Dominion & Other Canadian Flooring Products

Canadian Floor Covering History, Components, Identification
Peel & Stick Flooring Asbestos Test Results

The Dominion Oilcloth & Linoleum Company

The Dominion Oilcloth & Linoleum Company, Canada's largest producer of linoleum sheet goods and tile flooring, was founded in 1872.

According to a 1956 Dominion catalog provided in this article, the company sold oilcloth, floor coverings in both sheet flooring and floor tile formats, wall coverings, and countertop coverings across Canada.

Until that year, the Dominion Oilcloth and Linoleum Company's extensive product line of linoleum sheet flooring, tiles, and wall coverings included some vinyl products and also provided flooring waterproof adhesives, linogrip adhesive, liquid wax, flooring installation tools, and cove base for finishing the wall/floor intersection, or for use as splash boards.

Dominion's floor tiles included Tilecraft, Marboleum, Jaspe, Handicraft pattern families as well as specialty tiles, motifs, and insets.

Dominion's sheet flooring or area floor coverings, referred to as yard goods, included solid colour Battleship Dominion Linoleum for heavy traffic areas sold in both 2-yard-wide canvas-backed sheet goods and in 9" x 9" and 12" x 12" floor tiles cut to order - shown below. Special to-order floor tiles could be ordered cut in squares of 6", 12", 18", and even 36" dimension.

Dominion Oilcloth & Linoleum Co. Ltd. had offices in Montreal, Quebec , Vancouver B.C., Edmonton Alberta, Winnipeg Manitoba, A selling agent in Toronto, Ontario, and a Canadian Maritimes representative in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

In 1967 a merger of Dominion Oilcloth and Linoleum Company, the Congoleum Corporation and the Barry and Staines Linoleum Company formed Domco, Inc., the flooring product range shifted to focus on vinyl products, and Domco formed its own distribution network. In the early 1970s the company experienced financial difficulties culminating in the sale of its historic headquarters in Montreal. (Tarktt ret. 2018).

Is there Asbestos in Dominion Flooring?

We don't know if all Dominion brand flooring contained asbestos but we know for sure that some did, as per the photo contributed by InspectApedia.com reader Brian (2019/03/23). I have this box from Dominion, claiming the tiles do contain asbestos. Hope this helps.

I haven't found an authoritative source, haven't received reader asbestos lab test results on the full line Dominion flooring products, and will welcome reader or Dominion Co. comments on this question.

Watch out: don't panic about asbestos - doing so may waste considerable money, but also don't be careless about disturbing asbestos material.

To be prudent and unless you know that a flooring material does not contain asbestos OR unless you've had a sample tested, treat asbestos-suspect flooring in Canada as PACM - Presumed Asbestos Containing Material: that means avoid making a dusty mess by sanding, grinding, chopping, etc.

Asbestos is safe and legal to remain in homes or public buildings as long as the asbestos materials are in good condition and the asbestos can not be released into the air.

Generally the safest course with asbestos materials in buildings is to leave the material alone, intact, un-disturbed, encapsulated or covered-over if possible.

You can improve the "guess" about your particular DOMCO flooring at

DOES THIS FLOOR CONTAIN ASBESTOS? - 5 easy questions to tell if your FLOOR probably contains asbestos

Further Comment by (mod) - some DOMCO Flooring packaging specifically refers to containing Asbestos

Thank you Brian that's very helpful; we'll keep your photo with this article.

If you can tell me the age of the building where this flooring was installed (or even the estimated flooring age or year of installation) and if you have photos of the flooring itself, front and back surfaces, that'd be terriffic data to add. In any event, thank you. Daniel Friedman

Dominion Flooring Colors, Styles & Examples

Dominion also produced canvas-backed sheet flooring sold as Cork Carpet sold in "A" gauge (1/4" thick) and "B" gauge (3/16" thick) in grey, brown (cork pattern) and light green colours - illustrated below.

The company offered as well sheet flooring in these patterns: Marboleum, sold in 17 colours in a marble pattern. Marboleum was sold in two-yard-wide felt-backed flooring in A-gauge and for some colours, also in "Domestic" gauge.

Above: Dominion's Marboleum sheet flooring

Other Canadian Dominion floors included sheet and tile flooring sold as: Jaspe Linoleum in 13 colours as well as Handicraft, Embossed, Tiling, and Moulded pattern families.

Above: Jaspe-like Dominion flooring in a Canadian home, submitted by reader Jimmy. May 2018.

