Laminate flooring and ESD?

[Joerg]

As usual... another ESD product triple overpriced.

So where do you get those 24oz ESD carpet tiles for 1/3rd?

 

[Joerg]

Joerg wrote:




Laminate is just clear plastic over a printed wood decor backed by HDF. I
don't know if it comes in conductive variety.

Call me a snob but I find a plastic floor that looks like plastic less
objectionable than a plastic floor that is trying to look like wood. I'd go
for real linoleum.

As far as the dogs are concerned: I don't know what state of mind gets
people to keep large animals in the house, but shouldn't one expect a
certain rate of destruction?

People who love animals do that, it's normal. They are also great
companions.

I find that real wood flooring, even soft wood, can sustain a lot of visible
damage without looking crappy.

Yes, although I've seen a fairly new bamboo floor this weekend that
didn't fare so well. They had a retired guide dog there and he never
messed up anything. Then a family with a Boxer visited and this dog was
young, always wanted to play. A couple hours later the bamboo floor
didn't look so good anymore.

 

[Joerg]

Hi Jeorge,
Have you looked at cork flooring? But I don't know its ESD properties...

Not lately but I will do that again. The last one I've seen in Europe
was 15-20 years ago and it would not tolerate roller chairs.

 

[Joerg]

It's MY office ;-)

Doesn't work out here. However, that way I also have a say when it comes
to her turf. Like no pink flamingoes because it's OUR yard.

These hospital floors have one major downside for an office. Their
swooped corners don't allow any furniture to be set flush with or at
least close to the walls. There'll be a >1" gap which looks really
yucky, especially if you need earthquake hooks up top.

 

[Jim Thompson]

Doesn't work out here. However, that way I also have a say when it comes
to her turf. Like no pink flamingoes because it's OUR yard.

These hospital floors have one major downside for an office. Their
swooped corners don't allow any furniture to be set flush with or at
least close to the walls. There'll be a >1" gap which looks really
yucky, especially if you need earthquake hooks up top.

What's an "earthquake" ?

...Jim Thompson

 

[Joerg]

What's an "earthquake" ?

When you have a glass of red wine and the wine spills over the rim
without touching the glass ;-)

We had our scare last week. My sister was in Lima, Peru, when they had
the 8.0. Luckily she was on a bus while it happened and the bus remained
on the road.

 

[Paul Hovnanian P.E.]

I've laid my own ceramic floor tile since the early '70's. It's not
good for rolling a desk chair, likewise carpet isn't much better.


ESD mats are ugly :-(

I'm considering those poured floors that you often see in hospitals.

And that's NOT ugly? You can always remove a mat when you relocate your
shop. A poured floor is forever.

 

[Rich Grise]

I meant more the "laminate hardwood" stuff, looks like wood flooring but
just not quite as good (too shiny). Some people call it engineered wood.
Among homeowners it is frowned upon for lack of "poshness" but that
picture changes for people who have large dogs or small children.


That I'd definitely want to avoid.


The only short loop stuff I've seen is the kind that must be glued down
with some stinky heavy duty goo. In Europe they have this carpet with a
foam back. Spread a dose of milky odorless fluid, lay the carpet, done.
When you need a new carpet you wet it all real good, pick it up and
there is barely any residue to clean. Glued down office carpet needs a
serious body builder to pull that up.

You should watch more "This Old House" or whatever. ;-) Just a week or
so ago, they replaced a whole house's carpet in a day with Berber (good
for offices, etc - very dense pile) and tack strips. No glue at all.
They did use a foam pad.

Then, get a spray bottle and some Downy fabric softerner, mix it about
1/4 cup to a pint, and spray the carpet as needed.

Cheers!
Rich

 

[Rich Grise]

I'm interested also. The wife says my office looks "like shit" ;-)

Tell her, "Hmm. It looks fine to me. Why don't you show me what it's
supposed to look like?", Hand her the vacuum, and go to the nudie bar. ;-)

Cheers!
Rich

 

[Joerg]

You should watch more "This Old House" or whatever. ;-) Just a week or
so ago, they replaced a whole house's carpet in a day with Berber (good
for offices, etc - very dense pile) and tack strips. No glue at all.
They did use a foam pad.

We only get 4-6 English-speaking channels, depending on the weather. I
guess in 2009 that number will drop to zero on account of extreme
multipath. So, no "This Old House" unless I am flying an airline like
JetBlue. We do now have a small DVD collection of "All in the Family",
Long's had a special there. But Archie Bunker's home improvement
projects didn't exactly end with a success story ...

Tack strips don't hold too well in our case because we have 2" concrete
over the plywood everywhere, often called a mud bed. That's another
reason to get rid of this non-foam carpet. Basically, a carpet that
isn't held down over all its surface by something will not last in an
office environment with all the roller chairs.

Then, get a spray bottle and some Downy fabric softerner, mix it about
1/4 cup to a pint, and spray the carpet as needed.

For anti-static?

