A corporate environment, more than a workplace, is where the team usually spends most of the day. The choice of an office floor should consider the specific needs of each company. Among the decision-making factors, those that are most relevant are thermal and acoustic comfort, the products or services that the company offers and the visual identity of the brand.
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Thermal comfort:
The location of the company must be taken into account. A business located in a hot climate city in a non-air-conditioned hall is different from an office in an air-conditioned building in a colder climate city. The floor can help to balance the temperature, working with a cold floor (porcelain, vinyl etc) in the hot city and (carpet, wood) in the coldest city.
Acoustic comfort:
In this case, it is necessary to consider the daily transit of team members, the need for an environment in which employees need to concentrate on their tasks. Imagine a company where employees need to pay attention and concentrate, and the environment is common to everyone and all the time there are people passing by, stepping in heels, talking and making relatively loud noise. In this case, the carpet is the best suited floor, as it fulfills the role of an acoustic element in the environment.
Products and services offered:
Even when dealing with offices, certain companies work with chemicals that can damage floors if spills occur. Or in this environment there is traffic of heavy objects. While in other companies there is no incidence of any of these factors with few people who remain seated most of the time. Thinking about it, each floor has specific properties that better meet this demand. For environments with high traffic and heavy equipment, there are resins, epoxy floors, cement, etc. As for environments with only people, the floor can be porcelain, carpets, vinyl flooring and several others, case by case studied according to the client’s profile.
Visual identity:
One item to be taken into account is the compatibility of the material with the message that the brand wants to convey. A more modern and youthful company may need more colorful materials that make it possible to create geometric shapes. A more formal office calls for a floor in more sober colors that convey security and solidity, for example.
The office floor goes beyond aesthetics, it also needs to function acoustically. Depending on the coating chosen, little maintenance should be foreseen and necessary, so analyze the options and identify which one is most suitable for your case.
In addition to these considerations, it is also important to think about ease of installation, cleaning and maintenance. And don’t forget to consider how long you intend to keep this floor in your office.
Here are 3 flooring suggestions for more traditional offices:
1. Laminate flooring:
It is a floor made of wood veneers in different widths and lengths, made up of HDF agglomerates. The upper layer displays the artificial decorative print and is protected by the overlay (melanin resin. Current production technology has reached the level of fidelity to the original texture of the wood, which reproduces grooves and natural veins of the inspired material.
Advantage: affordable price, good resistance to moderate traffic, thermal comfort and ease of installation. The click-installed flooring (known as click flooring) is glue-free and easily replaceable.
Disadvantages: it makes the famous “toc-toc” of people walking and is sensitive to water and other liquids. There are several levels of resistance to scratches and weight, it takes a professional to assess the need for the environment.
2. Vinyl or PVC flooring:
describe the same material, PVC composite flooring, minerals and additives, which can come in blankets, boards or rulers. It is a lightweight flooring, preferably applied over a smooth subfloor, usually with glue. Multipurpose material, with a range of options that meet the most varied specifications, it is possible to choose a line of vinyl flooring that meets almost all situations.
Advantages: the various versions of this material make it possible to reproduce the appearance of wood. It can work for companies with raised floors (the self-supporting floor is easily removed and replaced, as it is fixed with adhesive tape), it allows the movement of heavy materials and some varieties are produced with a complete color catalog, giving options to create designs and forms according to the company’s visual identity.
Disadvantages: higher price compared to other options, as it is a floor that demands technical knowledge, a rigorous evaluation by a professional is indicated, comparing the types of flooring and the needs of the company, thus avoiding installation errors and inappropriate materials.
3. Carpet:
was for a long time the darling of offices, however, left aside due to the emergence of more modern coverings. It is coming back on account of new manufacturing technologies and components. The most traditional format is in a blanket, but with the emergence of carpet tiles, it has been increasingly used due to the practicality of installation and maintenance and even makes the environment more sophisticated, allowing the change of design with inversion of the tiles.
Advantages: price, depending on the product, can be more accessible, acoustic and thermal comfort, possibility of mixing colors and creating designs (even drawing the company logo on the floor), ease of installation and maintenance (mainly on boards).
Disadvantages: cleaning is more complicated, equipment is needed – vacuum cleaner or similar to be efficient and it can stain with spilled liquid accidents.
With all this information, choosing your office flooring is now easier.
But don’t forget: choosing the floor is just one part of the project and there is a need to consider other factors, such as the subfloor, the layout, specific needs and whether the floor conveys the message that your company intends to convey.
