The physical environment of schools and educational facilities can significantly impact both students’ and staff performance and experience. The right flooring for your school or educational facility can make the overall learning process much more enjoyable and playtime safer.
Best Flooring for Classrooms
Classrooms are the heart of schools and education spaces where students spend the majority of their days. This is why, installing sustainable, slip-resistant and easy to maintain school floor tiles to accommodate the wide range of activities that take place in the classroom each day is a must!
When it comes to tiles, Luxury Vinyl Tiles (LVT), are ideal for classrooms because they are durable enough to withstand foot traffic, waterproof, and simple to maintain. Moreover, LVTs are an inexpensive school flooring option and come in various layers to choose from. Although these school floor tiles can get scratched, they are also relatively easy to repair and come in multiple designs, perfect for creating a customized look.
Another excellent flooring option for classrooms is a carpet in modular or broadloom format. Broadloom carpet with welded seams and a moisture barrier backing offers superior stain resistance. In contrast, carpet tiles provide an easy way to repair small sections of the area without replacing the entire flooring. On the other hand, a modular carpet is ideal for creating a perfect look as it allows flexibility in design.
Many schools have sheet vinyl in their classrooms. There are two types of construction to opt for, homogeneous and heterogeneous. The former features welded seams, so spills and moisture can’t get below the surface, an obvious benefit in a food and beverage area. Because the product is constructed as a single layer with colour chips deposited throughout, it has excellent wear and durability, even in high-traffic areas such as classrooms.
Last but not least flooring solution for classrooms is rubber. Rubber is quiet, durable, and comfortable to walk on, all of which are advantages when teachers and students spend a lot of time in the same room. It is especially useful when there is a lot of noise or music. Rubber is also slip-resistant, long-lasting, and simple to maintain.
Best Flooring for Cafeterias
The ideal flooring for school cafeterias must be easy to clean and able to withstand heavy traffic. It should be able to withstand moving chairs and tables, especially in some smaller schools – cafeterias are multi-purpose spaces that also serve as an auditorium or a gym. Rubber tiles and luxury vinyl tiles are the flooring solutions that work particularly well on cafeteria surfaces.
Top Flooring for Hallways & Stairways
As corridors and stairwells are two of the busiest areas in education spaces, the flooring’s maintenance is essential, but so are durability and slip resistance. Furthermore, they are the pathways that connect all other areas of space, so they must be inviting, clean, and, in many cases, offer wayfinding designs.
Besides the home rubber, which is a popular choice for many homeowners because of its amazing benefits, there are also rubber sheets and rubber tiles to conform to any staircase and hallway configuration. Rubber can be ideal for stairways, especially if it has a pattern that hides scuffs, as it resists slipping due to its higher coefficient of friction. And, with so many different colours to choose from, it can easily brighten up a drab environment.
Science Labs & Art Rooms Flooring
As spill-prone areas, Science labs and Art rooms necessitate flooring with as few seams as possible that is also moisture and stain-resistant. These rooms are also likely to be cleaned frequently, so ease of maintenance is important for both janitorial staff and those who use the rooms daily.
Sheet vinyl or rubber sheets would be the best choice for these areas because they are water and slip-resistant.
Flooring Choice for Gym/Weight Room
These areas require specialized flooring to meet the needs of both athletes and regular students participating in school activities. To withstand a heavy load, there’s specially designed sports rubber constructed from post-consumer recycled rubber tiles that contain up to 91% post-consumer recycled content to withstand heavy loads. However, keep in mind that this type of flooring is different from basketball gyms which have a specific slip coefficient required to mitigate sports injury.
Another type of flooring made for high impact areas is LVT. Besides offering durability and ease of maintenance, luxury vinyl tiles can create custom elements without outrageous cost.
Top Flooring Option for Libraries
Libraries, like many other spaces on campus, have multiple functions. There is a need for study spaces, but there is also a need for integrated, inviting areas for students to congregate and hallways and, occasionally, stairways. A variety of surfaces can help a library to be anything but boring.
Carpet tiles can be arranged in many ways to provide pops of colour and design because the tile configuration itself can be used for field and focus areas within a space or wayfinding. Carpet, as a soft surface product, is also quieter by nature, and we all know how important quiet is in the library.
LVT can be a good choice for areas such as hallways or spaces with heavy equipment such as technology and media hubs.
Best Flooring for Bathrooms
Porcelain school floor tiles are the best choice for bathrooms because they are waterproof, fashionable, and inexpensive. Porcelain tile, like stone, can have a rich, textured, and solid appearance. Though some LVT is marketed as waterproof, it is not designed to perform in a high-traffic commercial bathroom like tile. Carpet is not recommended for obvious reasons of cleanability.
