Grounded ESD Flooring Solutions

Our grounded solutions create a static free environment for R & D labs, data centers, hospitals, NASA grade clean rooms, university research centers, electronics manufacturing and semiconductor fabrication facilities. Our comprehensive ESD flooring options range from inexpensive static dissipative floor coatings to conductive and dissipative ESD vinyl and carpet tile to state of the art, fault tolerant ESD rubber tile and sheet goods. 

At Staticworx™ we continuously re-engineer our static resistant floors and conductive adhesives. In the early 1990s, our management team introduced Hewlett Packard in Boise, Idaho to the first ever ESD carpet tile for use in electronics manufacturing, using over 50,000 sqaure feet of Staticworx™ carpet tile. Since then, we have redesigned our modular Conductors line of Carpet Tile 3 times, providing lifetime durability even under chair casters, enhancing appearance and increasing conductivity so our customers can stay in front of increasingly more stringent ANSI/ESD and NFPA flooring standards. We were even awarded Green Label Plus certification after the last improvement!

But our mission doesn’t end with leading -edge ESD floors or even with unsurpassed technical support. To give you the security you deserve, Staticworx™ provides a lifetime electrical warranty on every one of our ESD flooring products. We promise that you will never need to use a wax, polish, floor finish or Statguard flooring spray to improve the anti static performance of any Staticworx™ ESD floor. Your floor will always meet the recommended guidelines of ANSI/ESD S20.20-2007. We keep you grounded regardless of traffic, wear and tear or the consequences of low humidity. Are you grounded?

About this web site:

Staticworx™.com  is filled with numerous articles, case histories, FAQs and technical information about electro-static discharge problems and ESD flooring. Whether you’re an architect, a flooring contractor, an industrial engineer or another flooring manufacturer– all of our information is at your disposal – for free. As the thought leaders in static and ESD flooring, Staticworx™ believes you need unbiased vetted information so you can purchase ESD flooring with confidence and recommend it with integrity.  Most of the articles, studies and article excerpts were written by our president, David Long. In most cases his work was subjected to editorial reviews and subsequently published by industry journals like Conformity, Evaluation Engineering, Compliance Engineering and Controlled Environments. In all cases, our technical claims have been subjected to objective reviews by independent testing labs, extensive client evaluations or by an independent industry consultant.

If you have a question or a comment, please send them along; we answer every e-mail we receive.

About our ESD Flooring products:

On size doesn’t fit all:

At Staticworx™, we realize that one type of static free flooring isn't going to work for everyone. That's why we produce 4 distinct material groups. We never want to put you in the position of feeling as if you've been pushed in a particular direction - because it was the only solution we could offer and not because the solution was ideal for you. The easiest way to help you make a worry-free decision is by making every option available to you. The availability of options enables your Staticworx™ technical advisor to consider every aspect of your project - even the most subtle ones - before making any recommendations. The main ESD flooring options are: Read more

• Carpet products: ESD broadloom carpet and ESD carpet tile
• Vinyl flooring:  Static dissipative and conductive vinyl tiles
• Rubber: Static dissipative and conductive rubber tile and sheet goods, mats and runners.
• Resinous flooring options: thin mil conductive paints, multiple types of static dissipative and conductive epoxy and urethane coatings including both smooth and broadcast floors.

There are literally hundreds of different scenarios. In some cases the main factor affecting your decision may not even be the application itself; it could be restrictions or conditions related to your building, production schedule, time or even the length and terms of your lease. Here are three examples:

• A client is loading ESD-sensitive circuit boards into black boxes in a temporary space. The space isn’t worth a long-term investment because the lease is for only one year. The client needs a floor that will meet current ESD standards until they vacate the leased space. The building owner wants the space returned to her the same way it looked at the beginning of the lease. In these situations we recommend a removable floor like our Conductors series carpet tiles.  With conductive carpet tiles, you can take your floor with you and reinstall in the new space. The Conductors can be installed with a dry removable adhesive system or with a releasable adhesive like our Groundtack pressure-sensitive adhesive. Investment wise, carpet tiles are ½ the cost of snap-together interlocking floors and they provide the added advantage of being conductive and anti static.

• Another client is preparing to handle class 0 parts in an operational class 100 clean room. They need a floor that can be installed with clean room friendly adhesives. They want a floor that can be installed over their existing floor because they do not want any demolition. This application is challenging because they need a low out-gassing, PVC-free floor.  Carpet won’t work because it will generate particles. ESD vinyl is made with PVC so it isn’t a valid contender either. Any epoxy solution would require demolition. We’ve seen this application several times; in each case we installed Staticworx™ EC class 0 sheet rubber using our dry adhesive. Staticworx™ EC rubber meets every clean room standard in the world. It is conductive, highly suitable for class 0 and it prevents static on people who mistakenly enter the area without ESD footwear.

• An architect is designing a secure 24/7/365 data center requiring a floor that can handle heavy rolling loads and also prevent static on personnel who will wear ordinary footwear. They have done their homework; they know that ESD epoxies and urethanes can handle the heavy rolling loads quite well. However, they do not realize that ESD coatings are incapable of preventing static build-up on people wearing ordinary footwear. ESD coatings, ironically, are a bigger generator of static than many ordinary carpets.

Until recently ESD coatings have been installed in many of the world’s largest data centers. In the present and near future, this will not be a viable alternative. The typical charge generated on an epoxy floor with standard footwear is in the thousands of volts. In the past, epoxies were successfully used in data centers because they were installed to protect equipment that wasn’t very sensitive to static. Today’s new faster technology and more robust data storage systems are sensitive to static discharges below 1 kV.

To meet current ESD requirements, data centers must focus on anti static properties, conductive properties and the ability to handle moving equipment. All of our coatings as well as those from other manufacturers will only meet 2 out of 3 criteria— insufficient for mission-critical applications. Ameriworx vinyl tile and Staticworx™ MC Rubber meet all three challenges.