IOBAC Contamination-free Flooring Installation Tabs
Innovation overview and development
An overview of the sustainable innovation
Facilitating Flooring Reuse with IOBAC Contamination-free Flooring Installation Tabs
Floor coverings installed using wet applied adhesives can be difficult to reuse or recycle on uplift due to contamination from adhesives. This results in flooring being sent for incineration or landfill, and significant rectification work to the sub-floor before the next installation.
IOBAC Flooring Installation Tabs address this issue by enabling floor coverings to be affixed securely throughout the life of the installation, yet cleanly and easily uplifted.
These reversible fixing mechanisms give flooring a second life, vastly improving flooring circularity and making flooring manufacturers’ take-back schemes easier to implement.
Building assets such as raised access flooring and concrete subfloors are protected from damage, with the additional embodied carbon associated with new materials avoided.
IOBAC Tabs are used for installation of carpet tile, +4mm Luxury Vinyl Tile and woven vinyl tiles onto all common prepared sub-floors. They are a universal fixing system meaning adhesive-free design is not limited to a particular flooring type or brand.
The range consists of 2 products, both combining high grab with clean removal:
• IOBAC MagTabs® for use on metal raised access flooring and IOBAC’s range of magnetically receptive underlays and resins. Launched in 2019. Winner of 2019 Flooring Innovation Award and finalist in 2023 ASBP and Sustainable Design Collective Awards.
They are clever little squares, magnetic on one side and self-adhesive on the other, incorporating IOBAC’s patented Dual Grip technology which combines dry-tack adhesion with magnetism for phenomenal grab, even in high footfall areas.
• IOBAC Tab-It® for use on non-metal raised access flooring (including calcium sulphate, aluminium and wood), concrete, wood, ceramic and vinyl sub-floors. Launched September 2023.
Provide details on how the innovation was developed, including effective collaboration, knowledge transfer and partnership along the project team
Pronounced as “I-Owe-Back” to the environment, IOBAC was founded on the belief that there had to be a better way to manage flooring throughout its life-cycle.
Having witnessed the high levels of wasted time, materials and cost associated with traditional flooring techniques, our vision was simple: “To streamline the flooring process, making it as sustainable, cost-effective and flexible as possible for all involved, specifiers, contractors and end-users alike.”
Our patented solutions started with quick-cure resins which form durable, reusable and magnetically receptive sub-floors for installation of magnetic-backed flooring.
We recognised that our contamination-free flooring range needed to accommodate different methods of application and to cover all built environments and so incorporated our patented Dual Grip technology into IOBAC MagTabs®. This opened up the market to enable standard-backed floor coverings to be installed to magnetically receptive sub-floors adhesive-free.
From there, we developed IOBAC Tab-It® which uses the same chemistry as MagTabs® but enables installation onto a wider range of sub-floors.
Collaboration: Flooring Manufacturers
Many flooring manufacturers have made huge advancements in developing sustainable, recyclable floor coverings with low carbon footprints and offering material take-back schemes.
However, wet adhesive-based installation can render even the most sustainable of floor finishes as single-use materials.
IOBAC are therefore working in partnership with key floor covering manufacturers to endorse IOBAC Tabs for use with their products. By promoting this installation method for their products, flooring manufacturers can “make flooring reuse reality”, keeping their products at the highest level of value, and facilitating their flooring take-back schemes.
To date, we have partnered with Shaw Contract EMEA, Milliken, Forbo, Tarkett, Desso, Balsan, Bolon, Ege Carpets, Bloq, Ntgrate, Burmatex, Interface and ntgrate on projects and endorsements.
And in a first for the industry, Shaw Contract EMEA have gone one step further by offering a 15-year warranty for its carpet tiles when installed using our MagTabs, including the re-installation of the tiles in a second location. This means that after inspection and approval by Shaw Contract, carpet tiles can be moved to different space in the knowledge that they continue under warranty.
This takes us a huge step forward in facilitating flooring reuse, and gives specifiers the practical reassurance that Shaw Contracts’ products will perform just as well on their second life as their first.
Knowledge Transfer: Main and Flooring Contractors
With our founder having extensive experience in flooring contracting, IOBAC are keen to ensure contractors are involved in and comfortable with this alternative method of fitting.
We attend innovation showcases at many main contractors, and host numerous Lunch and Learn and training sessions. This is supported by extensive on-line training videos and documentation.
Recent Quote from a flooring contractor “We have used MagTabs on a couple of installations now and can say we are very impressed.
We fitters were skeptical at first but after using the product they are totally on board with the process.
MagTabs make the installation easier as there isn’t any waiting time for adhesives to cure. We don’t need full areas as we can move forward with little interference from other trades walking in adhesive.
As the product doesn’t contaminate the subfloor, clients can now take uplift materials when required with no damage to the subfloor. The raised access floor is clean, and no further preparation is required before laying any subsequent floors.”
The use of new technologies, processes products or techniques or novel uses of existing ones
From working with 3M on our first patent for a rapid setting magnetically receptive coating, to our more recent patented technologies in heated walling and flooring, IOBAC believe that the best way to innovate is through understanding market needs and close collaboration with other technology experts.
