St. Paul Linoleum & Carpet aces tough project
2/8/2007 --
An art in itself: St. Paul Linoleum & Carpet Company aces tough project thanks to training, INSTALL professionalism
The Chambers in Minneapolis is a luxury hotel distinguished by contemporary art displays throughout its public spaces and individual suites. The project's designers wanted every detail to reflect an appreciation for fine art, from floor to ceiling. To anchor that initiative, they tapped St. Paul Linoleum to install a complex full of uncommon, high-end flooring.
"The client for this project was very particular," says D. J. Murzyn, St. Paul Linoleum's vice president and the project manager for the Chambers complex. "Floor installation had to be meticulous."
The palette of materials included Karastan woven carpet, Hartco pattern-plus hardwood and Junckers wood. The hotel's design incorporates hardwood in the penthouse lounge, restaurant and some suites. In the guest rooms, hardwood entryways transition into carpet. Vinyl composition tile is used primarily in service corridors and restrooms.
The average experience level of a St. Paul Linoleum installer is measured in decades. Most floor layers have worked with all types of flooring materials, but it was the Junkers installation that caught the special attention of the installation crew.
This floating-floor system employs the use of steel clips to hold the flooring in place. Special consideration must be given to proper expansion and specific techniques for cutting around door frames, circular concrete columns and installing in multiple directions.
So, St. Paul Linoleum management promptly called for specialized training in Junkers installation. St. Paul staff, whether they were on the Chambers project or not, received intense individualized training from a Junckers technical specialist.
"Our INSTALL professionals are skilled craftsmen," Murzyn said, "but because this job was so challenging, we opted to have its crews participate in skill-upgrade training, and the crews responded with total cooperation."
The result: An expertly-installed Junckers flooring system at the Chambers and proficient completion of a near half-million flooring project. The seven-man crew logged thousands of work hours, collectively to install 23,000 square feet of stretch-in carpet, 20,000 square feet of engineered hardwood, as well as 12,000 square feet of vinyl composition tile, 3,600 square feet of direct-glue carpet and 500 square feet of rubber flooring in the exercise room.
"The floor covering designs incorporated very clean, sharp lines, but in older buildings like these, that can be difficult," Murzyn says. "Renovated buildings are rarely perfectly square and do not havethe level surfaces that simplify floor installation in new construction."
But based on the skill and productivity of the installation crew, which is exclusively professionals trained by the Minnesota affiliate of the International Standards and Training Alliance (INSTALL), St. Paul Linoleum accepted the job with confidence.
"This job is a good example of a project which requires multiple installation techniques and a high level of skill. The skills necessary to satisfactorily complete this job can only be obtained through many hours of training and experience," explained Mike Commers, president of St. Paul Linoleum.
Training is Nothing New to St. Paul Linoleum & Carpet Company. Specialized training – like the Junckers session for the Chambers project – is nothing new at St. Paul Lino. Technical and education experts from major manufacturers are common fixtures at the company's 30,000 squarefoot warehouse. From Ardex, Lee's and Johnsonite to Forbo and Fritz Tile, the 65+ installers at St. Paul Lino are consistently exposed to new materials, products, and installation techniques.
"The market can take us in a different direction every six months," said Commers, "but we are always ready because we believe in skill-upgrade training and are committed to putting the best-trained, highest qualified installers on every job site."
