Regupol's newest recycled rubber product goes 'Upscale'

LEBANON, Pa.—Recycling is going upscale with a new flooring product intended to replace terrazzo, ceramic tile, and luxury vinyl tile and plank in commercial settings.

Regupol's newest commercial flooring product line, dubbed Upscale, comprises recycled rubber tiles and planks made from a blend of post-consumer recycled truck and automobile tires, post-industrial vibrant EPDM chips and low VOC binder.

"Upscale is the innovative alternative," Bill Neifert, sales director for Regupol America's commercial division wrote in an email. "Unlike these traditional floors, upscale is warmer to the touch, kinder to your feet, soothing to the ears, and easier to care for in any commercial space. Each color collection offers timeless appeal to complement styles from traditional to modern and everything in between."

Regupol has made its name with its wide range of recycled rubber surfaces for sports, fitness and acoustic insulation. The company, started in 1954, has continued its growth with new products, new subsidiaries and new locations.

Today, Regupol remains a family enterprise, with the third and some of the fourth generation currently working in company management.

Each year, the company reclaims millions of tires from landfills to make environmentally sound solutions for a wide range of industries. And that has an impact according to Regupol. And it believes its new product can have a big impact.

After all, the company said, recycling just four tires reduces CO2 emissions by 323 pounds, equivalent to the emissions from 18 gallons of gasoline.

Upscale is available in 12 standard color combinations and features either a square or micro-bevel edge. Square-edged floors fit together flush, resulting in a smooth, sleek and seamless-looking transition. In contrast, the micro-bevel edge is designed to add elegance through a subtle texture that brings dimension to an interior space. The addition of a sealed finish can be applied at the factory or in the field, strengthening the tile's defense against dirt and spills. 

Upscale weighs much less than ceramic or stone, and it can be installed over concrete, plywood, existing wood, ceramic, VCT and LVT following manufacturer's installation guidelines. Regular maintenance involves a damp mop with a neutral pH cleanser, vacuuming or sweeping. Auto-scrubbers or root-wash machines can be used in situations requiring a more aggressive cleaning.

"Upscale, along with our other flooring products, is manufactured from recycled materials which were originally designed and proven to last in the most hostile of environments—the outdoors," Neifert said. "Hypothetically speaking, Upscale is a 60,000-mile floor, meaning that with proper, basic maintenance, it's more likely to get changed out due to design remodels, rather than wearing out.

"Repairing a damaged tile or plank is an easy process of removing the tile or plank, scraping the adhesive from the subfloor, applying new adhesive to the subfloor and placing and rolling the new tile or plank into the adhesive."

The tires used in the manufacturing of Upscale come from reclamation facilities across the United States and are delivered to the company's recycling, shredding and cleaning facility in an adjacent building to manufacturing. Neifert said that the proximity of the recycled material supply allows better control of the supply chain and monitoring of the quality of material being used in Upscale and all of the Regupol America products.

Regupol receives finished shredded and cleaned recycled materials. Along with the tire crumb, EPDM rubber is used for color and a urethane binder is used to bond the raw material under 100 tons of pressure.

Upscale, being made of rubber and with a high density, can handle point loads that would permanently damage other resilient flooring products. Upscale can handle extreme foot traffic in areas where others would be challenged.

"Airport walkway traffic has proven to be no challenge at all for Upscale," Neifert said. "Although Upscale can and does handle driving traffic, the adhesive bond between the tile/plank and the subfloor is the weak link in the chain. Turning a rubber forklift wheel on a rubber flooring tile/plank creates a coefficient of friction level that very few adhesives can handle. The result is one or more loose tile/planks once the adhesive bond is broken."

The combination of design capability and performance makes the flooring ideal for education, corporate, retail, hospitality and health care environments.

Additionally, Regupol noted that the product has one of the highest slip-resistant characteristics of any flooring product wet or dry. If a room were to become flooded and upscale was installed correctly on a concrete floor, Upscale would only need to be dried off, cleaned of any debris introduced by the floodwaters, and then it can continue to be used for many years to come.

"Being the only product of its kind in plank and tile and having the option of a beveled edge, the response has been great and we're just getting started," Neifert said. "The dimensional stability or squareness of the product along with the ease of installation has surprised a number of people who have installed Upscale."