Advancements in technology and the economy continue to change the needs of today’s workforce, which in turn changes the needs for commercial office space. With the trend in office space moving away from cubicles and more toward open floor plans, the floor is becoming even more important —and more fun.
Designing office space starts with understanding the needs of a company and its employees. Is the office a highly creative place where color and eye-catching visuals are in order? Or does the space need to convey a sense of tradition and stability? Maybe the office has to express the energy of a start-up or the reach of a global company?
For some office projects, the needs of multiple areas within the same space may need to be addressed. To solve this challenge, commercial flooring for office buildings may incorporate different flooring products from different categories to achieve a cohesive design.
Commercial flooring for office buildings can create the ideal space for both employees and clients, blending design with practicality. Choosing the best commercial flooring for your business will depend on many factors, including budget, foot traffic, care and maintenance.
As the flooring industry continues to make advances in production and design, the inventory for commercial flooring for office buildings is large, offering buyers an array of flooring options, including hardwood, engineered wood, resilient flooring, tile and carpet.
Here is some of the trendier commercial flooring being installed in office buildings:
Carpet: Specifically designed for high-traffic areas, commercial-grade carpet is one of the most durable and cost-effective commercial flooring materials on the market for office buildings. Its benefits are vast, including beauty and style, cushions slips and falls, reduces noise, maintains appearance and saves money over time.
Carpet Tile: Carpet tile’s growth in the last decade has been driven as much by its rugged construction as by its sustainability and its design and installation flexibility. The overall flexibility of carpet tile is a big part of what gives it an edge in the marketplace — design flexibility, installation flexibility, flexibility for replacement, even flexibility in regard to end of life (reuse and recycling). Carpet tile is engineered to be tough and holds up in high-traffic areas. What makes this material attractive is its ease of replacement: if you get a stain, pop out the tile and clean it, or you can replace one tile – not the whole room. And because each piece is dimensionally identical, you get a perfectly “square” job every time.
Solid Hardwood: Hardwood flooring provides a classic and elegant look that will last for many years. While wood is an expensive option, it may also be one of the best choices when it comes to long-term investment. Easy to clean, strong and durable, wood floors that are properly installed can last a long time.
Commercial Hardwood: Providing the look and feel of real hardwood floor with less expense, these floors can hold up in a variety of environments, as they come in water-resistant and gouge-resistant varieties. Because this type of floor is manufactured, it is more customizable than its natural counterpart, allowing you to select a floor specific to your needs. Commercial hardwood is available in various stains, textures, finishes and designs. Additionally, commercial hardwood offers different installation methods — staple (like carpet), glue and floating. Many commercial hardwood flooring manufacturers also strive to create and install flooring in an eco-friendly manner.
Resilient Flooring: One of the more popular commercial flooring options, resilient flooring comes in a variety of materials, including linoleum, vinyl, vinyl composition tile, and rubber sheets or tiles. Resilient flooring is easy to clean, able to withstand heavy traffic and resistant to moisture. Resilient flooring is available in a wide variety of colors, textures and style options, including the look of wood, stone, terrazzo and concrete. Commercial vinyl flooring is available as a sheet, tile and plank while linoleum is available in sheet and tile.
Cork: Commercial flooring applications in Europe have been using cork for well over a century, but the growing interest in green living is making cork a more popular choice in the United States. From harvest to installation, cork flooring is possibly the most environmentally sustainable, non-toxic and healthy of all flooring surfaces. Durable, sustainable and fairly easy to clean, cork helps absorb sound and is said to be easier on the legs, feet and back.