Kinetex: Carpet’s Champion
Carpet has always been the undisputed king of the commercial space, or at least it was until hard-surface floor covering was created to overthrow the empire of carpet. Now, with its legacy on the line, carpet has answered in the form of Kinetex. By keeping the best benefits of carpet, offering similar qualities of hard-surface floors, and boasting a new easy to install system, Kinetex has risen to meet its challenger.
The most unique aspect of Kinetex, by far, is its peel and stick backing. Carpet tile has always been marketed as an easy to install product, but a peel and stick backing is taking this to the next level as all that is required is a primer, peel and stick to install. Perhaps the most impressive aspect of this system is the RH tolerance levels it achieves. When installed in a humid environment, or on a concrete slab, the water in the air can cause all kinds of issues including the debonding of traditional adhesives and microbial growth. With up to 99% RH tolerance, Kinetex can be installed almost anywhere, making it incredibly versatile, with no additional time or cost.
While the peel and stick backing is a unique and perhaps game changing method, Kinetex directly competes with the hard-surface segment in its durability and maintenance and allergy health benefits. Kinetex boasts itself as one of the most tested flooring products on the market, even withstanding 5-million-foot traffic events. The horizontally knitted construction leads to no crushing of the face yarn, giving the product an Extreme Commercial Traffic rating. This is a product built to last and perform year after year. Products that last long also tend to be easier to maintain. With basic vacuuming, Kinetex can be easily cleaned. Even if it gets liquids on it, Kinetex absorbs less water than traditional carpet due to its lightweight construction and polyester fibers, and an encapsulation cleaning will take the carpet back to new. The fast and effective cleaning methods make Kinetex perfect for allergy sensitive locations, with allergens getting held in the fibers and pulled away with the cleaning. Kinetex easily passes California’s 01350 requirements.
Perhaps the two most important reasons why carpet is dominant in the floor covering industry are its acoustic capabilities and its comfort. So many people associate high tension, stressful environments with how noisy a location is. Engineered Floors, the creator of Kinetex, recognized this and designed Kinetex to be a leader in acoustic performance. The result? Kinetex has one of the highest NRC and IIC ratings of any commercial product. Anywhere Kinetex is installed creates a warm, home like feeling, which leads to a more relaxing, productive environment. Kinetex is not only comfortable on the ears, but also on the feet. Carpet is softer than hard-surface flooring. That is a fact. Crafted with a high density backing, Kinetex is no exception, and has an incredibly comfortable feel to walk on.
The future of floor covering follows the pattern of taking existing options and making them better and more affordable. Carpet has always been a top option, and has been following this pattern, just like every other type of floor, including the field of environmental sustainability; Kinetex is as recyclable as a plastic bottle. There are some technological and creative advancements that truly change the industry and create something unique. Kinetex is just simply better carpet made so well that it can dominate its competing segment of hard-surface flooring in every category.