Burning Rubber! Discover the Benefits of Rubber Flooring for Your Space
Burning Rubber!
I can still smell the stench and the bravado tenor of the smoking tires as they gained traction upon the 2-lane asphalt. Mostly muscle cars of the time: Mustang, Camaro, GTO, Road Runner and others. While I was allowed onto Golden Gardens beach drive in Seattle in my 1956 pea-green VW bug convertible (nicknamed the Green Pea), I was never once invited to wager my pink slip against another for the chance to pop my 180-mm clutch. Burning rubber? The only thing the Green Pea burned came out of its tailpipe, usually bluish. And my ashtray (I finally quit!)
Of course, as parents religiously reminded us, it was illegal to drag race on Seatle streets. Yes, we smiled angelically. We’re just headed to Northgate to catch Top Gun. That was many decades ago, and other than buying tires every 30,000 miles, I have given scant notice to rubber (no jokes please).
Until last night when I read a syndicated story about BF Goodrich. The company was founded in 1870 (five years after the Civil War) by Benjamin Franklin Goodrich in Akron, Ohio. Initially as a rubber manufacturer making hoses; and later becoming the first company in the U.S. to produce pneumatic automobile tires.
Sadly, Goodrich died at age 46, before his company's significant expansion into the automotive and aerospace industries. The tire brand BFGoodrich today is owned by Michelin and Benjamin died broke, though he was the one who patented the process for pulverizing rubber that was required for the manufacture of tires.
But back to the Golden Gardens late-60s drag races for a moment. Usually on weekends. And in there were only two roads leading into the spacious beach park (and this being many decades before cell phones), it was simply a matter of setting up a “Police Alert” relay system with each of our sophomore sentries positioning themselves up the hill so their red flashlights could be seen by the start-line. Other than that, there were usually a few hundred onlookers, beach fires, a keg or two and of course many alluring female smiles. Screw it. I could watch Tom Cruise on some rainy afternoon when I was hungering for popcorn and contrails.
While I’m on the subject of auto tires, were you aware that tires for electric vehicles are more expensive than standard car and truck tires? Significantly! Initially, I thought this was likely some sort of scam or a lobbying stunt by an EV tire manufacturer. But in talking with a friend who works at Firestone, he explained to me that tires on electric vehicles undergo different dynamics.
Whereas traditional vehicles place gentler, less passionate demands on car tires (unless burning rubber along the beach), electric vehicles don’t possess the technology necessary to modulate. Their powertrain either runs at 0% or 100%. Nothing in between. So the tires start at zero spin--with no torque--and then in milliseconds they attempt to spin at 100% where extreme torque applies excessive pressure on the tires that eventually will end up causing them to shred and degenerate.
Traditional cars on the other hand can ease their way from a full stop with 10% of accelerator and then to 20% and so on and so on. Though I don’t know the recipe, apparently rubber tires can be augmented with additional ingredients that protect them from the stressful torque. Now you know some information you can drop at the next family gathering! Not many people are aware of this!
So how does this have anything to do with doggy daycares and kennels?
Good question. As I already briefly mentioned, in 2019, after I decided to open Sasha’s Pet Resort in my retirement, I undertook my due diligence to learn more about operating a doggy resort by meeting with owners of other dog daycares/kennels in the area. That was one of the most enlightening research projects I’ve undertaken. What I quickly learned was that while most of them loved the industry, they often had to deal with arguably unreasonable employee demands and some customer problems.
From these conversations, I also became aware there was little consensus on how to best cover the floor that their guests would romp and zoomie on. They were all over the map. Rubber for some, synthetic turf for others, epoxy, and others. All brought plusses and minuses to the conversation: Durability, ease of disinfecting, longevity, pricing and of course it’s impact upon the health of our furry guests.
The latter was critical to me since Sasha herself (my love) had horrific hip dysplasia/spinal issues and it was fairly obvious to me that rubber flooring was going to be most kind in terms of musculoskeletal forgiveness. None of the other candidates could outrank rubber in this regard. And the fact that it’s also easy to clean and sanitize. Mop daily with Rescue. Disinfect with a steam cleaner. Vacuum with the shop vac. And finally, rubber is very economical, especially when you consider that it can maintain durability with a lifespan of 10-15 years in high-traffic areas; and 20-30 years in standard commercial applications.
Other than that, I have one thing I’d put on my bucket list, if it had been doable at the time. Drains installed in our three daycare rooms! Then cleaning up the dirt that the dogs drag in from the outdoors would be a significantly easier task! As it stands now we have to mop and squeegee. With drains it would probably only require 10% of that effort. But like me, most of you probably don’t have that option.
Well, enough of my bellicose preaching. We have black rubber rolls (that can be installed by one person), but two work better! Just click here for more information. Now go burn some rubber!
Best. Dan McFadden,
Founder/Sasha’s Pet Resort
Previous Owner/The Green Pea