Hot product: Protective underlay - from Cosella Dorken Products - Brief Article

Home Channel News, Nov 5, 2001

Canada-based Cosella Dorken Products is targeting the do-it-yourselfer with Delta-FL, a new product to protect basement floors against dampness while providing a warm cushioning effect.

The product is made of a light grey, high-density polyethylene membrane, with thimble-shaped dimples spaced about a half-inch apart, which can support up to 6,000 pounds per square foot.

It was unveiled at this year's National Hardware Show in Chicago, where company executives provided a quick how-to demonstration.

Delta-FL is touted as an easy-to-install DIY product that consumers can simply unroll onto the basement floor, cut to size, then either cover with cell foam (when used with laminate flooring) or plywood (for use with other floor treatments). The product's dimpled material is designed to produce an air gap between the concrete slab and floor which creates a thermal barrier to keep basements warm, while blocking moisture from rising through the floor.

N.A. Mans Building Center, a lumber and building materials dealer in Trenton, Mich., that sells Delta-FL, says the product has been received well by consumers. "It's a great idea. We have a lot of homeowners who have used it," said Jim Boomer, a salesman with the retailer, who says he's received several calls from consumers asking about DELTA-FL after they read about the product on the Internet. "It's a fairly easy product to install. My understanding is that it's very unique. It's something that is new to this market."

Delta-FL is sold through industry retailers such as Rochester, N.Y-based Chase-Pitkin; lumber and building material dealers like Plymart and N.A. Mans Building Center; and distributors like Philadelphia Reserve Supply Co. The product is also available in major hardware stores throughout Canada.

Delta-FL is priced at 51 cents a square foot and is produced in five-foot rolls that are 65-feet long or in 4-foot by-8-foot sheets. More information can be found on the company's Web site at www.deltafl.com.