COIT Rolls Out Revolutionary Dustless Hardwood Floor Refinishing Technology (5/00)

COIT is recognized for its one-stop-shopping approach to cleaning challenges of all kinds - carpets, upholstery, draperies, blinds, and air ducts - for residential consumers and the commercial customer alike. During its fifty years in business, COIT has been recognized for its commitment to developing techniques and systems responsive to the ever-changing needs of the consumers it serves. This fiftieth anniversary year is no different with the introduction of a new and revolutionary system for hardwood floor restoration and maintenance - floorRENEW™.

Recognizing that hardwood floors comprise one of the fastest growing floor-covering trends in the nation, COIT established floorRENEW. This technology, three years in research and development and two years in focus group testing in California's San Francisco Bay Area, has now met COIT's standards for market-wide introduction. COIT's floorRENEW offers a unique, dust-free system in the floor refinishing industry. The system's unmatched clean air quality advantage, coupled with water-based sealers and finishes, makes the process an unparalleled product for consumers concerned about residual airborne and surface substances.

One of the biggest headaches faced by consumers refinishing their hardwood floors is the resultant wood dust that sanding and buffing produce. In a traditional wood refinishing method, wood dust is difficult, if not impossible, to contain in the work area and requires that plastic sheets be taped to entryways and windows. Wood dust is a nuisance and presents health risks. It leaves a house or work site dirty not only in, but beyond, the immediate work area. Wood dust also can adversely affect the respiratory system of adults, children, and pets; irritate eyes and exacerbate allergies. Finally, it can settle onto drying sealers and finishes, ruining the entire process.

floorRENEW utilizes state-of-the-art machinery with a binary vacuum system that immediately removes and captures wood dust produced during machining. The dust containment system ("DCS") consists of a dual operating system, an external containment mechanism and an internal suction system that enhances the machines' ability to trap and vacuum the wood dust immediately. floorRENEW eliminates the need to cordon-off work areas, removes the aesthetic displeasure and health hazards of a dust-filled environment, and allows customers to remain in those areas of the work site that are not being treated. Prior to development of the DCS system, customers were required to evacuate their homes while workers attempted to clear the site of dust.

floorRENEW's second advantage is the use of water-based solutions. Water-based floor care refinishing products offer consumers time-saving convenience and health benefits, while allowing faster curing time, greater durability, and no residual odor. The advantages of water-based finishes over traditional finishes include:

• They have a remarkably faster drying time as compared to traditional finishes. Two to three coats of water-based finish can be applied in one day, eliminating an additional day of inconvenience.
  
  
• They are nonflammable and safer than traditional chemicals using mineral spirits as their solvent.
  
  
• They contain no formaldehyde and are thus odor free, leaving no residue that could cause harmful side effects to household pets or plants.
  
  
• They produce a no-wax finish that provides easy maintenance as well as durability.
  
  
• They perform like traditional curing chemicals, yet meet federal VOC (VOS) standards, thus producing an environmental benefit.

Headquartered in Burlingame, California, COIT Services, Inc. has eleven company-owned facilities and fifty-six franchised locations, with two new Franchises opening in Boise, Idaho and Cumberland, Maryland in 2000.