IEG the creators of the Flexi-Felt floor protectors are at it again with their innovation of wonderful new products. IEG just introduced the Ice Rink Kit that’s designed to be easy to build and install, easy to take down, and small enough that storage is not a concern. They created this kit so it’s easy enough for one person to install – you won’t need to buy expensive 2×4 wood beams, or other various supplies, as everything comes in the kit.

The rink boards are made of flexible, but strong impact-resistant bulletproof glass which makes them slap shot proof. They won’t break! IEG staff had a lot of fun testing a kit and can safely say that their rinks are great for any type of outdoor ice activity. From figure skating to ringette, speed skating and hockey, these rinks can withstand literally anything you can throw at them.

The magic of the Ice Rink Kits is that they can be configured into any shape or size you choose. The standard kit has enough boards to build a 12’ by 16’ beginner rink, however you are not limited to a rectangular shape. If you have a large backyard, with some trees, consider building a skating path, or an oblong shape. You have the freedom to make this backyard ice rink any shape you choose! You can also buy more kits to create a larger rink – for example, with 3 kits you can make a 36’ by 54’ rink.

IEG also wanted to consider your grass when building your ice rink. Most DIY backyard ice rink kits, advise you to use a tarp, which can kill your grass, is difficult to clean, and requires a lot of space to store. These ice rink kits don’t use a liner, so in the spring you can carry on using your backyard without worrying about your lawn.

Each board is secured into the ground with easy to install spikes. Combined with layering and freezing the ice, your rink will remain in place until the temperature rises.

Last thing to mention is that it has a 3 year warranty. What a wonderful, innovated solution to make the coming winter fun for the whole family.

The parties are starting with Halloween this weekend and Thanksgiving in a few weeks. If you don’t have floor protection on your furniture or poor-quality floor protection that falls off or becomes flat in no time at all you need to protect your floors before they are damaged during these get togethers that we can finally have post Covid.

As many of you know, there are a lot of different floor protectors to choose from. The best solution is to find some that will last a long time. It’s no fun having to replace floor protectors after a party of after just a few weeks use. Who has the time to keep going to the store to buy more and to keep replacing them on the furniture?

Many have tried Flexi-Felt floor protectors and rave about them. Whether it’s the adhesive felt pads or the clear sleeves, the felt doesn’t go flat in a short time. If the adhesive felt pads are installed according to their directions, they must be cut off with box cutters when they finally wear down. How many pads with glue or double-sided tape can do that? The clear sleeves are guaranteed for one year when used in a home (not commercial usage), but some clients have reported them still being used after 5 years or longer.

Don’t wait for your floors to be damaged to get floor protection. Do it now and save thousands on floor repairs in the future.

Many manufacturers are having problems obtaining either raw materials or finished products. It ranges from wood to cardboard products including shipping boxes and everything in between. There is also a shortage of workers to do jobs that were filled prior to the Covid outbreak. Some have retired and others have changed jobs. Some businesses could not stay operational due to Covid lock downs. Sadly, they ran out of money and closed. All of these issues impacted material supplies resulting in material shortages in that there aren’t enough people to manufacture products. This is having a domino effect on many industries which in turn affects consumers.

Companies that have been in business for many years are showing “Out of Stock” on their website. They would rather not be showing that but instead be able to sell of their products to their clients. IEG, creators of Flexi-Felt floor protectors, EcoShelf locker organizer, manufacturer of sneeze guards and face shields has also been impacted and is showing out of stock on some of their floor protectors. The good news is that they finally received the raw material to fabricate the 6122’s, 6125’s and some of the 6128’s. Like many companies, they find it very frustrating to not be able to provide product when the client orders it.

Hopefully, the supply of material and labor shortages will sort itself out in the coming months so that product is available when ordered and that the costs associated with the shortages stabilizes and perhaps goes down.

I was looking at the screw in felt pads, and wondered if they would be a good solution for floor protection.

The ones I was looking at have a felt pad that the manufacturer attached to a metal piece then put a screw through both. You then take the piece and screw it to the bottom of the chair leg with the metal part against the wood and the felt to the floor. This might seem like a good idea, but my first thought is what happens when the felt either flattens or wears down. Then I have either the screw scratching the floor, the metal piece scratching the floor or both scratching the floor and you can bet that they’ll do more damage then just a bare wooden chair. I just wouldn’t want to take that big a chance with my floors.

With the Flexi-Felt Clear sleeves, when the felt wears down you just have the clear part rubbing the floor and that wouldn’t cause any damage. A much safer solution for protecting floors.