This willingness to collaborate with others has earnt us a reputation with our clients as a technical facilitator, often approached for help to improve current processes.
As a solution that challenges the status quo in the flooring industry, it has been imperative to our success that we build relationships with the total supply chain, from floor covering manufacturers, to contractors, to architects and designers, to building owner/occupiers.
Driven by their sustainability benefits, IOBAC Flooring Tabs are increasingly accepted as a flooring installation technique, with end-users/specifications including Amazon, Apple, Citibank, Google and Unilever.
An estimated 200,000 sqm flooring (equivalent to 600 tonnes waste) has been diverted from landfill to date via the use of IOBAC Tabs, with a healthy pipeline of 2 million sqm of live projects just in the UK (floor covering value of £50 million).
Asset Protection: Flooring installation using IOBAC Tabs delivers cost, as well as carbon, savings.
Take the following cost comparison as an example:
A landlord/client pays £40-50 /m2 for a metal raised access floor and £25/m2 for the floor covering, giving a total asset value of £65-75m2.
Business As Usual
Using adhesive installation costing £0.50/m2 contaminates £65-75m2 worth of assets (both the sub-floor and floor covering)
• Asset value reduced to zero
• Cost to remove contamination from the sub-floor between £9-15m2
• Disposal costs of contaminated flooring around £0.45/m2.
IOBAC Tabs
Using IOBAC Tabs costing £1/m2 keeps the sub-floor clean and ready for immediate reuse.
• Asset value protected, remaining at £65-75m2
• Zero mess, cleaning or remedial costs
• Downcycling of the tabs costs around £0.01/m2
• Ongoing repair and maintenance costs are also significantly reduced since specialist contractors or tools are not required. As a self-maintenance solution for clients, in-house staff can simply lift and replace damaged flooring tiles.
How does the innovation provide a more environmentally friendly approach for the industry
Reusing, rather than recycling, materials keeps them at their highest level of value with RESET’s calculations indicating that reusing all components twice would reduce carbon by 45%.
Carpet Recycling UK (CRUK) recorded circa 467,000 tonnes of carpet waste disposed of in the UK in 2020. Whilst around 70% was diverted from landfill, only a tiny proportion of that was through reuse, with the vast majority going for recycling and energy from waste recovery.
Adnan Zeb-Khan, CRUK Manager states: “CRUK is pleased to have IOBAC as one of its members who are a forward-thinking company who have demonstrated this with its MagTabs adhesive-free floor laying solutions.
We often get enquiries regarding damaged uplifted carpet tiles which are no longer fit for reuse due to being damaged during the uplifting process and this process certainly will help create more reuse and recycling opportunities.”
As a reversible fixing mechanism, IOBAC Tabs enable floor coverings to be cleanly, quickly and easily uplifted and reused, extending their useful material life.
This reuse avoids any additional embodied carbon associated with new flooring. With average replacement cycles of carpet tiles typically five years, the usable life of the product is extended.
Independent whole-life embodied carbon modelling facilitated by Perkins&Will demonstrates that embodied carbon for lifecycle modules A1-A5 can be completely recovered in lifecycle stage D through material reuse achieved with MagTabs.
Carpet tile carbon profiles can range from approx. 34kg CO2/m2 (generic Nylon 6.6 fibre with bitumen backing) to closer to 4kg CO2/m2 e.g. 4.8kg CO2/m2 for Desso Airmaster Earth.
Assuming that IOBAC Tabs facilitate a reusage rate of 70% for the Desso carpet tile above results in a potential 15,170kg CO2 saving across a 4,500 sqm project.
When installed using IOBAC Tabs, the Cradle to Cradle life cycle of flooring products can therefore be considered, rather than manufacturer Cradle to Gate data alone.
The installation system supports design for disassembly and deconstruction principles, enabling flooring to be installed in removable layers, rather than becoming a fixed composite material as with adhesive installation.
Sub-floor Carbon savings
Removing old flooring adhesive from sub-floors is messy, expensive and carbon intensive, and can be avoided for the future with adhesive-free installation.
Raised access flooring needs to be cleaned using solvent-based detackifying fluids to remove contamination from old flooring adhesive. This is an intensive process which either requires panels to be taken away to be treated off-site (incurring carbon costs) or to be carefully programmed into the fit-out scheme on-site to avoid the fluid damaging other finishes such as skirting paint.
In the case of concrete sub-floors, adhesive residue and the remains of old floor covering is typically removed using grinding and scraping machines that generate a significant amount of dust, followed by applying a layer of cementitious screed. This method presents respiratory hazards to health to the contractor, requiring risk assessment and provision of PPE.
Given the amount of embodied carbon already associated with the original concrete floor, using additional cement-based products to rectify adhesive contamination is really not a sustainable approach.
With IOBAC Flooring Installation Tabs, the sub-floor is left clean and uncontaminated after flooring uplift, and is ready for the next installation straight away, with none of the additional processes described above required.
The carbon associated with lifecycle stage C (End of Life: demolition, waste and disposal) for the sub-floor is therefore significantly reduced with adhesive-free installation.
