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Demystifying Leather Floor and Wall Tile
IMPORTANT NOTE: This leather is a sustainable, renewable product that is a by-product of a major food source. A factor not to be ignored; a shift in focus (to green products) by the design community has made this an increasingly important factor when specifying both exterior and interior materials. If these hides were not tanned into usable leather, they would be putrefying in a land fill.
Leather is a luxury to love and to use. Leather has an impeccable pedigree that runs from prehistory to Polo; a leather hide was undoubtedly the first floor covering in prehistory; used in all the better caves. And as the saying goes; “What goes around comes around” so here we are once again putting leather on the floor. It's been in all the better design publications, seen on Inside This Old House, on H.G.T.V, Floor Covering Weekly, New York Magazine, Flooring Installer, Martha Stuart Living and many others. Designers have known about it for a long time; now the word is out, and beginning to spread - leather floors and leather walls are being specified more and more by decorators, designers and interior architects for Residential, Hospitality and Commercial use. Leather tile is being used on the floors, the walls, the ceiling, stairs, beams, columns, bars and other imaginative architectural surfaces.
Today's leather flooring and wall covering has an impressive story to tell and a long list of benefits that dealers/customers/clients should know about. Leather has much to offer in durability, fashion and the environment.
One of our most important functions, perhaps the most important, is that we are here to contribute to you by being your leather tile experts. We understand the nature of our product from inception through fabrication, installation and maintenance. Take advantage of our willingness to spend as much time as necessary to impart information and answer your questions and in the best sense, partner the leather portion of a project with you.
Let's start with: Leather Floor Tile 101
All leather is not created equal.
Lifetime Leather Floor Tile® is Steer hide leather; a by product of a very popular food source. No leather products used by us are taken for the hide.
Tanned and colored in the USA where the EPA has closed 90+% of all the tanneries - so we know ours is doing the right thing. Aniline dyed, drum dyed or vat dyed so that the color goes all the way through the leather (or almost all the way). The fact that our process features, rather than conceals, the natural markings of the hides means that the raw stock must be chosen with special care which means that the hides we select cost more.
Leather, real leather, should have the look, feel and smell that has made leather a product that has been cherished through the centuries.
Lifetime Leather Tile is available in 10 standard colors: Saddle, Honey, Cedar, Red, Moss, Slate, Black, Brick, Green, Rawhide, and White. Custom colors and finishes are also available as is embossing, inlay designs, antiquing, abrading, distressing, abusing and laser engraving with almost any design.
Lifetime Leather Tiles are about 1/8 " thick (about 9 -10 ounces per sq/ft) flexible but not limp, and with a high degree of dimensional stability. Unlike other floors, when you step bare footed on leather tile it will warm to your body temperature almost instantly. That makes it feel warm in Winter and cool in Summer. Walking barefoot on leather, skin to skin is a most luxurious and sensual feel, makes everyone smile. Walking on a Lifetime Leather floor with shoes, boots, spike heels, or whatever hastens the eventual appearance of the leather; - this is a product that grows more beautiful with use and age.
Leather floor tiles could also have a textured surface that comes from embossing, or it could have a very smooth feel to the surface (without being slippery; our wax actually makes the tile almost slip-proof). The back of the tile may or may not be slightly sueded - it appears not to make much difference. Leather floor tiles are die cut from hides and available in the following sizes:
in inches 2x6, 3x3, 4x4, 6x6, 8x8, 10x10, *12x12, *18x18, *24x24, 26x26 and 4x6, 6x12, *9x18, *12x18, 18x24 also a 2x8 for herringbone and a 2x14 picket strip around 12x12 tiles. Custom sizes and shapes are available. *Most popular sizes.
Tiles can be installed in one color, as a checker board, on the diagonal or square, with or without a border, with or without inserts, in a herringbone pattern or any other custom layout.
We have 400 + embossings that can be applied to the leather floor tile or wall tile. More information on embossings is available here.
Questions: The most popular questions are; “How can you walk on leather?”, “Does it scratch?”, ”If I wear high heels will it dent?”, “Will it stain?”, “How long will it last?”
Some answers: To some degree leather floors (real leather floors) scratch, dent, scuff and stain. That's the up-side! At some point in the future that leather floor will acquire a patina and take on true character that's the very special bonus that comes with a select few natural products like copper, pewter, fine hardwood, some stone and of course leather. Everyone's wearing leather; both as a fashion statement and as a hardwearing utilitarian covering. Think about the hottest car models; always upholstered in leather, the finest handbags, the best luggage, the most beautiful books, baseball gloves, clothing and, of course, shoes (do you think Manolo Blahnik uses vinyl?).