 

[Active8]

I'm not sure what it is. I believe it's some kind of man-made
material. It's nice in that they form the baseboards as well, so
mop-up is super clean.

With little bits of colored specks? Terrazzo. Instead of the black
baseboard (cove base) you often see nice smooth ~ 1" or so radius
curving up 4 to 6" vertically to joinn the wall tile? Terrazzo. But if
your walls are not tile, you probably want to contact cement a cove
base to the wall. I like the non cove base way because the cove base/
floor interface traps dirt. You just need to find a good finish and a
kick ass stripper. I'd have a cleaning company deal with all that.
They have the equip..

Mike

 

[Joel Kolstad]

We do now have a small DVD collection of "All in the Family",

Joerg! I thought you were making it a personal mission to *never* get a DVD
player!!!

If you're not careful pretty soon you'll find yourself with an MP3 player, a
Smart Phone, and Internet Tablet, a GPS receiver, etc...

 

[John Larkin]

Gentlemen,

My office and lab carpets are nearly shot. The office from all those
roller chairs, the lab from, well, a few kablouies and stuff. Here in
the US I can't find the foam-backed short-loop carpet I had in Germany
which never created any ESD issues. Contemplated wood flooring such as
bamboo but a friend advised against that. Occasionally the dogs are here
and when the Fedex truck pulls up they perform a Fred Flintstone start
-> big scratches. He suggested laminate.

Not that I like laminate but does anyone know how ESD-prone it is? Any
recommended brands? I mean the regular stuff, not top-Dollar specialty
products.

Laminate? Cover the floor with copperclad FR4!

John

 

[Joerg]

Joerg! I thought you were making it a personal mission to *never* get a DVD
player!!!

My wife brought it home. Yard sale, actually a pre-sale at good friends
of ours, came with an exercise bike and sans remote. With a generic
remote you can access just the basics like play and stop. But the best:
It is one of those surround sound deals which we most certainly don't
need. So, now I've got all kinds of small speakers, with nice audio
quality. In three months we've used the DVD player, uhm, twice. But now
our kitchen stereo finally has some decent speakers

If you're not careful pretty soon you'll find yourself with an MP3 player, a
Smart Phone, and Internet Tablet, a GPS receiver, etc...

Got none of those here. I think our living room stereo can play MP3 but
we've never tried that. I have never downloaded a song, wouldn't
actually know where.

 

[ChairmanOfTheBored]

He's trying to suck all the intelegence out of the universe but as
usual, his lame attempt... SUCKS.

You suck so bad, you suck at sucking.

 

[JosephKK]

Tim Wescott [email protected] posted to sci.electronics.design:

If by "laminate" you mean "fake linoleum", the regular stuff is
not
considered ESD safe.

I suspect that that a wood laminate flooring may be intended, it is
not static safe either. I would recommend a layer of a static
dissipative over the laminate.

You can either buy conductive wax, which
seems to be pretty good, or you can buy conductive laminate which
is probably that "top dollar specialty" item that you mentioned,
and is butt-ugly to boot.

Were I going to go that route I'd pencil out the cost of keeping
the floor waxed (including my own labor costs) vs. conductive
laminate.

You can also get a spray-on ESD treatment for carpets, so you can
use the regular "corporate" short-pile carpeting.

--

Tim Wescott
Wescott Design Services
http://www.wescottdesign.com

Do you need to implement control loops in software?
"Applied Control Theory for Embedded Systems" gives you just what
it says. See details at
http://www.wescottdesign.com/actfes/actfes.html

In the long run (about ten years) nothing beats doing it right in
the first place. Nor am i immune to the initial expense issue. I
recommend ESD safe "linoleum" for the lab and ESD dissipative
carpeting elsewhere. I would also include a maintenance factor ESD
treatment of the carpet and the linoleum quarterly.

 

[JosephKK]

Paul Hovnanian P.E. [email protected] posted to
sci.electronics.design:

For those of us who drop the occasional component or important
screw on the floor, give some consideration to maximizing the
contrast by selecting an appropriate pattern/color.

Agreed.

 

[JosephKK]

ChairmanOfTheBored [email protected] posted to
sci.electronics.design:

That's what the swiffer is for. Keep the floor spotlessly clean,
and
when you drop that micro fine form factor part, you need only
swiff it up to get it back.

Well maybe, did you ESD clobber it in the process?

 

[ChairmanOfTheBored]

I suspect that that a wood laminate flooring may be intended, it is
not static safe either. I would recommend a layer of a static
dissipative over the laminate.

Can't dissipate a damned thing if it isn't grounded. All one ends up
with is a capacitor in and of itself.

 

[ChairmanOfTheBored]

In the long run (about ten years) nothing beats doing it right in
the first place. Nor am i immune to the initial expense issue. I
recommend ESD safe "linoleum" for the lab and ESD dissipative
carpeting elsewhere. I would also include a maintenance factor ESD
treatment of the carpet and the linoleum quarterly.

Best answer yet, and worth the investment for any dedicated lab environ.