Methods of reducing the growth of cellulose-backed flooring products and the resulting cellulose-backed flooring products

Abstract

A method of inhibiting or reducing the undesirable growth properties of a resilient flooring product having a fibrous cellulosic backing which comprises: substantially uniformly incorporating in the fibrous cellulosic backing of a resilient flooring product from about 0.05% by weight to about 4% by weight, based on the weight of the fibrous cellulosic backing, of a growth inhibitor from the group consisting of alums, aluminum sulfate, and mixtures thereof; and installing the resilient flooring product on a surface coated with a water-based adhesive while the fibrous cellulosic backing contains such percentages of the growth inhibitor, whereby undesirable growth, swelling, buckling or the appearance of bubbles in the resilient flooring product is inhibited or reduced, even when the installation takes place at low relative humidity conditions below about 50% relative humidity. The resulting cellulose-backed resilient flooring products having reduced growth properties are also included in the scope of the inventive concept.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.