For most people the scent, the sight, and most of all the feel of leather immediately conjures up pleasant thoughts and alerts the senses. What we are able to do, is help to dress an interior space with a sensual fantasy of leather, create a sedate English library, a modern “green” luxury floor, a major fashion statement that gets raves, a covering that will enhance the sound in your media room or just a quiet, warm, easy to care for floor that will last a lifetime.
Leather; The perfect imperfect product.
Leather is a natural product that's meant to be used; it grows more beautiful with use. We like to speak of our leather as “being stained with the patina of time”. After several months of use, if you were to put some wax on our leather floor tile you would find that the leather acquires a warm glow and unique character all its own; without becoming slippery. Think about your old leather briefcase, your grandmother's leather chair, your favorite old pair of leather boots or the seats in your Mercedes. They have all, over time, acquired the characteristics of beautiful leather.
And then, there are people that put a leather floor in the Master Bedroom; never wear shoes because walking barefoot on leather (skin on skin) makes everyone smile. They wax it once a month and it looks like it did when installed, except better, because real leather exposed to light and air will, over time, develop a mellow, beautiful patina. If a floor can earn the title, “a sexy leather floor” this is it!!
Our leather floor tile will last for 50, 75, and 100 years - and look better every year. About 40% of all leather tiles are sold for commercial use in hotels, restaurants and night clubs, high-end offices, conference rooms, board rooms, libraries, art galleries, and museums. In residential areas we have tiled bedrooms, living rooms, dining rooms, media rooms (leather and suede are great materials for sound in a media room), powder rooms, entry halls, stairs, hand rail, floors, walls, ceilings and other architectural elements.
INSTALLATION INFORMATION
- Important; 90+ % of all floor covering complaints are due to installation
In most cases the leather is delivered to the job site; unpacked, unwrapped, opened and allowed to acclimate in the space it will be installed for five to seven days, at the average temperature and humidity that the space will be maintained at. This conditions the leather and aids in preventing shrinkage after the tile is installed. The larger the tile, the longer it should acclimate.
Leather tile should be acclimated and installed as soon as possible. We recommend that the tile be installed within thirty days following receipt.
Leather floor tile can be glued to any uncoated, unpainted, oil free, clean, dry, wood or concrete surface. Painted or treated floors must be sanded so the adhesive has a good gripping surface and floors should be free of all treatments, old adhesive, dust or other contaminants that might act as a bond breaker.
Plywood and wood floors: Prior to installation, if required, the floor surface must be sanded, leveled and repaired. Fill all holes and crevices with wood filler (then sand smooth). Any and all protrusions, nails, screw heads and the like must be below the floor level and patched. If you're installing a plywood floor, do not use Luann it has microscopic fibers on the surface that may inhibit the glue from grabbing as well as we like.
Concrete floors: Must be leveled and patched using a Portland based patching material. On grade or below grade concrete floor must be checked for moisture and alkaline salts.
NOTE: I'm sure you all know this but all floor tiles of a resilient nature (i.e. leather, vinyl, cork, rubber, etc.) will “telescope” the surface under them. That is, a grain of sand under the tile will look larger than it is. Installers; Do not get suckered in to installing leather on a poor surface, down the road it will start to show everything you thought you were going to hide, and more. Caution: when installing leather on radiant heated floors; contact us for specifics on how this can be done successfully.
Install our leather tile using our premium Stampede “Non-flammable” water based adhesive applied with a brush or roller to coat both the back of the tile and the floor with one even, full spread of adhesive. Allow to dry to the touch and install carefully, once pressed in place - removal can cause all kinds of problems (we don't want to go there). Real leather tile (more that any other product) wants to shrink, curl, dish and rip itself off the floor. It must be stuck very tight.
NOTE: Rainbow-X wall tile gets installed with the same adhesive, but the adhesive only goes on the back of the tile and it goes up on the wall while it's wet.
Lifetime Leather floor tile should be waxed following installation. It will protect the tile and fill some of the seams. Use three coats, buffing after each one.
More information on Lifetime Leather Floor Tiles is available here.
