What qualities are important for commercial flooring?

Enterprises looking to install new floors will find that selecting a solution for commercial premises is different from deciding on flooring for a domestic setting. While you’ll still want your flooring choice to look great and be designed to last, you’ll need to find a flooring option that can deliver in these areas while withstanding extra wear. This is because floors in commercially used buildings tend to see far more traffic than a home environment, and this additional footfall can quickly take its toll, unless the floor coverings have been made to take the strain.

In the following sections, we’ll look at some of the sought-after properties of a commercial floor and offer some suitable suggestions.

Durability

If your building sees a high volume of visitors each day, a hardwearing flooring option is absolutely essential. A plush wall-to-wall carpet may look luxurious when you first install it, but over time, it will be savaged by wear and tear. For this reason, picking a stronger solution is advised, such as laminate, vinyl, or carpet tiles.

Even if your commercial property doesn’t see significant footfall, picking a durable floor is always a wise move. By selecting a floor that is built to last, you’re unlikely to need to replace it as often, and you’ll see a substantial return on your investment through years of use.

Easy maintenance

Buildings that see many people come and go each day also require floors that are easy to clean. Depending on the weather conditions, every time someone enters from outside, they can unwittingly bring rainwater, dust, dirt and other debris indoors and tramp it across your flooring. Providing you have chosen a floor covering that is simple to care for, this won’t be a problem. Many modern flooring options like laminate or vinyl can be easily cleaned with simple mopping, leaving your workspaces looking clean and well-cared for.

Appearance

This brings us to the third and final quality looked for in commercial flooring – its appearance. Whether you have clients or members of the public visiting or you simply want to create a pleasant environment for your team to work in, choosing a floor that looks exceptional is just as important as it being easy to care for and durable.

Commercial flooring options like luxury vinyl tiles (LVT) can be an ideal choice, as they’re not only hardwearing and simple to keep looking stunning, but they can also create a stylish image for your premises. This cleverly designed flooring solution is offered in a wide range of different styles and can resemble a broad selection of natural materials. It’s available as tiles that look like stone, or planks that appear like a variety of woods, for example.

For those still keen on the warm appearance of carpeting for their commercial property, carpet tiles may be a suitable solution. This modular flooring option is simple to care for with light vacuuming, and if damage occurs, individual tiles can easily be swapped out for spares.

With many options available, commercial enterprises should carefully consider their needs to find their ideal flooring solution.

Why is artificial grass ideal for dogs?

If your household has a canine member, there’s a good chance you’ve experienced your fair share of garden disasters – maybe they ate some unwanted plants you’d tackled with weed killer and upset their stomach, or they dug up the lawn, making muddy potholes before dragging the dirt inside across your clean carpets. Either way, artificial grass could be the answer. In the following passages, we’ll explore some commonly asked questions about man-made lawns in homes where a dog is a part of the family.

Is artificial grass safe for dogs?

Safety is always an important consideration when it comes to our four-legged friends. The good news is that leading manufacturers of synthetic lawns have created solutions that are perfectly safe for animals. Artificial grass is specially designed to be 100 percent non-toxic. Since it’s entirely man-made, you’ll never need to worry about weeding, which means no harmful chemical use is necessary.

Many dogs suffer from allergies, but unlike humans, where symptoms involve our respiratory systems, dogs’ allergic reactions tend to involve their skin. When they roll in grass pollen, this can cause excessive itching and scratching, which can lead to lesions and infections. Fortunately, with a synthetic stretch of artificial grass, there will be no risk whatsoever.

Artificial grass is also less attractive to insect life, making it a safer place for dogs to play without picking up any unwanted bugs in their coat.

Can pet mess be cleaned off artificial grass?

If your dog goes to the toilet in your garden, you don’t have to worry about your synthetic grass getting ruined. The yellowing that can happen to regular grass damaged by pet mess isn’t a problem with a man-made lawn, which will stay green and lush all year round. Any pet urine will filter down through the cleverly designed drainage holes, and any solid matter can be simply scooped up and disposed of. Artificial blades of grass can be easily cleaned with a simple hosing and a little mild detergent at most. While man-made grass holds up well under these circumstances and is easy to maintain, the best policy is always to tackle these tasks as soon as possible.

What are the other benefits of synthetic lawns for dogs?