All of the Jaspe flooring patterns show parallel colour variations such as in our example just below. Jaspe was described as "resilient, rich cork composition" made in both sheet goods and floor tile dimensions.

Below we include a similar flooring pattern as the Jaspe above, in green, posted by a reader Q&A

at ASBESTOS FLOOR TILE IDENTIFICATION GREEN.

Dominion's felt-backed Handicraft linoleum floor series was produced in fabric-toned beiges using a textured design intended to hide dust and scuff marks for customers such as hotels and offices as well as home use - shown below.

Dominion also produced printed felt base goods sold by the yard, under the Rexoleum family name including Rexoleum Gravure, deLuxe, Standard, Passage, and Rexoleum Rugs and Mats.

Below we show an example of Canadian Dominion's canvas-backed Embossed Inlaid Linoleum "rugs" in two popular patterns. This sheet flooring was sold as 2-yard-wide lengths.

Dominion's canvas-backed moulded inlaid linoleum was sold in two-yard width in seven designs and fifteen shades often installed in kitchens, hallways, foyers, or bathrooms.This flooring was described as resistant to scratches and burns. Two examples are given just below.

The Dominion Oilcloth & Linoleum Company did not confine itself to floor coverings.

The company also sold Dominion wall coverings in both linoleum sheet and tile formats, counter top coverings, and a faux Vinyl Domoleather wall covering sold in 55-inch width sheet goods.

1970s Peel and Stick Canadian Floor Tile: Asbestos Not Detected

Our Canadian InspectApedia reader C.C. kindly contributed these photographs of 13" x 13" and 12" x12" thin peel-and-stick type floor tiles installed in a 1976 Canadian home in British Columbia.

These are thin flexible floor tiles about 5/64"thick.

CC wrote:

• House was built 1976 and the beige tiles are likely original
• The blue tiles laid above them were probably added sometime in the late 80s-early 90s, but I cant be sure as the previous owner has just passed away and so I can't ask!
• The beige tiles were around 5/64 or 1.5/2mm thick and flexible. When one cracked they certainly looked fibroserous
• The blue tiles were not really that flexible and much thicker and with a black backing
• Both appeared to be peel and stick versions
• We found no "brand" markings nor other text on these floor tiles so we're uncertain of the manufacturer, but the blue tiles were suspiciously similar to the Amstrong floor tile versions of the 70s and 80s

Our ASBESTOS TEST REPORT [PDF] for these tiles states no asbestos fibres detected in either of the top, back nor in the floor tile mastic adhesive.

Watch out: this is of course a helpful test of the floor tiles shown here but readers can not assume that other 1970's floor tiles or sheet flooring in Canada are necessarily asbestos free.

Some of our other 1970's peel and stick floor tile tests have indeed found asbestos present.

Asbestos Not Expected, Not in 1990's Canadian Floor Tiles

InspectApedia moderator [DF] Notes Asbestos not likely in lage 1990s Flooring or Flooring Adhesive in Canada

Armstrong's Excelon series floor tiles was sold over many decades, and popular floor tile patterns and colors such as shown in your photos were produced continuously, with and later without any asbestos content.

As we explain in more detail in this article about the history and dates of use of asbestos in Canadian flooring products,

• By 1990 asbestos was banned for use in vermiculite insulation (present depending on where the vermiculite was mined), in roofing shingles and roll roofing, in adhesive mastics or compounds, in sealants, and in flooring products.

There is a small chance that some vendor would sell "new old stock" of Armstrong flooring that was manufactured before 1990, but considering the widespread public awareness of the possible asbestos concern and the liability that would accompany selling such flooring our OPINION is that it's unlikely.

Tile mastic adhesives also often contained asbestos, but the same Canadian regulations prohibiting the use of asbestos in flooring by 1990 should apply to the flooring adhesive as well.

[After looking at photos of packaging, flooring, and floor tiles from one of our readers who asked for our help, we gave the answer to her asbestos question as shown above. She preferred not to share photos or flooring information itself.

If other readers have images of 1990's Armstrong Excelon Flooring to include here please contact us using our email found at our page top or bottom CONTACT link. - Daniel Friedman]

Dominion Oilcloth & Linoleum Company Product Catalog & History

Dominion's Motif floor tiles could be ordered from these same flooring products so that they could be used as inserts in Marboleum, Jaspe, Handicraft, Tilecraft, and Battleship floor coverings. An example of Dominion's motif floor tiles is given below.