Rainbow-X, Leather wall tile: Stained with the patina of time
Q. Why not install floor tile on the wall?
A. If you put floor tile (9-10 oz.) on a wall it has to be a plywood or concrete wall. The installation method required for floor tile requires a wood or concrete surface to install on, that assures you the tile will stay down without curling edges, dishing or ripping itself off the floor. If you were to install floor tile weight (9-10 oz) 1/8 " leather on a sheet rock wall the odds are the next morning you would find most of them were on the floor; having ripped themselves off the wall and taken some sheet rock along with them. If the wall has been painted you must check with the manufacturer as to the curing time of the paint and wait until the paint has cured - about 30 days.
For that reason (and economics) our wall tile is lighter weight (5 ounce) leather and can be installed on naked sheetrock, plaster, wood, etc. using our exclusive Stampede adhesive. Wall tile can be installed while the adhesive is wet. Leather wall tile, like floor tile, must be acclimated on site. Unlike floor tile, our wall tile should never be waxed unless specified.
Rainbow-X wall tile is a pure aniline dyed product with little or no pigment applied to the surface, allowing the hides natural markings; fat wrinkles, stretch marks and scars to show through. Both texture and color may/will vary from tile to tile. The lighter colors like Bourbon, Peat Moss, Butternut, Mocha, Briar have the greatest variations. Dark colors like Black, Midnight, Fudge will have texture variations with less color variation; a single sample may not be representative of the entire hide.
Someone only has to see a wall covered with our leather to understand the beauty, drama and luxury that only real leather can provide.
More information on Rainbow-X Leather Wall Tile is available here.
THE MANY WAYS TO USE LEATHER TILE
- LIVING ROOM – Create a floor for the most contemporary space or a very traditional or period setting. Use borders, inserts, feature stripping, laser designs, custom inlay, or a wood and leather combination. A wall of leather says something special about you. It may be that it’s the ultimate leather accessory; who needs a Channel bag when you can have entire wall of Crocodile, or at very least the hand rail on your stair case.
- DINING ROOM – Properly waxed to resist spills there’s no reason not to create a gorgeous floor that will be a conversation piece. An instant heirloom in your home. The warmth of leather walls or panels can not be duplicated or imitated. Every tile is different; some smooth and shiny, some wrinkled and darker some in between. A true work of natures art.
- MEDIA or TV ROOM – Leather is great for sound control… and it smells great. On the floor, wall or ceiling. On the floor, wall, ceiling, or all three. We call that “Living-in-Skin”.
- FAMILY ROOM/DEN – This is where it can all come together. Let your imagination run wild; Crocodiles, Alligators, Ant Eater, Daisies, Stingray, Flowers and Leaves on the floor; Elephant on the walls; on the ceiling? Why not!?! On the floor… it’s going to last for 75 years looking better every year. So easy to care for. The leather actually looks better as it ages and as it is put to hard use.
- BED ROOM – Walking barefoot, skin on skin makes everyone smile. Warms to body temperature instantly; cool in summer warm in winter. Floor, wall or ceiling.
- ENTRANCE – Given that you only get one chance to make a first impression, this may be the right place for a leather floor; leather walls or how about a leather ceiling with a laser tooled custom design?
- KITCHEN WALLS or CABINETS – Leather tile and leather panels are a great choice, the possibilities are endless.
- HOTELS – Guest rooms, cigar room, billiard room, bar, lounge, reading room, entrance. Yes, the leather can take that kind of abuse.
- NIGHTCLUBS – The possibilities are endless.
- THE CORPORATE WORLD – Conference Room, Chairman’s office, Reception areas that will impress all-of-the-right-people (including you). Floor, wall or ceiling.
- MUSEUMS, ART GALLERIES, THEATER, OPERA HOUSE, EMBASSY, CONSULATE, EXECUTIVE AIRCRAFT, YACHTS.
WHERE NOT TO USE LEATHER
- KITCHEN – unless you eat out all the time. We don’t like to over process or poly coat our beautiful leather, therefore it retains a lot of the hide's natural markings; and even though our leather is tough and our Bee’s wax makes it almost water proof, we think most of you want a Kitchen floor that can take the kind of spills and accidents that happen in the Kitchen - our leather is tough in other ways
- BATHROOM: See KITCHEN – Leather is not a good product to clean with a harsh detergent that’s probably used in your bathroom. Any leather that can be cleaned that way (and still look good) has been so overly processed that the word “patina” is a but a dream
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