I had always assumed that glues were pretty much all the same. Gradually, like most of you know, I found out that there are wood glues, glues for leather, ceramics, glass and anything else you can think to glue together. Often, I’ve used the wrong glue on something and of course, it didn’t hold. Or, it held for a while, got wet and separated. I’ve also tried to stick sticky pads on dusty or greasy glass or walls for holiday decorations and either an hour or a day later I find the stuff on the floor.

From these experiences, I leaned some very valuable lessons.
1. All glues are not created equal. You must buy the right glue for the right usage.
2. Some glues are designed to take a pulling force (the guy with the hardhat hanging from a steel beam) and some glues are designed to take shear force (glued felt pads on chair legs and someone sitting in the chair is pushing back from a table).
3. The surface that the glue is being applied to must be clean and have no oil on its surface. I know to use peanut butter to take off glue but didn’t realize it was because the oil in the peanut butter dissolved the glue.
4. I’ve bought various floor protectors and found some that had adhesive strips. The strip doesn’t hold to the felt or to the bottom of the chair leg. I’ve bought various felt with glue on the back. Most of them either don’t hold, hold a bit then slide off and glue goes on the floor or stay on but the felt gets paper thin very quickly.
5. When I tried the Flexi-Felt floor protectors I discovered that the glue that’s used is designed for shear force which is the right glue for this type of product. This glue also won’t let go if it gets wet.

Now when I buy glue I make sure to use the right one for what I intend to glue together. For floor protection, I found the best are Flexi-Felt floor protectors.

Take the Flexi-Felt challenge. Stick two together and try to pull them apart.

With a 4^th wave of the Covid-19 Delta variant in progress it’s important to ensure that sneeze guards are in place at all entrances, reception areas, offices, cafeterias, between chairs, desks etc. where social distancing cannot be maintained and anywhere else where people must be protected but cannot maintain social distancing. Those areas that were missed last time must have sneeze guards to prevent this more dangerous Delta variant from spreading.

Experts are saying the following:

Able to out-compete all other strains of COVID-19, the Delta variant is the strongest variant right now. Experts say it’s over  50% more contagious than the original strain of the novel coronavirus.

It is the most lethal of the variants.

If you aren’t vaccinated and you catch the Delta variant, you are more likely to be hospitalized than if you catch the original strain of COVID-19. 

This indicates that it’s doubly important to ensure that sneeze guards are in place to protect staff and visitors. IEG have pre-cut sneeze guards that can be hung from the ceiling or placed on tabletops. They also do custom sneeze guards. Contact them now to have your sneeze guards in place as soon as possible.

Going back to university or college requires a number of preparations. The biggest one is probably moving into either a dorm room or apartment on or near campus. It often entails getting and moving furniture as well as all the stuff that you’ll need throughout the school year. Many places ask for a security deposit to ensure that if they don’t get back the accommodations in the same condition as when they rented it out to you, they’ll keep the security deposit. One way to make sure that you get that deposit back requires only a small investment in floor protection. Adhesive felt pads can be used on the bottom of all the furniture being placed on the floor, but if you are also placing heavy objects or things that could scratch the surface of counter tops etc. the adhesive felt pads can protect those too.

Flexi-Felt has a moving kit available that has various sizes of adhesive felt pads. The moving kit has 12 sets of D5007 (96 of the 15/16” square pads), 2 D5006 3” x 3” pads, 2 strips of D5004 ¾” x 4” pads, 1 D5003 (10 of the ¾” pads) and 1 D5001 (4 of the 1.5” pads). With these various shapes and sizes, you can cover most of the furniture that you may need to do to protect your floors. Right now, the moving kit is on sale at the amazing price of $27.29. You can buy it with an over 37% savings. Regular $43.41.

Don’t forget a cleaning kit that can be used not only before you move in but all year round. The Silver Mop Pro with its two types of pads can clean floors walls, ceilings and more. The pads can be washed in the washing machine, let to air dry, and can be re-used over and over again. The Clear Clean Pro floor cleaner is great for wood surfaces but can also be used on other surfaces and is environmentally friendly. Flexi-Felt have a cleaning kit that is currently on special. This kit comes with a 16.5″ (42cm) Silver Mop Pro, 5 pads (3 soft for light cleaning and dusting and 2 for heavier cleaning), a 32oz (946ml) spray bottle of Clear Clean Pro and a 32oz of concentrate Clear Clean Pro that makes 8 additional bottles.  The special cleaning kit was especially put together for those moving and it’s a great value at $59.98 (over $82 of product in the kit).

