Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

Advantages of Seamless Floors

When choosing floor materials, planners should consider the big picture. There are endless options in colors and styles in most every category of flooring, but finding a floor that meshes with overall design, meets all the performance standards and promises to be easy to clean can be challenge. Planners should look at seamless, resinous hard-surface floors, such as epoxy and urethane poured floors. These “hard” surfaces can still be resilient, but seamless is the key. Seams and grout lines, found in vinyl or other types of tile systems, collect dirt. Dirt invites bacteria. This is not only a maintenance problem, but also a health issue.

Planners may wonder if seamless surfaces will work for every area in a facility. They can work just about everywhere, from kitchens to locker rooms to corridors and classrooms. The design elements many seamless floor companies offer provide tremendous design flexibility: you can incorporate shapes, designs and custom colors to define a space without sacrificing performance characteristics (stain, abrasion and impact resistance) and ease of cleaning.

A multipurpose room, for example, might be changed over eight times in one day: from meeting room to cafeteria to student assembly area to gym. The floor stays the same, but the uses vary and everyone’s needs are accommodated. More importantly, the maintenance staff can move in and out of the room quickly to ready the floor and the room for the next function. A seamless, resilient system meets all these needs, plus keeps noise down and is easy underfoot.

In addition, seamless, non-wax surfaces — available in epoxy and urethane poured-in-place floors — speak loudly to sustainability, and a nonwax surface will result in lower life-cycle costs. Also, the use of urethane-based seamless systems provides increased chemical and stain resistance, particularly in laboratory applications.

This article originally appeared in the issue of .

About the Author

Kendall Speer Ellis is the Marketing manager for The Stonhard Group. She can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • TCU Marks Campus Expansion Milestone

    Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas, recently held a topping-out ceremony to mark progress on a major campus expansion effort including four new residential facilities and a five-story parking garage, according to a news release.

  • Auburn University Debuts $224M STEM + Agricultural Sciences Complex

    Auburn University in Auburn, Ala., recently opened its new $224-million STEM + Agricultural Sciences Complex, the largest research construction project in the university’s history, according to university news. The facility measures more than 265,000 square feet and brings six departments from the College of Agriculture and College of Sciences and Mathematics together under one roof.

  • St. Lucie County, Fla., Breaks Ground on New K–8 School

    St. Lucie Public Schools in St. Lucie County, Fla., recently held a groundbreaking ceremony for a new K–8 school, according to a news release. The district partnered with Spiezle Architectural Group, Inc., for the design of the upcoming Ft. Pierce K–8 School, which comprises six buildings covering 215,000 square feet.

  • Sam Houston State University Completes Athletic Stadium Renovations

    Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas, recently announced the reopening of Elliott T. Bowers Stadium after an extensive renovation project, according to a news release. The university partnered with Stantec and DLR Group for the project’s design.