The company also provided its customers with "do-it-yourself" templates to permit customers to cut their own flooring insert patterns in a variety of shapes.

According to Tarkett, an international flooring company who reports on the history of flooring in North America,

In 1872, the year in which Jules Verne published Around the World in Eighty Days, Dominion Oilcloth was founded in Canada [by Andrew Allan and other businessmen - Ed.]. The Sommer family [later evolving into Tarkett Flooring - Ed.) set up its felt factory in Mouzon, France in 1880. ...

At the turn of the 19th century felt, hemp, jute, straw, wood and oilskin were the manufacturing staples for these precursors of Tarkett.

These savvy businessmen, who largely managed family concerns, were able to diversify production, to choose the right products for the market, to make tough decisions and to innovate to ensure success and longevity.

Thus, the Canadian company Dominion Oilcloth made the move into linoleum, which was hugely successful. At the same time, these early companies had to contend with the violent power of the elements – repeated fires, flooding of the Danube, etc.

They weathered major economic crises and they struggled through world wars which devastated the first half of the 20th century, leaving Europe in ruins.

The original Sommer family factory was destroyed in World War I. Shortages of raw materials and the war effort changed the face of North American manufacturing after World War II. ...

From about 1959 to 1996 the company did business as Domco Industries, Limited, becoming Domco, Inc., in 1995. IN 1999, thorugh mergers and acquisitions the company began doing business as Domco Tarkett, Inc. (cited below).

CANADA: FROM TARPAULIN TO LINOLEUM

In 1872, a new company appeared on the Canadian industrial landscape, the Dominion Oilcloth Company, founded in Montreal by eleven prominent local businessmen. I

n a small factory on the rue Sainte-Catherine, it manufactured tarpaulin, a heavy-duty painted or tar-coated canvas used to protect goods or buildings from rain or even sea water.

Tarpaulin was manufactured from cotton canvas, linseed oil and pigments.

Just two years after the company had been founded, the economic crisis of 1874 hit, affecting both Europe and North America.

The company weathered the crisis and in 1887 took advantage of the opening of the Vancouver-Montreal railroad line to distribute its products throughout the country. In the early 20th century, tarpaulin was sidelined in favor of linoleum for floors, walls and tables.

Linoleum manufacturing began at the rue Sainte-Catherine factory.

It was made from natural materials sourced all over the world: jute from India and Nova Scotia, kauri gum from New Zealand, and linseed oil from seed grown in western Canada, Argentina or India.

This new product was cheaper than wood, hygienic, and suitable for small and large areas alike.

The “Battleship” line, as its name suggests, was used in battleships, but also for non-military (Tarkett ret. 2018)

From at least 1921 into the late 1960s, the presidents of Canada Linseed Oil Mills also acted as managing director of Dominion Oil Cloth & Linoleum, suggesting that the two companies were financially connected.

[And confirming that at least some of Dominion's floor covering products were made using traditional linoleum processing purposes such as offices and public buildings.]

The popularity of linoleum marked the beginning of a period of extraordinary expansion.

Then, global conflicts disrupted supply lines. During World War I, the company struggled to obtain supplies of jute. T

o address this issue, the jute-backed product was replaced and felt-backed linoleum was launched.

When peace returned, the company redoubled its efforts.

It changed its name to the Dominion Oilcloth & Linoleum Company Limited in 1919 and joined forces with the Congoleum Company of Canada Limited to increase felt-backed output.

Linoleum, a modern product which brought brightness, color and practicality to homes and public buildings, was an integral feature of the Canadian lifestyle between the wars.

Dominion Oilcloth reigned supreme in major Canadian public buildings and was used in the Ottawa Parliament in 1923 and for the Montreal railroad station concourse several years later.

This highly innovative company launched Marboleum for floors in 1932, followed by Muroleum for walls, a flexible wall covering with noise-absorbing properties, in 1934.

During this same period, it acquired Barry & Staines Canada Limited, one of its competitors based in Farnham, and in 1940, bought out Congoleum.

The year 1940 also brought World War II in Canada, which dealt a severe blow to the linoleum industry. Supply routes were blocked.

The Canadian government needed linoleum for munition factories, offices, hospitals and ships, diverting product from the consumer and commercial market.

Tarpaulin production was increased to make protective covers, camouflage gear, gas masks and tents.

A proportion of the linoleum production capacity was put on hold to make way for the manufacture of aluminum airplane components until peace returned.

