Carpet Specifications in Assisted Living:
Simplifying Complex Decisions

How do you choose the right floor covering for healthcare facilities? There are many factors to consider and the complexity increases when the occupants of such facilities include an aging clientele. Aside from the aesthetic issues of design and pattern, performance concerns do exist. For example, issues such as durability, maintenance requirements and roller mobility, should be considered along with the impact of various flooring materials on balance and motion. Fortunately, there is a reasonable way to simplify the specification process.

The first step is to arrange the myriad details into the following categories:

1. Durability and appearance retention
2. Odors
3. Ergonomics
4. Safety and code requirements

Many specific concerns are covered by these general categories. For example, prevention of trips and concerns about balance and gait and roller mobility are covered by the topic of ergonomics. Likewise, specific topics, such as flammability, indoor air quality and Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliance are within the scope of the safety and code requirements category. This article will focus on the first two categories, durability and appearance retention, and odor issues as they relate to soft floor coverings. The next step is to establish a baseline of education for understanding the requirements in each area.

Durability and Appearance Retention
With new technologies and material advancements, healthcare facility managers who are choosing carpet have more options than ever before. To be confident that the purchasing decision will be valid for the short- and long-term requirements of the facility, a specifier must use an approach that goes beyond decisions based primarily on new carpet properties.

By basing purchasing decisions on new carpet properties, purchasers miss the importance of performance for the life of the product. Any product, carpet included, is only new on its first day of use. To be meaningful, testing and specifications must take into account the performance of the carpet over a lifetime of use. This is the role of the performance specification.

Performance specifications are precise laboratory tests that provide measurements related to the long-term performance of carpet as it is used in various settings on a daily basis. Soft floor coverings bring aesthetic and functional benefits to a facility. Properly understood and implemented, performance specifications are useful tools to help realize the maximum benefits of soft floor covering for a facility and its occupants.

Performance Specifications Link Testing and Results
The physical properties of new carpet may undergo significant change as the carpet is put into service. The link between the properties of new carpet and the ultimate performance of the installed carpet is often weak or nonexistent. Even with recognizing this discrepancy, new carpet properties are still accepted specifications today simply because "it’s always been done that way."

Better, more meaningful specifications incorporate performance measurements from tests that use accelerated aging methods to simulate actual use conditions in a compressed time evaluation. For such tests to be reliable, sufficient study must demonstrate the similarity of results between field and laboratory performance. Two established tests are the Roller Caster Chair Test and a Carpet and Rug Institute (CRI) method, the Appearance Rating Test. Replacing tests of new carpet properties with these two performance tests that "work" the carpet composite prior to analysis is the first step toward ensuring that durability and appearance retention expectations are met for long-term needs.

	The Roller Caster Chair Test assesses delamination and edge ravel performance by mimicking a specific traffic condition and simulating the action of a person seated in a caster chair rolling back and forth and moving around.
	The Appearance Retention Test simulates aggressive walking action through the Hexagon Drum Test.

Roller Caster Chair Test
The Roller Caster Chair Test assesses delamination and edge ravel performance by mimicking a specific traffic condition, simulating the action of a person seated in a caster chair rolling back and forth and moving around. In actual use, this is one of the most demanding areas of any installation.

To make the test as rigorous as possible, an unsealed seam is cut in each sample prior to testing. In addition, each sample is installed over a defined cushion, which dramatically increases flexing at the seams, the most vulnerable point. The flexing action, coupled with 198 pounds (90 kilograms) weighting and 25,000 cycles of the caster chair, imparts highly accelerated fatiguing of the carpet, seams and backing. No edge ravel or delamination after 25,000 cycles is the primary criterion evaluated on test samples. Products that can successfully withstand this grueling test usually demonstrate outstanding field performance. Poor results help identify potential problems before carpet goes to the field. The foundation of information established by this test has led to continuing use of this performance specification approach, while discontinuing tests of "untrafficked" carpet samples.