Completely synthetic, an artificial lawn can be used by your dog every day of the year, which means you don’t have to keep them inside when the weather gets wet for fear of muddy footprints. Your dog will be able to get out to play whatever the weather, and you won’t have a job on your hands afterwards when they come back indoors. Unlike a real lawn of natural grass, you’ll also never have to contend with them digging it up and ruining its appearance.

From being an easy to care for option that ensures your garden always looks great to being a safe place where your pup can play free from harm, there’s no doubt that an artificial lawn can be a perfect pick for you and your dog.

New carpet designs offer reprieve from lockdown troubles

Carpet makers have responded to people feeling troubled by the pandemic restrictions by creating bright designs and patterns that evoke optimism and delight.

The Hotel Designs LIVE event in February 2021 explored new design trends that will affect how hotels will look in 2021 and beyond. For some time, it is expected that social distancing rules will be in place, but this does not mean that spaces need to look sombre. The themes of many carpet designs at the event invoked playfulness, fantasy and surrealism

The new designs had district geometric patterns, but some featured liquid-style designs. Colours featured were bright, contrasting shades.

Talking to Hotel Designs, carpet designer Andrew Cenita explained his design philosophy:

“My objective was to create a visually-intriguing collection that elicits a sense of elation and happiness, offering an aspirational escape from the current state of the world.”

Cenita’s carpets will soon be seen in high-end hospitality venues, The carpet designs exhibited at Hotel Designs LIVE may not be available for residential consumers, but when hotels and hospitality venues reopen, many of them will have been refurbished during the lockdown closure. Guests may be inspired by the bright, bold interior design trends in hotels, bars and restaurants, and decide that they want their new carpets in Chester, Wrexham and North Wales homes to be bright and cheerful too.

Many people are experiencing a new optimism and are looking forward to the ending of coronavirus restrictions. Bright colours and bold patterns fit the desire to escape from the negativity of lockdown.

Carpet colour experts predict trends for 2022

A team of experts from Avient has made predictions on carpet colour trends for 2022, which it has published under the project ColorForward 2022.

Every year, the colours selected by the team reflect social changes. The new colour choices are heavily influenced by how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected our lives. As countries move towards the easing of lockdown, consumers want bright and cheerful colours, with yellow forecast to be a favourite.

The lockdown has also made people be more self-sustaining and interested in sustainable products. This is represented by green, the colour of nature. Brown shades also reflect the natural environment and agriculture.

Health services have received a lot of attention during the pandemic. Pink has been selected to represent the soft, caring nature of medical professions. Turquoise is the colour of entrepreneurship, and it has been chosen to symbolise the way that doctors are increasingly involved in commercial medicine, which focuses on disease prevention.

There has also been a shift in the work-life balance, with many people expected to continue to spend at least part of their working life remotely working from home after the pandemic is over. Dark blue has been selected to symbolise the trust that companies must have with their remote workers. Yellow, the colour of creativity, is required by people who are reinventing how and where they work.

When choosing carpets for your Chester, Wrexham or North Wales home or workplace, your colour choices may not be influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic, but projects such as ColorForward 2022 can help inspire and inform colour choices and overall trends.

How to choose a chair mat for your home office

Many people are working from home due to the coronavirus lockdown. An office chair on wheels makes it easy to get into a comfortable working position at a desk or table, but it can damage carpets. The solution is to place a protective mat under the chair.

According to Tom Scalisi, writing for the home advice website bobvila.com, the most practical under chair mats are made from polycarbonate plastic. These have bottom studs of different sizes suitable for the carpet pile height. The studs help keep the mat in place without moving around. Mats for high pile carpets have longer studs than those for shorter piles. Mats without studs are suitable for hard surfaces, including wood, vinyl and tile.

Polycarbonate plastic mats are very durable, transparent and remain flat when the chair is moved. For extra hygiene, a mat with antimicrobial protection can be selected.

The mat needs to be large enough for the chair, and at least 36 inches by 48 inches for a standard-sized desk. Some mats have an extended lip that fits underneath the desk to protect the carpet from the front wheel of the chair.

Choose a mat between three to five millimetres thick, as this provides enough strength to withstand the wheel pressure. Thin mats tend to bunch up or sink under the weight of the wheels.

For workers who work in rooms with carpets in the Chester and North Wales areas, it makes sense to have protective mats under office chairs.