How to choose the best flooring for your commercial or industrial business space
Flooring plays a large part in an industrial or commercial space, both aesthetically and functionally. Whether you’re designing a new space or renovating an existing business space, you need to think about the type of floor covering you will require. Flooring can control noise, outline work areas, contribute to safety and even be used for branding.
You may not have extensive knowledge about the types of flooring materials that are available, and which floor coverings are best suited to specific functions. However, you do know your business better than anyone else. So, the first step in the process of choosing a suitable floor covering is determining how space will be used, which will, in turn, affect the functionality of the floor.
Things to consider when selecting a floor covering are:
Floor traffic: How much and what kind of traffic will be travelling through space?
- Sound: Are acoustics important in space?
- Storage: How much will be stored within the space?
- Machinery: Will heavy machinery be operated in the space?
- Working environment: Is worker comfort a consideration?
- Harsh materials: Are harsh chemicals going to be used within the space?
- Safety: What are the requirements to keep the space safe for employees and/or customers?
- Maintenance: How much upkeep is required to maintain the floor covering?
- Aesthetics: What look and feel do you want from the space? Is this important?
Once you’ve considered all of the above, you’ll need to determine your budget. The initial cost of high-quality flooring may be slightly misleading. But, choosing a cheaper, less durable option might be costlier down the track; investing upfront may be worthwhile. Replacing a worn floor will blow your budget and will most definitely disrupt workflow having an effect on your company’s productivity. Starting with the most suitable option upfront, will avoid any problems in the future.
Here are some of the best options on the market:
Epoxy flooring
Epoxy is a synthetic material that is extremely sturdy and versatile. Epoxy “systems” use a blend of resins and hardeners that when mixed together, chemically react to form a hard and durable plastic material. Epoxy bonds well to base layers, like old concrete, resulting in a hardy, resilient and strong surface. Epoxy flooring is ideal for industrial and commercial settings, like warehouses, manufacturing facilities, hospitals, commercial garages, commercial kitchens, automotive showrooms etc. It’s hugely popular for garage floor coating as it has a short curing and drying time and prevents concrete dusting.
There’s a huge variety of options available when it comes to epoxy flooring. It’s an easy-to-maintain, industrial-grade flooring that creates a smooth, seamless, durable and low maintenance flooring surface. It’s abrasion, chemical, heat, slip, impact and static resistant making it one of the most versatile and practical materials on the market. Whatever your needs, there is guaranteed to be an epoxy floor covering for you.
Polyurethane cement
Highly resistant, durable, resilient and non-toxic, polyurethane cement is the go-to floor covering for commercial and industrial environments. It’s a self-levelling and self-smoothing product that’s applied with a trowel, resulting in a smooth and aesthetically appealing finish.
This floor covering has a number of key features, like being immune to chemicals and being slip-resistant, making it a perfect flooring solution for high traffic areas and areas where safety is key. It’s favoured in places like food processing plants, dairies, chemical plants, warehouses, storage areas etc.
Think about the additional extras
Your space may not be complete without a few additional extras, flooring alone may not be enough to ensure that you’re adhering to safety standards and regulations.
Additional services like line marking and line removal may be required. Line marking and removal are used to define/re-define workspaces, help traffic flow and ensure workplace safety. It’s used in spaces like carparks, warehouses etc.
Things like traffic and safety signage, safety bollards, wheel stops, convex mirrors and speed humps may also be required to make your space functional.
Consider temporary solutions
You may not have the budget for a new floor at this moment in time, so there are some short-term options you can consider. Things like floor sealing, including concrete sealing, and high-pressure cleaning may provide short -term solutions to your flooring woes, but they do have limitations.
Whatever your needs are, engaging with a flooring specialist early on in the process is probably the best way to go. They will determine which material is best suited to your needs, as well as ensuring that safety standards are met.
Not sure which type of floor covering to use for your business space? Sydney Innovative Floor Tech offers specialist flooring services at competitive prices. We use high-quality materials, the latest technology and have extremely knowledgeable staff, ensuring that your flooring needs are not only met but exceeded. Visit www.innovativefloor.com.au for more info and to get a cheap quote today.