Advanced Track at Union Station
Since 1925, Union Station has served as the primary terminal for commuter trains in the city of Chicago, Illinois. With grand architecture and ornate features, Union Station stands as a testament to the opulence and grandeur of the early 20th century.
As with any historical structure, routine maintenance and restorations are necessary for preservation. When foot grilles on the station’s underground platforms began bowing, jeopardizing passengers’ safety and making the transportation of equipment and luggage impossible, management knew they had to take action. The purpose of the foot grilles was to capture dirt and debris from passengers’ shoes to prevent damage to the travertine flooring in the concourse.
In 2010, Union Station management enlisted the help of Kim Miller, Project Architect at Hydzik Schade Associates, to replace the failing foot grilles with ones that would trap dirt and debris, withstand the daily foot traffic of the thousands of passengers and support the weight of heavy train machinery and equipment. Kim had faced similar conditions in previous projects, and the Pro Track series from Mats Inc. was a collection of foot grille products that she had come to trust and rely on. With its cross-bolt construction to sustain the weight of the equipment, a combination of aluminum scraping bars and fiber wiping bars to remove dirt and debris, and dozens of fiber insert design and color options, Kim selected the Advanced Track model with Boston-Kenmore Charcoal inserts.
“My client has been extremely happy since the installation of Advanced Track,” stated Kim Miller. “Advanced Track’s durable construction eliminated the potential for buckling and tripping hazards and minimized maintenance and damage to the travertine floors in the concourse.”
Mats Inc. Named Master U.S. Distributor for 3M™ Nomad™ Matting and 3M™ Safety-Walk™ Work Area Matting
Mats Inc. today announced a master distribution agreement with 3M™.
The agreement names Mats Inc. as the exclusive master distributor for all 3M™ Nomad™ Matting and 3M™ Safety-Walk™ products in the U.S. Acclaimed for innovation and reliability, 3M™ has been supplying the Nomad™ Matting™ and Safety-Walk™ products to help facilities personnel maintain cleaner, safer facilities for more than 30 years. 3M™ distributors will be able to take advantage of the deep stocking levels, world-class service and expertise of a company that has been a formidable leader in the commercial matting and flooring industry for more than 40 years.
At the same time, Mats Inc. has announced that it has become the new producer of the 5000, 6500 and the 8850 Carpet Matting. Using high quality fibers, exceptionally durable backing and stringent manufacturing standards, Mats Inc. will continue the tradition of the products. Customers will now have a variety of additional options to customize the matting products, including special sizes, nosing choices and designs in almost any shape.
“We’re obviously excited about this partnership,” said Scott Robichaud, President of Mats Inc. “With 3M’s superior manufacturing capability and quality, and Mats Inc’s passion and leadership in the matting industry, we will be able to help countless customers create complete and effective entrance systems.”
Mats Inc. will market the products to approved partners and accounts serving the healthcare, education, retail and enterprise vertical markets. Products will be stocked at Mats Inc’s Calhoun, GA warehouse facility and will be available beginning in February.
About Mats Inc.
Mats Inc. is a privately held business headquartered in Massachusetts with additional distribution facilities in Georgia and sales offices throughout the United States. For more than 40 years, Mats Inc. has delivered quality entrances systems, matting and flooring solutions through a network of dealers and distributors to commercial markets. For more information about Mats Inc., visit www.matsinc.com.
Media Contact:
Mats Inc.
Christine Turkington
37 Shuman Avenue
Stoughton, MA 02072
(781) 573-0223
Jina’s Gym: Renovations with Debolon MP
Asbestos flooring tiles coming unglued, a scoreboard that had not worked in years, and the deflated wall padding was a sure sign that the Lamoine Consolidated School gymnasium in Lamoine, Maine was in complete disrepair.
The space was the epicenter of the community’s activities and events, in addition to being used by the school as both gymnasium and cafeteria, and long overdue for renovation. With no funding available and a desire to honor the memory of his granddaughter, Jina Haslam, longtime Lamoine resident, Bill Neleski, became devoted to the project. Bill garnered support from the community and spent 5 years raising the money needed to renovate the gym.
The Board of Jina’s Gym Inc., with Bill as Chairman, began their research to identify the best products for the multipurpose gymnasium, giving particular attention to the largest component of the renovation with the most difficult demands, the flooring. The team gathered samples and visited locations that were using various types of flooring products to thoroughly evaluate their options. Hardwood flooring would have been a great choice for sport activities, but would quickly become damaged with pitting from shoes and scratches from tables and chairs. The Board also considered rubber flooring varieties, but feared the rubber would tear and slice from the constant repositioning of bleachers and equipment. After meticulous evaluation, the team selected Debolon MP from Mats Inc. for its authentic wood look, high traffic rating and sports performance features. The Board of Jina’s Gym Inc and the school’s facility personnel continue to be pleased with their Debolon MP flooring choice and report that it minimizes maintenance routines, provides a safe playing surface for sporting events, and offers a beautiful surface for community events without the fear of damage or denting.