The year 1967 brought major changes to the company. Manufacturing shifted to Farnham with the creation of Domco Inc., born of the merger between Dominion Oilcloth and Linoleum Company, the Congoleum Corporation and the Barry and Staines Linoleum Company. The product range was reduced to focus primarily on vinyl.

Also in this year, Domco created its own distribution network – as a result, Domco had warehouses in major Canadian cities and a network of representatives who could offer retailers supply and credit services. (Tarkett ret 2018)

Shown here: Chatelaine Magazine magazine advertisement for Dominion Oilcloth & Linoleum Ltd. advertisement for Marboleum, October 1939. Chatelaine magazine was first published in March, 1928 by Maclean Hunter Publishing as a style magazine for Canadian women.

• Spacing Toronto, "Building Storeys - the Canada Linseed Oil Mills buildings & Sorauren Park (2010) retrieved 2018/04/26, original source: http://spacing.ca/toronto/2010/04/09/building-storeys-the-canada-linseed-oil-mills-buildings-sorauren-park/
• DOMINION OILCLOTH & LINOLEUM CATALOG & FLOORING PRODUCTS 1956 [PDF], Dominion Oilcloth & Linoleum Co. Ltd., 2200 St. Catherine Street East, Montreal 24 Canada with offices in Edmonton, Toronto, Vancouver, Toronto, Halifax
  
  This document describes Dominion's flooring products including Battleship, Marboleum, Handicraft, Tilecraft, and Jaspe flooring, Rexoleum rugs, mats, floor coverings, printed felt base goods sold by the yard. The company also sold wall coverings and counter top coverings.
• DOMINION OILCLOTH & LINOLEUM CATALOG 1963 [PDF] [large file over 100MB, slow loading, be patient] Op. Cit., retrieved 2018/10/25, original source: Internet Archive https://ia800305.us.archive.org/0/items/DominionOilclothLinoleumCo.Limited/CCA71963.pdf
  
  Note use in 1963 of the company's product names such as Marboleum (as shown in the advertisement here) and the company's note that
  
  Dominion Linoleum, once termed a "utilty flooring", is now an acknowleged "high style" flooring for the living areas of the modern house as well as all areas of the modern business and public buildings.
  
  Dominion's product names in 1963 illustrate sources of confusion wrought by the very broad use of the word "linoleum" to include products that had none of the original ingredients of true linoleum (linseed oil) such as cork flooring.
  
  Marboleum, Dominion Jaspe Linoleum, Dominion Handcraft Linoleum, Dominion Plain and Battleship Linoleum (a cork "carpet" flooring product), Dominion inlaid linoleum (tiling), Dominion inlaid linoleum (embossed), Dominion inlaid linoleum (moulded), motifs, Dominion linoleum tiles, Dominion linoleum wall covering, Rexolite, counter topping, Rexoleum (deluxe qualith), Rexoleum (standard quality), Passage Rexoleum (deluxe qualith), Passage Rexoleum (standard quality), Rexoleum Rugs (De-Luxe quality), Rexoleum mats, as well as Dominion flooring installation tools, mastics, adhesives, and helpful tables for product estimation and layout.
• TARKETT, a TALE of ENTERPRENEURS, [PDF] Tarkett USA, 2728 Summer St. Houston, TX 77007 USA Tel: 800–877–8453 Website: http://www.tarkett.com (Traditional or historic linoleum floor patterns, also vinyl flooring)website: https://www.tarkett.com/ retrieved 2018/05/06, original source: https://www.tarkett.com/sites/default/files/Tarkett%20History%20Book.pdf
  Website excerpt:
  
  Tarkett Group leadership is the result of 130 years of flooring experience, thanks to the talent, values and commitment of generations of entrepreneurs. Initially known as Allibert and Sommer, the company’s story begins with the ideas, energy and commitment of its founding entrepreneurs. - https://www.tarkett.com/en/content/history
• [1] Armstrong, Portugal: Ingredients of Linoleum, web search 03/31/2011, original source: http://www.armstrong.pt/commflreu/es-pt/ingredients.html
• Armstrong Corporation, Corporate History - https://www.armstrongflooring.com/corporate/corporate-history.html - Web Search 05/19/2010
• Chatelaine (magazine), One Mount Pleasant Rd. 8th Floor Toronto, ON M4Y 2Y5 Canada Tel: (416) 764-2000 Website: http://www.chatelaine.com/, Wikipedia, retrieved 2018/05/06, original source https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chatelaine_(magazine).
  
