode, Dave and Rick discuss what happens when people fail to do their due diligence (perform moisture tests or ignore readings), and offers advice on how to avoid costly problems.
How do you calculate the actual (full) cost of an ESD floor? Upfront costs for material and installation are only part of the total expenditure. To evaluate the actual, long-term cost of an ESD floor, it’s important to consider the costs of maintenance and repair. In this episode of Static Bursts, Dave and Rick discuss maintenance and repair of ESD epoxy, vinyl, carpet and rubber flooring and what you can expect from each flooring material.
Installing a floor in a 24/7 operational facility comes with its own set of challenges. As with any flooring installation, it’s important to consider logistics: Will chemicals be used? Adhesives? Coatings? Are there toxins or odors to deal with? What is the condition of the current floor or subfloor? Will the old floor require removal? Dave and Rick discuss the optimal way to install an ESD floor in 24/7 operational spaces – without adhesive or chemicals and with neither downtime nor disruption.
ESD Epoxy coatings have evolved over the years to meet the needs of different industries. Generation 1 coatings, consisting of a single layer of black paint, were cheap, easy to repair and ugly. Today’s Generation 3 epoxy coatings are attractive, easy to install and repair, and offer significant improvements in ESD performance. In this podcast, Dave and Rick discuss the history and evolution of ESD epoxy coatings – from their introduction in the 1950s, through improvements in Gen 2 coatings, to the high-performance Gen 3 coatings available today.
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In this episode, Dave and Rick discuss ESD floors and electrical safety. At some point when discussing grounded conductive floors, the question of safety always arises, along with whether or not grounding a conductive floor puts people in harm’s way. Referring to an actual case study, Dave talks about a situation in which a floor installed for the FAA was too conductive to meet the FAA safety standards. The client had been told that drying the pressure-sensitive adhesive would solve the problem, making the entire floor less conductive. Dave talks about why this is not true, and why it’s extremely important to adhere to electrical standards as they are written.
ESD flooring is a generic term. In this episode, Dave and Rick discuss what people mean by ESD flooring. Dave provides a basic tutorial on how ESD floors work, and why – rather than relying on a manufacturer’s spec sheet - it’s crucial to test the electrical properties of any ESD floor under consideration.
ESD carpet can be an ideal floor for many different spaces, particularly for critical 24/7 operations where a soft walking surface and/or sound attenuation is necessary or desired. Carpet is also attractive and, compared to certain higher-cost materials, reasonably priced. There are, however, hidden costs buyers should be aware of before selecting ESD carpeting. In this podcast, Dave and Rick discuss the reasons carpet construction, fiber geometry, modification ratio and carpet design are crucial for understanding the real cost of ESD carpet.
In this short 3-minute podcast episode, Dave and Rick talk about why no single type of ESD flooring material is suitable for every application. Flooring materials like ESD vinyl must be used in conjunction with special ESD footwear. Those materials are unsuitable for facilities in which personnel wear regular street shoes. In spaces where street shoes are allowed – data centers, 9-1-1 call centers and government offices, for instance – the ESD floor must dissipate static to ground and also inhibit static generation in the first place.
Three types of conductive adhesives are typically used to install ESD floors: epoxy, acrylic, and pressure-sensitive. Each adhesive has advantages and disadvantages. Dave explains the differences, details pros and cons, and discusses why – and in what circumstances – one adhesive might be preferable over another. The fourth option is to choose a glue-free installation, such as interlocking ESD tiles. Interlocking tiles are chemical-free, have no fumes or mess, and can be installed in a functional workspace without disrupting operations.
Properly qualifying an ESD floor requires more than testing for electrical resistance. We used to believe that the conductivity of a floor predicted its potential for static charge generation. We now know that resistance and charge generation are independent qualities: one does not relate to the other. A floor can be conductive and still generate static electricity. We also know that flooring materials perform differently with different types of footwear. In this episode, Dave and Rick discuss why it’s important to test the floor as part of an integrated ESD flooring/footwear system – and to test for both conductivity and charge generation.
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StaticWorx was asked to evaluate a failing floor in an electronics manufacturing facility. After a fire the client had purchased a new ESD vinyl tile floor. Three months into the installation the floor was already lifting. In addition to unmitigated vapor, the building had been built using tilt-up construction. Silicone bond-breakers - sprayed on the concrete to keep the wall slabs from adhering to the subfloor - contaminated the concrete, preventing the tile from adhering properly. As the building was operational and the client wanted to avoid shutdown, Dave recommended interlocking ESD vinyl tile. StaticWorx installed a 10’ x 10’ test patch. Two months later, the interlocking floor was intact. StaticWorx covered the entire floor in the operational facility with interlocking vinyl tile - without the client’s losing a day of production.
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When choosing an ESD floor, it’s important to consider all the variables related to your specific application. Will you roll heavy loads on the floor? Do you need noise attenuation, anti-fatigue characteristics, or reflectivity? How long do you plan to stay in the building? When evaluating options, remember that the cost per square foot is only one part of the total cost of owning the floor. Installation, labor, maintenance, operational downtime add up – in the short term as well as over time.
The cost of flooring materials is only part of the total cost of ownership. To calculate the long-term cost of owning a floor, consider installation, maintenance, repairs, and downtime required for maintenance and repair. Aesthetics are another consideration. this podcast, Dave and Rick describe scenarios that occur when people base flooring decisions solely on the cost of the material. Dave also explains why it’s crucial to test an ESD floor immediately after it’s been installed.
Learning Center Articles
- 7 Common Mistakes Selecting an ESD floor
- A Guide to ESD Flooring Selection
- Avoid Costly Failures: What You Need to Know When Specifying ESD Flooring
- Choosing ESD Flooring for:
- ESD Footwear: What Is It and When Is It Necessary?
- ESD Footwear for Electronics Manufacturing and Handling Applications
- Facility Managers’ Guide to Selecting ESD Flooring
- The Need for Due Diligence in Specifying Static-Free Flooring
- Standard of Care for Specifying Floors in Mission-Critical Spaces
- Understanding the Hidden Costs of ESD Flooring
- The Case Against Overly Conductive Flooring
- Conductive vs Dissipative
- Electrical Resistance
- Electrical Resistance in Mission-Critical Spaces
- Ensuring Accuracy: Why It’s Critical to Clean Floors and Probes Before ESD Testing
- ESD Standards and Test Methods
- Resistance, Resistivity, and Real World Application
- Walking Body Voltage
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StaticWorx high-performance static-control floors protect electronic components, explosives, and high-speed computers from damage caused by static electricity. ESD flooring is part of a system. Choices should always be based on objective, researched evidence. When you partner with us, we look at all possible items that may need to integrate with the floor, and, focusing on your goals and objectives, help you find the right floor for your application.