“The flooring had to be truly all purpose,” said Bill Neleski. “It’s everything I thought it would be.”
Introducing Floorworks Strip Wood Collection by Mats Inc.
The Latest Addition to the Floorworks® Product Line.
The new Floorworks® Strip Wood Collection provides designers with a stylish and distinctive LVT pattern that is versatile enough to harmonize with both traditional and contemporary interior designs. Offered in a range of six color choices, the unique Strip Wood planks feature all the benefits of resilient flooring with an authentic hardwood appearance. Floorworks® is a FloorScore® certified flooring product that is manufactured in an ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 certified facility using the highest quality films, a 20-mil wear layer and UV-cured polyurethane coating.
“This collection is a direct result of listening to the design community and we are excited to introduce these new colors,” stated JoAnn Durette, Director of Marketing at Mats Inc. “Strip Wood is a beautiful addition to the other Floorworks® collections and we are thankful to all of the individuals that helped us bring it to life.”
Since its inception in 2009, Floorworks® has proven to be a frontrunner in the United States Luxury Vinyl Tile (LVT) market. As an inexpensive and sustainable alternative to hardwood and a considerable improvement over Vinyl Composition Tile (VCT), Floorworks® plank and tile products have been installed in fitness clubs, hospitals, churches, restaurants, hotels, condominiums, retail stores and more.
The Floorworks® Collections by Mats Inc. offer the highest quality resilient plank and tile flooring on the market. Coming in a wide variety of wood, stone and metal designs, the Floorworks® flooring products emulate the look and feel of materials found in nature while providing superior wear performance, easy maintenance and long lasting durability. Planks and tiles are easy to install and can be used individually or combined together to create beautiful and unique flooring solutions. Mats Inc. carries more than 90 Floorworks® colors and designs in stock and offers a QuickShip inventory program for immediate delivery of specific planks and tiles frequently necessary on sizeable fast track projects.
Visit our website for more information www.matsinc.com or contact us at info@matsinc.com/
Play It Safe! Playground Tiles from Mats Inc.
Anticipating the arrival of Spring and the children that would follow, the Engineering Department at York Hospital in Pennsylvania prepared to replace the rotting wood chips in the hospital’s playground. Fred Way, the Head of Engineering, decided it was a good opportunity to consider alternative surface materials to address the costly annual maintenance, as well as the safety issues they had been experiencing. Children were eating the wood chips, which evidently are difficult and painful to digest, and the wood chips were pushed around the playground causing low spots, removing the protection in those areas.
The team evaluated a number of surface options including rubber mulch and various types of outdoor tiles.
The rubber mulch would last longer than the wood but it was small enough that it could be eaten and it would still move around, allowing low spots and exposed ground. To reduce the potential for injury and skinned knees, they tested the density and texture of a variety of outdoor tiles for both impact absorption and abrasiveness. At last, the engineering team concluded that Playground Tiles from Mats Inc. would be the solution to solve all of their safety and maintenance concerns.
Working with Playground tiles for the first time, the installation team from Worden and Shewell put tiles in place in only a day and a half. “It was a really nice product to use, and the ease of the installation was key,” stated installer Brian Mummert.
In less than two days, Fred Way was able to re-open the playground that was now safer, more attractive and would not have to be replaced for many years to come.
It’s all in the Matting
FirstEnergy Corporation spared no expense when it set out to build its new, 208,000 square foot campus in West Akron, Ohio. Designed by Cleveland-based Vocon, this state-of-the-art building was constructed to provide employees with “the best in technology, energy efficiency and innovative design,” stated Anthony Alexander, President and Chief Executive Officer of First Energy Corporation. Featuring amenities such as open layouts, 100% wireless technology throughout, and multifunctional spaces with movable walls, this new facility combines cutting-edge design with functionality.
FirstEnergy chose to implement a green building strategy to achieve LEED Gold Certification, which included a poured concrete parking lot instead of tar to reduce the Heat Island Effect and a beautifully finished and polished concrete lobby flooring to minimize the amount of materials needed.
As winter brought with it snow and in turn wet feet, FirstEnergy Corp’s employees were slipping on the concrete lobby floor. Per maintenance instructions, calcium chloride was used to de-ice the concrete parking lot and with its oily properties, increased slipping inside the building. FirstEnergy turned to their local flooring dealer to find a solution that would prevent slipping, wipe away the slick calcium chloride and fit it with the aesthetics of the interior design.
