Five Ways to Reduce Flooring Headaches

By Abby Reinhard

Here’s a list of five ways you can reduce the burden of cleaning and maintaining your floors, saving your team a lot of time, and ultimately a good deal of money.

1. Choose alternatives to Vinyl Composition Tile (VCT) that don’t require waxing
   • Luxury Vinyl Tile (LVT)
     • Gorgeous range of designs (e.g. wood or stone look)
     • Heavy duty loose-lay LVT, such as “Hot & Heavy” by Mohawk, requires no adhesive and can go over asbestos tile and avoid abatement
     • Low maintenance — no wax, just wet mop!
   • MCT by Forbo
     • Marmoleum composition tile – linoleum in tile form — 100% natural materials
     • Homogeneous – not a layered product, so scrapes don’t show
     • Occupancy ready finish
   • Johnsonite iQ
     • Homogeneous – not a layered product, so scrapes don’t show
     • No waxing required — just wet mop and dry buff to luster
     • Certified Asthma and Allergy Friendly
2. Choose a “mildew-proof” carpet alternative to reduce odors
   • Powerbond by Tandus
     • Closed-cell construction means no moisture can get absorbed
     • Performs like sheet vinyl; looks and feels like carpet. Seams are chemically welded.
     • Improves air quality
     • Anti-microbial/ anti-bacterial/ anti-fungal
3. Minimize wear and tear of carpet
   • Cushion backed carpet tile
     • Lasts 30%+ longer than non-cushioned tiles
     • Available with Bentley, Tandus, Mannington, Interface and Milliken
   • Solid-back carpet tile and woven broadloom (rather than traditional broadloom)
     • Carpet tile backing is adhered to fibers and won’t zipper on the edges
     • A woven broadloom backing will not zipper like a traditional broadloom backing
4. Choose safer flooring and reduce your liability
   • Reduce slips and falls
     • Slip resistant flooring by Johnsonite and Mannington
     • Walk-off matting will reduce the snow/water on the floor
   • Eliminate tripping hazards
     • Use Seam + Advantage by Mannington to chemically weld hard-surface to carpet, eliminating transition strips
     • Select the right transition strips between different flooring types
     • Use high-visibility, non-slip stair treads
5. Use walk-off matting systems to keep debris at the door
   • Walking on 6 ft. of walk-off matting removes 40% percent of debris from the average person’s shoes*
   • 20 ft. removes about 80% percent of debris from shoes*
   • 39 ft. removes 98% percent of debris from shoes*

      * Source

Please let us know if you have any additional questions! Reach out to abby@gpflooringsolutions.com today!