It’s back to school time and while teachers are running around getting everything organized in the classroom, the last thing they need is to deal with students throwing around tennis balls or other types of floor protectors in the classroom. Over 8 years ago we created the Flexi-Felt line of quality floor protectors. As good as they are they are not impossible to remove. The blend with the decor not to attract the kids attention but they are still removable if a student really wants to get them off. Well that is all about to end. We are working on creating the first manually impossible to remove floor protector. This will revolutionize the floor protection industry as they will not only be guaranteed against wear but they will also have a lifetime guarantee against removal. Stay tune in for more details in the weeks to come.
Teachers Want a Floor Protector That Will Stay On!
September 8th, 2011Dark hardwood floor protectors
April 7th, 2011You asked we listened. I have been getting A LOT of requests to create a darker floor protector to match the dark hardwood floors such as cherry or a chocolate colored oak. We didn’t want to move away from the natural quality of wool felt. We have created a dark wool blend that blends with the dark flooring and have kept the light color felt for the line colored maple and bamboo flooring. Same natural quality and durability. We currently have all our industrial adhesive pads in a dark format click here We will have the clear models available in 4 to 6 weeks time. Stay tuned!
Parents are tired of buying tennis balls for school chairs.
August 31st, 2010Every year I get asked the same thing “why don’t schools just buy the flexi-Felt instead of asking parents to buy tennis balls”. The answer is simple “BUDGETS”. The schools would prefer to pay 3 times more over 5 years than to go over budget one single year. This is the sad thruth for many public expenditures. Instead of paying 1000$ once and be done with it for 5 years they prefer to pay 400$ a year plus 300$ in installation (different budget) every year totalling 3500$ instead of 1000$. I see this time and time again.
Some schools are now pushing that expense to the parents. They are now asking the parents to buy tennis balls. Most parents have no idea why they need to buy tennis balls. When they finally understand the concept, 9 out of 10 would much rather buy a Flexi-Felt once for the whole 5 year cycle than to have to buy tennis balls every year (sometimes twice a year). This is especially true when they understand the health hazards associated with tennis balls. Some schools told me they couldn’t put the Flexi-Felt on the required school supply list because they couldn’t favor one product brand over another. I understand that concept and it makes a lot of sense, except when they request “tennis balls”, they are excluding everything else. Maybe the supply lists should say “non adhesive floor protectors”. This way parents can chose to get a high quality floor protector for their children versus the colorful dust bombs.
Flexi-Felt in mass retail
August 8th, 2010Of all the questions I get one comes up many times a day from clients and that is “when will I be able to buy the Flexi-Felt in my local retail store”. The answer is… soon. Sorry I can’t be more specific than that. All I can say is that we have been getting a lot of interest from home shopping channels as well as retail agents to get the Flexi-Felt floor protectors into mass retail. It has been a long journey but we should be able to unveil the retail Flexi-Felt product line within 4 to 6 months. I will keep you all posted as to what quality hardware and retail stores will be carrying the Flexi-Felt as they become available.
Schools Throw Away Thousands of Tennis Balls Every Year
August 1st, 2010Of course you already know that a calm noise free environment is best for learning regardless of the age group. You may also know that there are a lot of different ways to reduce noise and echo in a classroom or any room. However, with the current economic environment, budgets are getting tighter and noise reduction may be considered a lower priority. What if you had a solution that not only cost very little up front but that could save the school thousands of dollars a year? In essence, schools would save thousands of dollars which could be reinvested in the curriculum or furniture improvements.
As you may know elementary schools sometimes use tennis balls on the chair footing to try and reduce noise or protect flooring.
On a purely cost related note tennis balls are also more expensive because they are time consuming to maintain. It takes about 3 hours per classroom per year to cut install (reinstall when they fall off) and remove the tennis balls at the end of the year. 3 hours at 20$/hour for a typical custodian is 60$ a year. This maintenance cost needs to be added to the tennis ball tab even when the tennis balls are seemingly free (given away by a club or paid by parents).
Custodians like the fact that schools are trying to protect their flooring but they are annoyed by having to constantly re-install the tennis balls that are removed by the children or simply fall off.
One has to also wonder if the added learning benefit from noise reduction isn’t dwarfed by the visual distraction and temptation caused by the bright yellow tennis balls. How do you tell a kid not to play with the tennis balls when they are almost screaming out at them to be thrown? Balls are toys.