To create a custom matting solution using the most durable and effective matting in the industry, the flooring dealer contacted Mats Inc. custom Supreme Nop mats were designed to complement the building’s aesthetics for the entrances and main traffic paths. The unique fibers and large nop design of Supreme Nop matting resolved the slipping problem while additionally reducing the amount of maintenance needed on the polished concrete floor and throughout the building’s interior.
Floorworks® on Restaurant: Impossible
Chef Robert Irvine is on a mission to save America’s most desperate restaurants from impending failure in just two days with only $10,000. Chef Irvine determines the restaurants weakest points and then he updates the menu, retrains the staff and gives the restaurant a makeover with the help of his design team.
Chef Irvine heads out to Wilmington, DE to work with four disagreeable owners and turn around their failing sports bar.
Watch on Food Network:
Wednesday, September 7th at 9pm
Wednesday, September 8th at 12am
Sunday, September 11th at 1pm
Sunday, September 11th at 11pm
Monday, September 12th at 2am
The real star of the show?
Floorworks® Blended Stripwood and Brazilian Cherry!
For information about Floorworks®, visit our web site or click here to request a catalog.
New Floorworks Plank and Tile Flooring Colors
We’ve added 33 fabulous new colors to Floorworks® plank and tile collections!
Request a new Floorworks® catalog or order Floorworks® binders today!
Your customers can choose from more than 90 designs in stock or hundred of additional designs available and endless combinations to create their ideal floor.
It’s not just another pretty floor; it’s Looks for Life™
Click on the photos below to see what’s new.
A Tale of Two Foot Grilles
The town of Hudson spent $50 million when they built the beautiful and still very contemporary public high school building in 2004. The modern architecture featured natural lighting throughout the building, a second floor library with a wall of windows overlooking the cafeteria and an indoor walking track over the gymnasium. Sparing no expense, they included a state-of-the-art lecture theater, an over-sized auditorium and high end stainless steel foot grilles at the entrances. The foot grilles were included in the design so that when used with interior matting, they would reduce maintenance time and expense, as well as improve the longevity of the interior flooring.
As the doors opened in September, the stainless steel foot grilles were shiny and beautiful but were not sitting level in the recessed wells. The grilles’ raised corners and edges were tripping hazards and their shiny surfaces proved to be slippery when wet. Facilities Supervisor for Hudson Public Schools, Brad Parker, reacted immediately to eliminate the tripping and slipping dangers by bolting down the unlevel grilles and covering the surfaces with walk-off matting during rain and snow. Manufacturers of stainless steel grilles typically recommend locking down the large, heavy panels to avoid such issues and it had not been done during installation. With the stainless steel grille panels permanently bolted into the frames, lifting them to easily clean away the debris underneath the drop-through construction, was no longer a feature. Dirt and leaves were trapped beneath the grilles spoiling the clean and attractive appearance of the building’s exterior.
Enduring several years of unattractive entryways, extended interior maintenance routines and potential liabilities, Mr. Parker proposed replacing the stainless steel foot grilles. He was successful in his quest for funding and in 2008, Mr. Parker set out to find an appropriate replacement. Mats Inc. representative, Erica Morgan, recommended the Design Track aluminum foot grille from the Mats Inc. Pro Track Series to fit the building’s aesthetic and eliminate the slipping problem with its anti-slip, ADA compliant surface. Erica assured Mr. Parker that the modular aluminum panels are the strongest and longest lasting foot grilles available and that they would allow for easy, one person lifting and debris removal.
“I was skeptical at first”, said Brad Parker, “but it has been several years and the aluminum panels have not had to be bolted in place, they are lighter and a more manageable size for underneath cleaning, and they still look great.”
To learn more about foot grilles, visit our web site or contact us at info@matsinc.com.
Lori Hilty, Architectural Specialist for Washington DC Area
Mats Incorporated today announced the addition of Lori Hilty, as Architectural Specialist for Washington DC Metropolitan area. Lori comes with 14 years experience servicing designers, contractors and end users in the commercial interiors industry. She was a founding member of the District Design Society, an exclusive A&D networking platform, and is highly regarded in the design community.
As an Account Executive in the DC area for the past four years, Lori consulted and collaborated with architects and designers on hospitality, retail and corporate building projects. In her new position, she will continue to serve design professionals, assisting them with projects and keeping them apprised of the latest commercial flooring solutions from Mats Inc.
“We are pleased to welcome Lori to the company,” commented Brian Post, Senior VP of Sales at Mats Inc. “She brings the type of industry experience, professionalism and passion for interior design that will enable us to bring real value and thoughtful solutions to the A&D firms in the Washington DC and Baltimore areas.
“I am thrilled to join the Mats Inc. team and especially excited to expand our presence in the DC healthcare market,” stated Ms. Hilty, “I can’t wait to introduce Floorazzo to the healthcare design teams.”
