Albuquerque, NM, Mar. 10--An Albuquerque man has created and patented a floor coloring system that can transform existing unattractive or out-of-date tile, discolored vinyl or uneven concrete into a gleaming one-of-kind finish.
"Anyone who knows how to apply floor wax can do this in a few simple steps and create floor art," said Russell Metzger, who created Fanta Se Floor Colors, which is part of his janitorial supply company, Metzger Industrial Maintenance Supply. "It's really a do-it-yourself project."
Metzger has applied the color product over cracked tile and broken vinyl in his showroom. One finish looks like waves of almost fluorescent aquamarine that highlight darker ocean colors of navy and steel gray.
Another more subtle finish is the satin of adobe stone with russets and tan.
"See we left this seam, so you can tell it is tile underneath," said Metzger as he walked down a hall, mottled green that looks like a subtle vine, or a pattern of moss on a mountain rock.
The abstract patterns helped Metzger choose the name, "Fanta Se," a play on both the appeal of Santa Fe and the Southwest and the fantasy appearance of some of the floors.
"It's abstract. Like watercolor, you can never be sure what will come up," he said of the multilayer process. "I never thought I would say I like to watch paint dry, but with this (finish) I am amazed."
For control freaks, patterns can be screen printed into the painted floors. That works well for his commercial customers, like supermarkets, that like a logo imprinted on the floor that can withstand shoppers' grocery cart wheels and janitorial buffing machines.
With other stick-on logo appliques the floor buffers would hit the logo and leave burned edges, he said. "With our process the logo becomes part of the floor."
Screen-print patterns can also help moms and dads who want to imprint Barbie or Nemo designs in their children's bedrooms.
Metzger said as a representative of a chemical company before he started his own business four years ago, he knew that a floor finish could cover existing flooring, without the difficulty of removing existing flooring, such as vinyl or tile.
He worked with existing technology to blend leveling agents and color into a tough acrylic finish that would harden onto the surface. A company in Chicago blends the product to Metzger's specifications.
While existing tile, linoleum or concrete can be covered; all carpet and remaining residue must be removed for the process to work, he said.
"You have to get up the carpet glue," he said. The first step is clean any debris from the surface. A sealer is applied or in some cases of cracked concrete a thin layer of concrete polymer is "floated," on the top, Metzger explained. The next step is sponging on the patented color process. "The magic is in the middle," he said. A thin layer will allow a concrete look as if it were acid stained, while a thicker layer can create the marbling effect on concrete, vinyl or tile. The thickness of the color layer will determine how long the floor needs to dry. Temperatures of 80 to 85 degrees are optimal in Albuquerque. The last layer can be a water-based acrylic floor finish for normal traffic or a two-step epoxy finish, also water based, for areas of heavier wear.
"This isn't rocket science, but I knew enough chemistry to keep working until we found a product that could do what we wanted," he said. "What I wanted was a water-based product with low toxicity." He also said he wanted a product that could flow and fill in uneven areas and finish to a satin or high-gloss shine, without removing existing hard floors. "We could see the forest, instead of the trees."