In an era where we are trying to be environmentally conscious I lack to see how throwing away tons of cheap synthetic tennis balls away every year is a wise solution for our children.
Lets sum this up, I think everyone can agree that reducing the noise in the classroom and improving our kids’ learning is a wonderful idea. I think reducing maintenance costs thus leaving more money to the schools is also a great idea because ultimately as tax payers we are all paying for the school expenses. So there has to be some quality chair leg covers on the market that can accomplish this that isn’t just an unhealthy tennis ball replica. It’s important that the teachers and parents look for a real chair leg cover solution that is not a big fur ball. There are a few chair leg covers that have a thick quality felt available. Some even have warranties and trial offers such as the Flexi-Felt. One simply has to go on the net and look for them. Beware of low cost plastic cap options as they break off easily and like the tennis ball you will waste a lot of money replacing them every year and they won’t protect the flooring properly.
So please leave the tennis balls where they belong on the tennis courts and get a quality solution that really works to help our children in the classrooms.
Playing tennis with a walker?
July 29th, 2010Although tennis seems to be losing ground as a sport, the balls are definitely popping up in odd places. In my line of work I hear about tennis balls every day. I have seen every shape and color. Some are high quality wimbledon grade balls and others are dollar store cardboard rubber barely bouncing grade. You might expect someone like me to work in a sportsplex or at a tennis training facility. But no I actually invent and manufacture high quality furniture leg covers for schools and homes to protect flooring called the Flexi-Felt. Wondering what is the link? You see a lot of schools in order to try and reduce the noise caused by furniture movement will put tennis balls on the bottom of the chair legs to reduce the noise. Great idea right? Of course it does reduce the noise but it is relatively short lived since the tennis balls were never intended for furniture. They are really big, they have a very thin felt and they get dirty really fast as the furry ball is a large dust magnet. Although I could rant along about the issues of tennis balls in the schools it is not the goal of this article. just when I thought I was doing a good job educating the school market I see an elderly gentleman with a walker go by and what really caught my eye was 2 fluorescent yellow grimy tennis balls under the walker footing. I was amazed I can see how people think this is a good idea when they think there is nothing else available. At first he thought it was an isolated case but time and time again while assisting school trade shows he would have dozens of teachers or principals ask him for samples for someone they knew that had a walker. They told me that they tried the sticky felts but they just don’t stay on. And that is when it hit me. I have to create a high quality walker glide product line. They called the new product line the Medi-Felt.
Of course we could reuse a lot of the expertise with regards to flooring protection and easy sliding we have accumulated over the years to quickly come up with this new offering. We will launch the new brand in a few weeks; I believe it will do great. The Medi-Felt is easier to install, is at least 15 times more durable than tennis balls and is aesthetically far superior. I mean no one voluntarily wants to need a walker and even less so a walker that screams out to everyone with bright yellow tennis balls.
Custodians! Work Smarter Not Harder at Protecting Your Floors
July 27th, 2010I keep hearing the same comments over and over with custodians around the world.
“Why are the floor finishes so cheap”.
“The tiles don’t last like they used to”.
“I have to redo the floors within weeks because the chairs damage the floors”
Does this look familiar? 
This can all be resolved quickly and easily by simply protecting the floors with the Flexi-Felt floor protectors. They are simple to install, it takes less than 30 seconds a chair and they outlast every other floor protector on the market. Not only do they protect the floors, the large pure wool felt pads actually polishes them.
As you can see from the testimonial below a few minutes of your time can save you thousands of dollars a year and hundreds of hours of needless work.
We’ve tried the Flexi-Felt in a few classrooms last year and they have protected the flooring so well that we’ve saved on 2 floor refinishings. I only rewaxed once instead of 3 times last year. We saved thousands of dollars in chemicals, cleaning equipment and labor. We literally saved what the Flexi-Felt cost us many times over. Needless to say they passed the test and we are getting the rest of the school equipped this year.
Jim Tobias (Director of Facilities) Forsyth Country Day School Lewisville, North CarolinaTennis Balls are Dust Bombs in Classrooms
July 26th, 2010The back to school season is upon us and I just wanted to share a bit of information with you about the tennis balls that are used on chairs. A study that shows: “Asthma is the major chronic illness of children in America. Nearly 9 million children under the age of 18 (that’s 12% of all children) have been diagnosed with the condition and children miss much of their schooling due to chronic illness from the condition (over 12.8 million school days are lost each year according to the American Academy of Allergy Asthma & Immunology)”.
