Kugelgarn is a new range of textile floor coverings now available in Australia for commercial applications.

The Swiss textile floor covering is one of the safest commercial floor coverings available in the market, incorporating several attributes that work together to deliver a high level of safety in their installed environments.

Producing significantly less toxic emissions than traditional carpet tiles in the event of a fire, Kugelgarn is totally non-slip and has an excellent fire rating. Advantages such as low smoke emission, halogen-free construction and anti-bacterial properties make the floor coverings range verifiably suitable for allergy sufferers. The Kugelgarn surface is friendly to wheelchairs and castors.

The high safety factor of Kugelgarn textile floor coverings makes the range perfect for installation in schools, public buildings and any environment where visitors’ health and safety are important considerations.

Kugelgarn’s uniqueness was recognised by the Textile and Flooring Institute of Aachen, Germany by creating a new category in 2003 to distinguish it from woven goods, tufting and needle felt. The effective pile consists of numerous specially mixed fibre balls, resulting in an extremely durable, non-directional flooring with a striking three-dimensional effect.

A typical fire causes combustion reactions to take place in an oxygen-deficient environment, in which large quantities of carbon monoxide as well as carcinogenic aromatic compounds are formed. All forms of hydrocarbons and basically all floorings apart from stone are flammable. To ensure low fire loads for safety, Fabromont does not use any heavy backs.

Bitumen and PVC used as heavy back coating in quantities of often more than 3 kg/m² in many carpet tiles can release cyclical polyaromatics, hydrochloric acid gases and dioxins during combustion, all of which are harmful to human health. Even reducing combustibility by adding flame retardants based on halogens can cause the formation of toxic and corrosive decomposition products in the event of a fire.

Fabromont, on the other hand uses chemically bonded water in the form of aluminium hydroxide: the protective layer integrated into the flooring splits off crystal water under heat. The water vapour layer above the Kugelgarn forms a protective shield against the fire spreading further. With the evaporation, the water removes heat and cools the flooring to below the flammability temperature.

Rolf Tobler, Director of Global Floors explains that Kugelgarn is installed everywhere in Europe from offices, restaurants and retirement homes to ski stations. In addition to durability, the floor covering can be easily repaired in the event of any damage by simple cutting out the damaged section and replacing it seamlessly in no time.

Kugelgarn is now available in Australia from Global Floors .