Flooring Designed for Disassembly with Reversible, Adhesive-Free Fixings
Innovation overview and development
Circular Building Solutions (CBS) specialises in modular, reversible commercial interior solutions that support designing for disassembly.
Our solutions promote material reuse, protect building assets and help reduce waste, embodied carbon and cost – helping the built environment move towards circularity.
The Benefits of Reversible, Adhesive-free Floor Fixings
Traditional adhesive-based installation can make uplift and reuse difficult. Adhesive residue contaminates both the floor covering and sub-floor – often metal raised access flooring – preventing reuse and adding costly remedial work for landlords and tenants.
Reversible fixings from CBS solve this problem. They hold floor coverings securely in place, yet allow them to be lifted quickly, cleanly and without damage for repair, reuse or recycling, delivering significant commercial and sustainability benefits.
- Circularity: The life of the floor covering is extended via reuse or recycling via manufacturer takeback schemes, rather than going to landfill. Independent whole-life embodied carbon modelling shows up to 80% carbon savings with adhesive-free installation through reuse and avoiding extra embodied carbon associated with new materials.
- Asset Protection: The sub-floor – often the most carbon and cost-intensive component of a flooring system – is protected between leases. Whole-life cost studies show a 40% saving when using adhesive-free installation, due to reduced dilapidation and repair costs.
- Design Flexibility: Reversible fixing mechanism enables spaces to be adaptable, reconfigurable and future-ready. Our universal system is already used and/or approved by 14 leading flooring manufacturers worldwide.
And in a first for the industry, Shaw Contract EMEA now offers a 15-year warranty on its carpet tiles when installed using our MagTabs, including re-installation in a second location. 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.
- Health & Wellbeing: all VOCs related to adhesives and sealants are eliminated, improving Indoor Air Quality for both flooring contractors and building occupants. Independent testing has confirmed that MagTabs comply with the “Exemplary” criteria on VOC emissions for BREEAM and exceeded all points for LEED specification.
- Programme Efficiency: Quick, odour-free installation with no drying time required so trades can work in parallel. Flooring can be trafficked immediately, minimising disruption to building operations.
Flooring designed for disassembly using detachable fixings is rapidly gaining momentum, with increasing specifications across the supply chain from clients, architects, property owners and building certification programmes, and our products have been proven across multiple projects.
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The CBS Range of Reversible, Adhesive-free Floor Fixings:
Our award-winning range of reversible fixings makes it easier than ever to design interiors that can be taken apart, reused and reconfigured – supporting circularity at every project stage.
The range covers a variety of sub-floors and floor covering types and is approved for use by 14 leading flooring manufacturers including Shaw Contract EMEA, Forbo, Milliken, Ege Carpets and Amtico.
For use with carpet tiles, +4mm Luxury Vinyl Tile, woven vinyl tile:
- IOBAC MagTabs® – perfect for use on raised access floors. Magnetic on one sub-floor side, dry-tack on the floor covering side.
- IOBAC Tab-It® – for use on most other common sub-floors including wood, concrete, non metal raised access floors and as an overlay system over existing flooring.
- CBS 1D-Tab™ – for ultimate protection of high value and precious sub-floors including marble, wood and mosaic, and flooring in heritage and preservation sites. Can also be used as a temporary overlay system.
- CBS LE-Tab™ – for use with newer, more sustainable floor coverings with lower energy backings and/or on sensitive sub-floors
For use with sheet vinyl flooring:
- CBS Hi-Roll™ – use for fixing large format sheet vinyl and modular tiles
- CBS Lite-Roll™ – use for fixing large format sheet vinyl and modular tiles onto sensitive sub-floors
For use with commercial rugs:
- Ezy-Rug™ Gripper Kits – Hard – Stops rugs slipping on hard floors
- Ezy-Rug™ Gripper Kits – Soft – For use on carpeted surfaces
- Ezy-Rug™ Gripper Kits Protect – Gentle grip for delicate floors
Magnetic wood flooring:
- Both Magnitude Sustainable Magnetic Wood Flooring and V4Magnetic® products are powered by a high strength IOBAC magnetic film for a strong yet reversible grip to metal access flooring.
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