Installers: Patrick Engleton, Maheshwailall Kissoondeo, Francisco Davila, Justy Castillo and Eddie Rodriguez.
Manufacturers/Suppliers: Ardex and adhesives from Interface, Johnsonite and Mohawk.
Distributor: Halebian.
Tools: Renovision Lift Kit Blocks, carpet puller, razor scraper, heat gun, Hurricane floor fan and Stanley utility blades.

This vibrant, pixelated carpet pattern was achieved through painstaking attention to detail. Photo courtesy of Consolidated Carpet.According to Thomas White, Consolidated Carpet account executive, this installation of carpet in a tech company’s office in New York City had many challenges, not least of which was the timeframe. Installers only had seven days to transform an outdated building into a modern office environment while still keeping existing finishes such as mahogany, wood and stone.

“It was extremely fast-paced,” White recalled. “We had to really crunch down. The designers used a lot of color, a lot of mixing of products and manufacturers. To stay on top of a project like this, you really have to lean on your project manager.”

He added, “I would try and go to the site every day, and the project manager went numerous times. We were just constantly onsite and checking in. With the complexity of the design and different materials, it was crucial to be there and make sure everything was going how we’d discussed it. The installers were great, too. Once you gave them a set of directions, they ran with them.”

The most unique part of the installation is a vibrantly colored pixelated carpet design near the entranceways. White noted that in order to achieve the look, “the installers cut each tile into a different size while keeping the line from skewing. Basically, they cut every plank tile down into one of four different sizes, with the smallest tile being 25 cm by 25 cm. It takes a lot of skill, time and concentration to make those cuts and fit them perfectly into the design on the floor in order to meet the designers’ rendering of their vision exactly.”

Jan Tapia, marketing coordinator for Consolidated Carpet, said winning an FCI Installation Award hearkens back to the company’s history. “We were an installation company before we ever sold a yard of carpet, and we pride ourselves on our installation,” she said. “We are very proud of this award.”

Manufacturers/Suppliers: Schönox HPS North America.
Distributor: CDC Distributors.

After the carpet was fully encapsulated, the Inside Edge crew skim-coated and then installed luxury vinyl plank throughout the store. Photo courtesy of Inside Edge.For this retail store remodel in Creve Coeur, Mo., installers for Inside Edge came upon a common problem in old buildings as soon as they began tearing up carpet to replace with luxury vinyl plank. Asbestos was present in the old flooring and mastic. Rather than going through the lengthy (and costly) process of asbestos abatement, Torie Bonafede, Inside Edge’s vice president of sales, suggested encapsulating the old flooring in Schönox APF self-leveling underlayment before laying the LVP.

Bonafede said he had previously seen Schönox used to encapsulate old flooring when he was a manufacturer’s rep. “Needless to say, my installation team was very concerned. We had some of our highest-level installers out on the job, along with myself and two account managers, and three people from Schönox all making sure we were able to do what we said we could do. The client was also there to approve the results in a test area before we rolled it out for the entire store.”

He added, “For this to work, you need a good, dense carpet. This one had enough open area for the self-leveling compound to bond with—the carpet acted more like a fiber filler to tighten up the bond. The floor prep was the star of this project.”

According to Tarry Johnson, Inside Edge national account executive, winning the FCI Installation Award is a show of confidence from the industry. “It’s an honor to be recognized by our peers. We want to be at the forefront of technology and innovation, and make sure we’re bringing the correct solutions to our clients—and this award shows that.”

Manufacturers/Suppliers: Laticrete and Winckelmans.

The installation of terrazzo flooring was completed before the mosaic artists arrived, with space open to install the mosaics in the hospital floor. Photo courtesy of Laticrete.Gary Drostle and his company Drostle Public Arts, based in the UK, was commissioned to create tile mosaics depicting the ecosystem and wildlife of Northern California for a new 521,000 sq. ft., 149-bed children’s hospital in Palo Alto, Calif. The company created and installed 19 hand-cut mosaics using Winckelmans Unglazed Porcelain tile, a set of bronze medallions and 700 hand-cast glass leaves set in a specially designed terrazzo floor.

According to Dale Foster, the Laticrete technical sales representative who helped oversee the project, “Drostle Public Arts received a contract for the mosaics two years prior to the installation. By the time the mosaics were ready, the terrazzo installation had already been completed, with areas left open where the mosaics would go.”

As with any large-scale commercial project, the timeline was tight. “These mosaics were being installed right in the middle of construction of everything else in the hospital,” Foster noted. “The installers had to have areas cordoned off from the rest of the trades, so they could have a relatively clean area to do the installation.”

Laticrete products used during the installation included NXT Level cement-based underlayment in the ground floor lobby area and first floor central corridor, 254 Platinum mortar to adhere the 19 mosaic panels, and Permacolor Select grout in a glossy Raven tint.

Drostle stated, “For each portion of our mosaic tile work, there was an appropriate Laticrete product to ensure a lasting installation and bring the wow factor with a pop of color in the grout. More importantly than that, each of the products chosen has received multiple certifications and declarations, including Health Product Declarations (HPD), Environmental Product Declarations (EPD) and UL Greenguard Gold Certifications for low chemical emissions for sustainable living.”

Foster said Laticrete is proud to be associated with Drostle’s award-winning project. “We support projects like this all across the nation. To be recognized in conjunction with the artists and architects is an honor. Being recognized as a supplier for outstanding installation achievements is a confirmation of our efforts to produce the highest-quality setting materials to make the installations last.”

Last April, Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford announced that its new main building was awarded LEED Platinum status, the highest designation for sustainability recognized by the U.S. Green Building Council.  This makes the healthcare facility just one of five hospitals in the world—and only the second children’s hospital—to achieve this level of certification.