You can rest assured that Metroflor Corporation’s flooring has achieved the highest industry standards for rigid core flooring. Our Inception™ and Metrostone™ SPC and Genesis™ WPC are now ASSURE CERTIFIED™. Living up to ASSURE’s rigorous standards for “Smart. Durable. Responsible” rigid core flooring, Metroflor’s rigid core floors have passed a battery of stringent tests designed to measure safety, quality and performance. A certification program for rigid core floors administered by the Resilient Floor Covering Institute (RFCI) and operated by SCS Global Services, an independent third-party certifying organization, ASSURE’s important role is twofold: 1) For the customer, it provides immediate identification of a quality product that also meets important environmental and safety criteria and standardized performance requirements. 2) For the industry, it establishes uniformity and consistency for rigid core flooring and protects the category from inferior products. SAFETY & WELLNESS Let’s look at what ASSURED and Metroflor bring to rigid core SPC and WPC flooring. ASSURE certifies that rigid core floors are safe for homes and businesses. ASSURE recognizes the FloorScore® standard for indoor air quality, ensuring that little to no VOCs (volatile organic compounds) are introduced into the indoor air space, as well as the product being free from harmful heavy metals like lead and mercury and free from phthalates - plasticizers that have been known to have adverse effects on human health. QUALITY & PERFORMANCE For many consumers, beyond environmental and safety concerns, quality and performance also come to the forefront. ASSURE CERTIFIED standardizes the testing regimen prescribed by ASTM F3261-17 to create an industry standard for quality and performance of rigid core floors. QUALITY A range of tests under ASTM F3216-17 assess manufacturing tolerances such as size, flatness and squareness that directly affect the speed and ease of installation. Other tests will ensure the strength and quality of the finished installation, reducing the chance of gapping and ledging between planks and promising a smooth, beautiful flooring surface. Tests for total thickness and wear layer thickness give consumers the confidence that the floor is built as advertised. PERFORMANCE The remaining tests in the ASTM F3261-17 standard ensure the performance of the rigid core floor over the life of the product. Dimensional stability checks the resistance of the floor to expansion and contraction due to changes in temperature. Since rigid core floors are waterproof, they are not affected by moisture and under normal conditions the expansion and contraction of rigid floors should be extremely minimal. ASSURE CERTIFIED floors are very resilient and resist indentation as well. Metroflor’s FX2 and FX3 Surface Protectants ensure outstanding stain repellency from everyday spills and chemicals, as well as fading due to light and heat - all part of the ASSURE CERTIFIED standard. ASSURE is the only certification to take a holistic approach to rigid core flooring standards to not only ensure quality and performance but also product safety and wellness by assessing manufacturing quality control procedures for material suppliers, product traceability, chain of custody, internal QC testing and segregation of non-conforming products and materials. It also includes an on-site manufacturing facility audit as well as performance testing in compliance with the rigid core ASTM 3261-17 standard. While ASSURE CERTIFIED is a fairly new standard, you’ll begin to see its mark on our samples, literature and packaging. For Metroflor’s Genesis WPC and Inception and Metrostone SPC products, visit metroflor.com to view the ASSURE certificates. ASSURE provides even more confidence that Metroflor provides rigid core floors you can trust. For more information, watch this educational video HERE.