Dalton—Three-year-old Edge Flooring, maker of a patented snap-in-place ceramic tile, declared Chapter 7 bankruptcy in Delaware the day before Thanksgiving, according to papers filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

The Chattanooga Times/ Free Press reported “while company officials would not comment on whether the Georgia operation has closed, on Tuesday (Nov. 27) morning the parking lots at the facility were empty and the doors were locked.” The paper went on to cite a customer service representative from one of Edge’s distributors as saying Edge officials told [them] the company had closed.

Edge skyrocketed to fame shortly after opening as its innovative tile installation system, which utilizes the UniClic locking system, caught the attention of Lowe’s and was selected by the big box for all its stores.

The product—Edge GTL (Genuine Tile Laminate)—uses real ceramic tile laminated to a hard backerboard with the interlocking edge. The two mottos are “genuine tile and natural stone flooring that installs like laminate,” and it “offers all the benefits of both tile and laminate flooring.”

Unfortunately, a series of major events happened a year into its existence that apparently never allowed the company to fully recover. In 2005 there was a wave of consumer complaints about the product and a negative write-up by Consumer Reports’ online magazine. The final blow came when Lowe’s dropped the product later in the year.

The company preservered, first by restructuring its management and fixing the problems associated with the product, and then by forming a distribution network with independent wholesalers to sell through. The manufacturer was even able to secure new financing through Hunt Special Situations Group, a private equity group in Dallas.

This all seemed to be working as this year alone, Edge reported to have expanded its distribution network with a number of well-known and respected flooring wholesalers—Norman D. Lifton Co., Miles Distributing, CDI and Access Distributors. The newly developed product also made it on national home improvement TV shows such as “Flip This House.”

Sales last year were estimated to be over $30 million, but in the company’s bankruptcy filing it declared between $100,000 to $1 million in estimated assets and between $1 million and $100 million in estimated liabilities.

A Chapter 7 bankruptcy case does not involve the filing of a plan of reorganization and repayment as in the more typical Chapter 11 process. Instead, the bankruptcy trustee liquidates the debtor’s nonexempt assets and uses the proceeds to pay creditors.

Francis Monaco Jr. is listed as Edge Flooring’s attorney on the bankrupcty papers. For more information on Edge’s closing, contact him at 302.252.4320.