Also, don’t forget things like hand towels and cloths for cleaning and wiping down such as cloth chamois. IEG, creators of the Flexi-Felt’s, also sells these products and they are on sale right now

Be prepared for  moving day with floor protectors and a cleaning kit of mop, mop pads and floor cleaner with refills.  See them all as well as colorful absorbent hand towels and cloth chamois at http://www.flexifelt.com

Tired of buying locker shelves that break within a few weeks? Well, the answer is the EcoShelf. It’s made of wood and is installed in less than a minute with no tools or glue. Just place the two supports in the locker and the shelves between them at the height that you want. Don’t like the choice of heights? Turn the supports upside down and get different heights. Place the shelves so that you can put shoes or boots at the bottom of the locker, binders, or books on the shelf for easy and quick access between classes. Then on the top shelf place a basketball, laptop, tablet, or anything else that you are storing in your locker. This still leaves room at the front of the locker for tall objects like a hockey stick, racket, baseball bat, etc. and you can still hang a coat, sweater, or other clothes on the hooks provided with the locker.

Think that its’ too skinny to be very good? Tests showed that the EcoShelf can support up to 450 lbs. That means that it can support of weigh of everything that your kids will put on it as well as their own weight if they decide to step on a shelf. What other locker organizer shelf can do that?

Since it’s made of wood, after it’s reached the point that it can no longer be used, the wood can be disposed of in a manner that is earth friendly.

Still not convinced. Then see the video of William trying to use his locker without the EcoShelf and with the EcoShelf. Eco-Shelf locker organizer – YouTube

Now that our outdoors are our new living spaces for the summer, we find that we use them more and more than our interior spaces. Many people are discovering that with this additional usage, their patio furniture is starting to damage their decks or patios. This can lead to costly repairs and flooring or decking that can quickly look bad.

Products such as the Flexi-Felt model D6050 was designed and made specifically for the newer outdoor furniture with narrow legs that are ½” x 1-1/2”. They are a plastic piece with felt on the bottom that just slips onto the bottom of these types of furniture chair legs. A durable, easy solution for rectangular, narrow furniture legs.

For other types of furniture legs there is a whole range of adhesive felt pads that can be used as is or cut to any style of furniture foot. Since Flexi-Felt’s manufacturing process puts the glue in the felt as well as on the surface, the felt will not separate from the glue when it’s wet. It just won’t slide as easily across the floor. Once dry, it will again slide easily across the floor.

There are many floor protection products on the market, but many cannot be used outdoors because they cannot be exposed to moisture. Remember Flexi-Felt when you are shopping for quality floor protection that can be used outdoors.

I received a call this morning from a school asking for a quote on custom sneeze guards. They are restarting classes in two weeks which hit home, that kids are going back to attending class in schools this year (significantly less virtual learning than last year). This means that schools must put the necessary safeguards in place to protect all students from the Covid-19 and its’ variants. Whether its at the front offices, in the cafeteria, nurse’s office or any other locations where sneeze guards should be placed, they need to be ordered now because it takes time to make and ship them to the various schools.

There are two types of sneeze guards, hanging sneeze guards that usually hang from an acoustic tile ceiling structure, and sneeze guards that sit on flat surfaces such as desks or tables. The hanging sneeze guards are made of a thinner material due to their weight. Suspended ceiling structures are not designed to support large weights and we do not want the ceiling to fall from the weight of the sneeze guards. The ceiling sneeze guards are hung using chains. The height of the ceiling determines the lengths of chains that support the sneeze guards. Tabletop sneeze guards have feet to support them. The size and quantity of the feet are determined by the size of the sneeze guards. The wider the sneeze guards, the more feet are required to support them. Custom sneeze guards are also available such as sneeze guards that form an X and are placed on a round table. This allows four people to sit at a round table and still be protected. Surprisingly, there are also rolling sneeze guards for teachers who may want that versatile protection in their classroom. Holes can be cut in the sneeze guards for the passing of papers as seen in the picture below.

Small quantities of sneeze guards can be shipped in a thin box by regular means. Larger quantities of sneeze guards must be shipped on a skid. Sneeze guards that are larger than 46” x 40” cannot be stacked on a skid. Instead, special supports must be built on the skid so that the sneeze guards can be shipped vertically instead of horizontally making this a more costly shipping option. Sneeze guards can be as wide as 92 inches and as high as 48” (excluding the chains). Sneeze guards that large are more prone to damage during shipping than smaller sizes because they are difficult to load and unload from trucks.

If you aren’t sure of what sneeze guards you need to purchase, simply do a sketch of the area that needs sneeze guards with the dimensions and experts can determine the best solution for you.

Don’t wait until the students are in school to buy the sneeze guards. At that time manufacturers may be very busy doing other orders. Do it now so that all the protections on in place for when students return to class.