Specifying a floor: thresholds, methods and assemblies
A figure without its method is not a specification, it is a number that happens to be true of some test somewhere. The columns below carry their methods, their thresholds and their assemblies, and where a maker publishes the figure without them, that is recorded instead of quietly completed.
Three substitutions account for most of what goes wrong in a submittal, and all three are invisible in a table that prints bare numbers.
Slip resistance: the method is the specification
ANSI A326.3 wet DCOF, ASTM D2047 dry static COF and the withdrawn ASTM C1028 produce different numbers from the same floor. A dry figure quoted where a wet one was required is the most common substitution in a submittal package, and it survives review precisely because the number looks plausible next to the threshold it is being compared against.
Worth stating because it is widely repeated otherwise: 0.42 is not a universal accessibility requirement. It is a threshold inside a product standard. A specification that names a coefficient without naming the method and the wet-or-dry condition cannot be enforced, because there is no fact of the matter about which number it asked for.
Acoustics: the assembly, or the figure means nothing
An impact insulation class describes a floor-ceiling assembly, not a plank. The same plank over a wood joist deck with a suspended ceiling and over a six-inch concrete slab with no ceiling produces figures tens of points apart, and product literature routinely prints the flattering one without saying which it is. The figure is published here only with the assembly it was measured on; where a maker publishes both, the conservative reading is the one in the column and the other is in the citation beneath it.
Duty rating: a marketing phrase, and its verifiable substitute
"Heavy commercial" is not a standard. ASTM F3261 defines no light, medium or heavy commercial tiers, so the phrase carries whatever the maker means by it. Four published things do carry meaning and can be written into a specification instead: the product standard claimed and its grade, the wear layer thickness, the critical radiant flux class, and the length of the commercial warranty, which is not the light commercial one.
Watch the warranty column for the difference between those two tiers. A product with a light commercial term and no commercial term is not rated for a commercial floor, whatever the literature around it implies, and the two are printed separately here for that reason.
8 products in this release publish no product standard at all. Component test methods are listed (dimensional stability, residual indentation, radiant panel), but the standard those components are supposed to add up to is absent, which means a specification cannot cite one for these products and must name the individual results instead.
The specification table
Each row links to the full record, including the installation limits that govern whether the floor may be laid at all in the space being specified: the subfloor moisture limit and its test method, the flatness tolerance, the maximum run before an expansion break, and the service temperature band the space must hold for the life of the floor.
Specification claims and the methods behind them. A slip figure carries its method and an acoustic figure carries its assembly; where a maker published the figure without one, the cell says so rather than leaving the reader to assume it.
9 columns. The table scrolls sideways inside its own box; the row headings and the column headings stay in place while it does.
| Product | ASTM product standard | E648 class | Critical radiant flux | Slip resistance | Impact insulation class | Light commercial warranty | Commercial warranty | Subfloor RH limit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bruce LifeSeal Classic | no declaration | no declaration | no declaration | no declaration | no declaration | no declaration | None stated | 95% RHin-situ probe |
| Bruce LifeSeal Trending | no declaration | no declaration | no declaration | no declaration | no declaration | no declaration | 10 years | 95% RHin-situ probe |
| Ambient SPC Rigid Core 7x48 | no declaration | no declaration | no declaration | no declaration | 62assembly not declared | no declaration | held pending resolution | no declaration |
| Cali Longboards 9x71 | no declaration | no declaration | no declaration | no declaration | no declaration | no declaration | 15 years | 90% RHASTM F2170 |