Whole-life carbon profile
• Carpet adhesive (Bostik) = 29.22kg CO2
o 29.06 kg CO2 – stages A1-5
o 0.16 kg CO2 – stage C
• MagTabs = 5.46 kg CO2
o 15.42 kg CO2 – stages A1-5
o 0.04 kg CO2 – stage C
o -10kg CO2 – stage D
• Tab-It = 5.84 kg CO2
o 5.81 kg CO2 – stages A1-5
o 0.03 kg CO2 – stage C
IOBAC Tabs represent up to 80% carbon saving vs the adhesive alternative when materials alone are compared.
Material Efficiency
Adhesive and friction-based backings require 100% coverage of the floor covering and sub-floor. In contrast, IOBAC Tabs are placed at the corners of flooring tiles, representing only 4% coverage, and offering material efficiency savings.
Made in the UK, IOBAC Tabs are very lightweight vs adhesives which are typically supplied in plastic containers which need to be disposed of. A 50 sqm project would require a 5Kg plastic tub of adhesive vs 2 rolls of IOBAC Tab-It weighing 1.2kg. That’s 76% less mass, and significantly reduced carbon and costs in the transport and disposal process.
Unlike friction-based adhesive-free coatings, IOBAC MagTabs can be wipe-cleaned for when multiple trades create a dusty environment and reused up to 10x without loss of performance. At end of life, they can be downcycled.
Health & Wellbeing
Using IOBAC Tabs removes all VOCs related to adhesives and sealants traditionally used in the flooring installation process.
Indoor Air Quality is improved for both flooring contractors and building occupants, contributing towards the WELL certification goal for clean indoor air.
Independent testing has confirmed that MagTabs comply with the “Exemplary” criteria on VOC emissions for BREEAM and exceeded all points for LEED specification.
Installation is quick and odour-free with no drying time required. Flooring can be trafficked immediately, minimising disruption to building operations. Subsequent uplift is clean and contamination-free, meaning harmful cleaning and removal processes are not required.
In contrast, adhesive-based methods leave the sub-floor in need of rectification. Cleaning off old glue and flooring residue requires the use of cleaning chemicals and/or scraping machines which create dust and other respiratory hazards. The process requires a risk assessment of hazards and probable issue of PPE.
Use of adhesive-free installation therefore enables safer site operations during both install and refit for contractors and occupants.
Material Composition
IOBAC MagTabs are double-sided squares, magnetic on one side and dry-tack on the other, whereas IOBAC Tab-It are double-sided dry-tack squares. Made in the UK, they are plasticiser and phthalate-free, are 100% solid adhesive and do not contain materials harmful to health.
The magnetic side of MagTabs uses patented Dual-Grip technology for high grab and clean removal. This incorporates a plant-based polyurethane coating manufactured mostly from renewable castor oil and recycled scrap iron additives.
How does the innovation provide an improvement in social value. This could be through the creation of local supply chain, apprentices, responsibly sourced materials.
IOBAC are committed to accelerating flooring reuse as a common practice.
We are working with flooring manufacturers to raise industry awareness, as well as other supply chain partners such as Further Flooring and Envirocycle London, who donate uncontaminated flooring to social housing and charitable organisations for reuse.
We are members of Carpet Recycling UK (CRUK) and ASBP (Alliance for Sustainable Building Products), and also work with Contract Flooring Association (CFA) and Circular Sustainable Floor Covering (CISUFLO).
Both products are made in the UK, with IOBAC operations based near Basingstoke employing local people.
How does this innovation influence future specifications to improve sustainability
The specification of IOBAC Tabs for the installation of flooring offers a simple solution towards flooring reuse.
IOBAC are committed to promoting flooring circularity and want to educate the industry on the importance of specifying an adhesive-free installation method alongside their chosen floor covering.
It’s an area that’s often overlooked, meaning that specifiers can unwittingly sentence sustainable floor coverings to single-use as the current default installation technique is adhesive-based.
We prioritise working with industry stakeholders to highlight how adhesive-free installation can make a significant difference to flooring reuse and recyclability.
All IOBAC products now come with our Reuse Promise, which is intended to be a practical support to specifiers in tackling material circularity. The Promise covers our Flooring Installation Tabs, and range of magnetically receptive underlays and resins, and gives specifiers confidence that their flooring specification is fit for future projects.
It promises that every IOBAC product meets at least 3 of the following criteria, supporting a circular future for flooring systems:
• Contamination-free uplift – all IOBAC products act as reversible fixing mechanisms, making it easy to uplift floor coverings without any contamination, ready for reuse
• Dry Applied Systems – all IOBAC products are 100% solid adhesive or contain plant-based resin, and avoid the VOCs associated with adhesives
• Material efficiency – offering more efficient material usage vs traditional methods via reduced coverage, weight and materials
• Recycled content – containing recycled content and recyclable wherever possible
• Reusable – designed as reusable solutions
And our product development programme is focused on improving that performance even further.
Our Flooring Tabs are listed in NBS Source for ease of specification, and we provide specification support to those using other systems.