| Linoleum is a floor
covering material that has been produced for more than 100
years. It gets its name from one of the most important raw
materials used in its manufacture, linseed oil, in Latin "oleum
lini". It has become an absolute classic floor covering
because of its reliability and hard wearing properties.
Linoleum lost its role as the market leader in the 1960’s,
however, while stragula and balatum (printed bitumen papers)
and PVC coverings gained in popularity. Linoleum would have
long vanished into the happy hunting grounds of building industry
history had it not been for its compliance with the demands
of modern building technology.
Linoleum has experienced a real renaissance in recent years.
There are many reasons for this. These include on the one
hand the outstanding properties offered by a linoleum floor,
and on the other the fact that linoleum is produced to the
greatest extent from natural raw materials or raw materials
that are available in unlimited quantities, helping it to
score with the ecological awareness of consumers.
The raw materials
used to produce linoleum
Linoleum is the only floor covering offered on the market
that is produced to an overwhelming extent from natural and
growing raw materials:linseed oil - resins – sawdust
and cork meal - limestone - jute - pigments - drying agents.
Linseed oil is obtained from
the seeds of flax plants and is supplied for linoleum production
in food quality.
Resins are together with the
linseed oil further important components of the fixing agent.
A mixture of balsam and copal resin is often used in linoleum
production. Balsam resin is obtained in a similar manner to
rubber by the tapping of plantation trees. Copal on the other
hand, is a fossil like amber that develops in the ground in
the area of trees.
Wood and cork are natural growing
materials, they are processed in the form of sawdust and cork
meal and are free from chemical preserving substances. The
wood source is original tree trunks and not timber that has
already been impregnated. The cork meal is obtained from the
bark of the cork oak or comes from the remnants of other cork
processors, such as the shoe industry or bottle cork manufacture.
Limestone is available in enormous
quantities worldwide and is used in the form of a chalk filling
material.
Jute cloth is used as a carrier
material in linoleum production. It is made from plant fibres.
The materials used in its production are also of natural origin,
such as the sizing of potato starch.
Pigments are used for bleaching
and colouring the linoleum substance that is otherwise of
a dark brown colour.
Drying agents accelerate the
linseed oil oxidation process. Harmless substances such as
manganese are used for the process.
The production
process
The linseed oil is boiled together with the drying agents
and it oxidises through the addition of oxygen during the
process to linoxyn. When the linseed varnish has reached a
specific viscosity it is mixed with the resins that have already
been melted. The intermediate product is known as linoleum
cement which is cooled and stored until it is needed.
In the process as devised by Frederic Walton, the inventor
of linoleum 130 years ago and as it was still practised until
a few ears ago, the oxidation was done on muslin lines onto
which the linseed oil dripped, oxidising slowly in the air
over several weeks and the melted resin was only added in
a second process. The time required for the process has now
been significantly reduced by boiling the mixture in large
drums. The remaining production process is still much as it
was in the time of Walton.
Following storage the linoleum cement is mixed with the cork
and fine sawdust, chalk and colour pigments and is kneaded
repeatedly. Small “sausages” are cut from this
intermediate product and these are stored in silos. When the
material is to be patterned, “sausages” of the
various colours required are applied by roller onto the jute
carrier mat by means of a glazing roller.
From the roller the linoleum moves directly onto an endless
line in the so-called ripening room. This is because linoleum
must reach a specific oxidation level in order to become firm.
Depending on its thickness, the linoleum must ripen for from
two to three weeks here.
Typical
characteristics of linoleum
Haze of ripeness
The linoleum acquires a slight yellowish colour during the
ripening process, the result of the qualities of the natural
oils from which it is made. This is the so-called haze of
ripeness. This slight change in the colour shade is more prominent
in the lighter decorative tones than in the darker ones. The
haze of ripeness tinge begins to disappear on exposure to
light. Depending on the strength of the sunlight, the haze
of ripeness that was originally present begins to fade and
the floor develops a fresher, stronger colour than it had
previously. This is a typical quality characteristic of linoleum
as a natural floor and it is unavoidable.
Determining the colour
Linoleum is a product that is manufactured mainly form natural
raw materials and as a result there may be slight deviations
in colour and structure from one production batch to another.
A sample is not always exactly identical with the delivered
product. It should also be remembered that samples have generally
been exposed to light and their haze of ripeness has already
gone.
Smell
Linoleum initially has its own typical smell that is often
used for differentiation and to prove that it is genuine.
This only applies in the case of an unprocessed material,
since linoleum scarcely has any smell whatsoever after it
has been laid. Exceptions are generally the result of unfavourable
circumstances such as dampness, unprofessional treatment of
the material, lack of care and cleaning with unsuitable substances.
Alkaline cleaners (floor soaps) are thus unsuitable for linoleum
because they react with the fixing agent and result in the
development of a slightly mouldy smell.
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