Appearance Retention Test
In a similar approach, the Appearance Retention test (CRI Test TM-101) follows a defined accelerated fatigue process developed through studies conducted by the Performance Standards Committee at the CRI. Carpet samples undergo accelerated fatiguing using, for example, a Hexapod Drum test that simulates the most aggressive parts of the walking action.

The appearance retention of the sample is assessed after 4,000 cycles, and then again after 12,000 cycles according to a defined protocol. Digital photo grading scales help ensure consistency between graders or laboratories. The results confirm how well the composite of carpet face construction and backing system characteristics will maintain appearance retention performance in traffic conditions.

Odors
Undesired odors can be a common concern in assisted-living environments. The increased likelihood of spills, whether from dropped food or drink or bodily fluids, requires certain characteristics in the floor covering to avoid odor buildup. Proper maintenance is an essential component in dealing with prevention of odor, but even best practices cannot compensate for deficiencies in interior products.

Perhaps the most important carpet characteristic for odor prevention is a functional moisture barrier. A subtle but significant distinction exists in the effectiveness of the barrier. This distinction is largely dependent on the barrier’s position in the carpet composite. In the best case, the barrier is positioned at the level of the pre-coat layer, so spills are kept at or above the primary fabric. This provides greater assurance of complete removal of the spill by standard maintenance procedures. Alternatively, in the case of a barrier at the bottom of the carpet, or between the carpet and the subfloor, spills can penetrate through the barrier level, where the liquid may spread out. This can lead to greater difficulty in both initial detection and complete removal. Regardless of position in the carpet composite, a functional barrier will serve to protect the subfloor.

Although the goal is to clean all spills immediately after an occurrence, this target is not always met. Therefore it is important to maintain the spill above the primary fabric to give the best chance for complete removal when the cleaning procedure is conducted.

	In the best case, the barrier is positioned at the level of the primary fabric, keeping spills Above the primary fabric and allowing complete removal by standard maintenance procedures.

Moisture Barrier Testing
A test that can be specified to establish the barrier characteristics of the carpet is commonly known as the British Spill Test (formally, the test is the National Health Service Patient Area Requirement for the United Kingdom, Method E: Part 2). This test involves the controlled spilling of a blue dyed liquid from a 1-meter height onto a carpet product. The spill is allowed to stand for a period of 24 hours, after which cuts are made through the carpet in the area of the spill to establish whether there was penetration into or through the carpet composite.

Although this test is a reasonable representation of the barrier characteristics of a new carpet, it lacks the ability to predict barrier characteristics over the life of the carpet. Evaluations for improved barrier tests that incorporate the effect of "working" the carpet are underway by the American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists (AATCC), but such efforts take a significant amount of time to complete. One logical approach currently being investigated is to combine the use of the Roller Caster Chair Test with the British Spill Test, traffic the carpet for 25,000 cycles and then conduct the spill test. With this approach, the carpet should be installed with a direct glue approach as defined by CRI Installation Guidelines, CRI 104-96. Successful demonstration of barrier properties on new carpet and trafficked carpet provides a high level of confidence to the product specifier.

Measure It. Manage It.
Combining the Roller Caster Chair, the CRI Appearance Retention Test, and the British Spill Test gives a solid basis for performance specifications in the healthcare arena. This trio provides an assessment of the carpet face and backing under conditions that are much more meaningful than new carpet properties. You can put performance testing to work by making it a requirement in your specifications.

The role of the specifier and facility manager becomes broader at every turn, demanding optimal use of available time for each segment of the job. An important premise, "If you can measure it meaningfully, you can manage it," is at the heart of performance specifications. Based on tests that relate to the performance of carpet in the real world, performance specifications are the measure and control of successful choices in carpet usage.

For more information about Dow’s polyurethane carpet backing products, please call 1-800-847-4212. Reprinted with permission of FacilityCare. Copyright 2000 by Douglas Publications, Inc., Richmond, VA. All rights reserved.

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