| COREtec Pro Enhanced 7x48 | not collected | not collected | not collected | not collected | not collected | no declaration | 15 years | 90% RHASTM F2170 |
| COREtec Pro Premium 9x72 | not collected | not collected | not collected | not collected | not collected | no declaration | 15 years | 90% RHASTM F2170 |
| Karndean Korlok Select 5.87x23.46 | ASTM F3261 | Class I | no declaration | no declaration | 686 in concrete slab with drop ceiling | not collected | 15 years | 95% RHASTM F2170 |
| Karndean Korlok Select 8.86x55.91 | ASTM F3261 | Class I | no declaration | no declaration | 686 in concrete slab with drop ceiling | not collected | 15 years | 95% RHASTM F2170 |
| Mannington ADURA Rigid 6x48 | ASTM F3261 | Class 1 | > 0.045 W/cm² | 0.6method not declared | 686 in concrete slab with drop ceiling | 10 years | no declaration | 85% RHASTM F2170 |
| Mannington ADURA Rigid 7x48 | ASTM F3261 | Class 1 | > 0.045 W/cm² | 0.6method not declared | 686 in concrete slab with drop ceiling | 10 years | no declaration | 85% RHASTM F2170 |
| MSI Andover 7x48 | no declaration | Class I | > 0.45 W/cm² | 0.42ANSI A137.1 | 546 in concrete slab | held pending resolution | held pending resolution | 90% RHASTM F2170 |
| MSI Cyrus 7x48 | no declaration | Class I | > 0.45 W/cm² | 0.42ANSI A137.1 | 546 in concrete slab | held pending resolution | None stated | 90% RHASTM F2170 |
| MSI Prescott 7x48 | no declaration | Class I | > 0.45 W/cm² | 0.42ANSI A137.1 | 546 in concrete slab | held pending resolution | held pending resolution | 90% RHASTM F2170 |
| MSI XL Cyrus 9x60 | no declaration | Class I | > 0.45 W/cm² | 0.42ANSI A137.1 | 546 in concrete slab | held pending resolution | None stated | 90% RHASTM F2170 |
| Tarkett ProGen 12x24 | ASTM F3261 | no declaration | ≥ 0.45 W/cm² | 0.5ASTM D2047 (static coefficient of friction) | no declaration | 15 years | no declaration | 90% RHASTM F2170 |
| Tarkett ProGen 7x60 | ASTM F3261 | no declaration | ≥ 0.45 W/cm² | 0.5ASTM D2047 (static coefficient of friction) | no declaration | 15 years | no declaration | 90% RHASTM F2170 |
- Bruce LifeSeal Classic — 0 of 6 core test results declared, 8 of 9 installation limits declared.
- Bruce LifeSeal Trending — 0 of 6 core test results declared, 8 of 9 installation limits declared.
- Ambient SPC Rigid Core 7x48 — 1 of 6 core test results declared, 5 of 9 installation limits declared (3 in conflict).
- Cali Longboards 9x71 — 0 of 6 core test results declared, 9 of 9 installation limits declared.
- COREtec Pro Enhanced 7x48 — 0 of 6 core test results declared (6 not read here), 9 of 9 installation limits declared.
- COREtec Pro Premium 9x72 — 0 of 6 core test results declared (6 not read here), 9 of 9 installation limits declared.
- Karndean Korlok Select 5.87x23.46 — 4 of 6 core test results declared, 9 of 9 installation limits declared.
- Karndean Korlok Select 8.86x55.91 — 4 of 6 core test results declared, 9 of 9 installation limits declared.
- Mannington ADURA Rigid 6x48 — 5 of 6 core test results declared, 9 of 9 installation limits declared.
- Mannington ADURA Rigid 7x48 — 5 of 6 core test results declared, 9 of 9 installation limits declared.
- MSI Andover 7x48 — 3 of 6 core test results declared, 9 of 9 installation limits declared.
- MSI Cyrus 7x48 — 3 of 6 core test results declared, 9 of 9 installation limits declared.
- MSI Prescott 7x48 — 3 of 6 core test results declared, 9 of 9 installation limits declared.
- MSI XL Cyrus 9x60 — 3 of 6 core test results declared, 9 of 9 installation limits declared.
- Tarkett ProGen 12x24 — 3 of 6 core test results declared, 9 of 9 installation limits declared.
- Tarkett ProGen 7x60 — 3 of 6 core test results declared, 9 of 9 installation limits declared.
Subfloor moisture: two tests that do not convert
ASTM F1869 draws moisture from roughly the top half inch of a slab over three days and reports pounds per thousand square feet per twenty-four hours. ASTM F2170 measures relative humidity at forty per cent of slab depth once the probe has equilibrated. They answer different questions about different volumes of concrete, and a slab can pass one and fail the other.
There is no valid conversion between them, and we refuse to publish one. Where a maker declares only one method, a reading taken by the other cannot be checked against the declared limit. That is worth knowing before the moisture test is commissioned, not after. The full picture is on the constraint matrix.