  Wikipedia provided background information about some topics discussed at this website provided this citation is also found in the same article along with a " retrieved on" date. Because Wikipedia and other website entries can be amended in real time, we cite the retrieval date of such citations and we do not assert that the information found there is always authoritative.

Dominion Jute-Backed Linoleum Rugs

Thanks to readers J&D for contributing these photos of these Dominion antique jute-backed linoleum rugs including a Dominion Oil Cloth & Linoleum Co. identifying stamp using that term.

Question: antique Dominion Oilcloth and Linoleum Company linoleum rugs in Ontario

We have been renovating the second floor of an old house that we just bought in Drayton, Ontario.

When we removed the carpeting we found linoleum probably from around the 1960's.

When we removed that there was more linoleum, from perhaps a decade earlier and so on right up until perhaps the 1930's.

After all these layers were removed, we found flooring from the Dominion Oilcloth and Linoleum Company (we were able to make out the stamp on the burlap backing).

We have spent hours on the internet trying to find more information about the flooring but cannot find the pattern.

We imagine it could be from the early 19th century or earlier?

Beneath this unusual abstract flooring, we found YET another layer. Again, after many hours online, we cannot find anything about it.

Are you able to tell us anything about the age of either of the floorings?

Above: 1926 or earlier, Dominion Floor Oilcloth Pattern 3556, Tenacity

They both have a burlap type backing.

Only the greenish/bluish flooring has any manufacturer stamp on it. I will send the photos in a separate email as it is easier to send them from my phone than my tablet.

Reply:

Looking at these lovely photos of quite old sheet flooring, noting both the patterns and the use of jute or burlap backing suggests that this may be a 1930's or earlier product installed near the time of construction of your home.

FYI with jute backing this floor covering would not be expected to contain asbestos.

The Dominion Oilcloth & Linoleum Company (Limited) was a Canadian company that sold rugs and vinyl. The company was founded in 1872 and was located at 2200 St. Catherine Street, Montreal, Quebec.

Other lower buildings were found in Toronto, Edmonton, Winnipeg, and Vancouver. In the mid 20th century, Dominion Oilcloth & Linoleum subsided to two smaller companies, Congoleum and Barry and Staines Linoleum. Today, only Congo.

- Wikipedia entry retrieved 2018/10/25, original source: http://companiesofcanada.wikia.com/wiki/Dominion_Oilcloth_%26_Linoleum_Company.

Reader follow-up:

FINALLY after hours and hours and hours of research, we've got information on one of the two rugs I sent pictures of to you. I can confirm that both rugs are from Dominion; and the white background with the red and green motif is from the 1926 Dominion catalogue

and its a 'Dominion Floor Oilcloth' Pattern 3556, called 'Tenacity' or roughly page 110 (I saw it in another post as on page 112).

Now it could be from 1926 or earlier, as the catalogue states that 'this year there are nearly 50 designs to choose from and many are absolutely new."

With our pattern being near the end of the catalogue, we can safely assume its not a new design. So we are continuing our search to find earlier catalogues than 1926.

- 2019/02/10 by private emailD & J

Canadian Congoleum Rugs

This photograph of the green and white floral pattern Congoleum rug was provided courtesy of an anonymous reader.

Our reader guessed that this floor covering was installed in 1949 and remained there until it was found under other layers of flooring and then removed from its Canadian home in 2017.

Details about this Canadian floor covering are

at 1928 CONGOLEUM RUGS SHEET FLOORING - Canadian Congoleum

Other sheet flooring from the same home and provided by the reader can be seen

at IDENTIFY SHEET FLOORING TYPE, HOW TO.

CONGOLEUM FLOORING HISTORY gives details about the history of linoleum and the Congoleum corporation.

Chrysotile Asbestos in Canadian Armstrong CorAire Flooring

[The Armstrong CorAire vinyl sheet flooring was] found in a home in Canada built 1975. Would this contain asbestos? v

Reply by (mod) - Probably

@Ejk, quite possibly given the age and pattern of flooring;

For other readers,

More Canadian flooring asbestos discussion is at DOMINION & Other CANADIAN FLOORING ASBESTOS https://inspectapedia.com/interiors/Dominion-Flooring-Canada.php

Also see ARMSTRONG CORLON FLOORING

Followup by Ejk

Testing of Armstrong CorAire confirmed 55% chrysotile asbestos

by (mod)

@Ejk, Thank you that's very helpful; we'll be sure to keep your asbestos test result with your photos of 1975 Armstrong CorAire flooring

I'll also copy this data over to our page on asbestos in Canadian flooring products.