The 
tennis balls are a health hazard because they emit respiratory irritants, accumulate dust and
dirt and literally become dust bombs by the end of the school year. The large dark interior of the
tennis ball is also a perfect breeding ground for mould, bacteria and dust mites.
Let’s face it tennis balls were never made for chairs.
Is noise preventing kids from learning?
May 21st, 2010Did you know May is national speech language month. As such I wanted to write a blog about noise reduction.
Is noise preventing kids from learning?
Many studies from the Acoustical Society of America have shown that a person’s speech comprehension or Speech Intelligibility decreases drastically when ambient noise levels increase. This is even more so the case for children with hearing difficulties or with English as a second language. Now as a parent you may be surprised to know that the noise generator in a classroom is furniture! In order to reduce the spine twisting sound of chairs scrapping on the floor, many schools have started putting tennis balls at the end of the chair legs to try and reduce the noise. It’a s great idea right? Well not so much, here is where it becomes an issue,
Many educators have told me that the brightly colored balls draw the kids’ attention. The teachers must now apply disciplinary measures to keep the students from playing with the tennis balls. Being a parent I would prefer if that time was spent educating my child instead of lecturing on not playing with tennis balls. To make things worse they tell me custodians are fetching dozens of tennis balls off the school roof tops every month. It all seems like a big waste of resources.
I’ve tried cutting a tennis ball myself and I must admit it’s a difficult and dangerous task for teachers and custodians. I can’t see this being a very cost effective and it takes hours to install.
I think everyone can agree that reducing the noise in the classroom and improving our kids’ learning is a wonderful idea. I think reducing maintenance costs thus leaving more money to the schools is also a great idea because ultimately as tax payers we are all paying for the school expenses. So there has to be some quality chair leg covers on the market that can accomplish this that isn’t just an unhealthy tennis ball.
Fortunately there is. My invention the Flexi-Felt is a floor protector that has a thick high quality wool felt that really dampens the noise.
So please leave the tennis balls where they belong on the tennis courts and get a quality solution that really works to help our children in the classrooms.
How to maintain your brand new hardwood floors
April 10th, 2010You just had a beautiful hardwood floor installed and it looks great. However, your investment does not stop with the decision to purchase new hardwood floors. In order to retain the value, your hardwood floors must be properly cared for and maintained. Here are a few tips to keep your hardwood flooring looking as good as new.
1. Do not use Murphy’s Oil Soap. Murphy’s works great on wooden furniture, but don’t make the mistake of using it on your hardwood floors. You won’t notice anything wrong after applying it once, but if used consistently, residue will build up and leave your floor with a dull appearance.
2. Do not use a Wet Swiffer. A Dry Microfiber mop is great for collecting dust, dirt, and pet hair from your floors, and it is also less abrasive than a vacuum cleaner. If you need to use a wet mop to remove dirt use a high quality microfiber mop slightly dampened with clean water. A Wet Swiffer can cause major long-term damage. The chemicals in the cleaning solution can break down the urethane finish on your floor and leave it dull, faded, and lifeless. The damp microfiber will clean effectively and leave no residue and is much more eco-friendly as you are not using chemicals or throwing anything away. See our new line of 99.9% germ free microfiber mop line www.flexifelt.com/c-18-flexi-felt-clear.aspx.
3. Place area rugs anywhere that might collect water. Prime areas are in front of the refrigerator, by the dishwasher, and near any sinks. Make sure that the floor is protected in any spot that is susceptible to minor leaks and water collection. The rugs should be made of absorbent material such as cotton or microfiber. A pool of water is the quickest way to destroy your floor.
4. Use floor mats in spots where people step on the hardwood directly after being outside. In addition to protecting against wet or muddy footprints, floor mats will help collect any sharp or abrasive materials stuck in the treads of shoes. This step will help prevent accidental scraping or scratching. Make sure the mats have a water resistant bottom otherwise the melted snow will destroy your hardwood floors in no time.
5. Use properly sized high quality felt pads when moving furniture. Or better yet, lift the furniture off the ground
instead of sliding it across your hardwood floor. Inspect your felt pads frequently to make sure they are free of any debris. Even if a grain of sand is under that pad when heavy furniture is set upon it, your floor could receive some serious gouges when it is moved.
These steps will help ensure that your home retains its value by protecting your hardwood floors against major damage.
Accidents do happen, however, no matter how careful you are. If your floor becomes damaged, contact the manufacturer or the installer for advice.