What you should know about commercial flooring

The right flooring will help your business make a great first impression on clients and customers. It’s a design tool that will create the ambiance. It will also provide the kind of durability and stain resistance for your needs.

Tampa Flooring Gallery & Tampa Contract Floors is a family-owned company with over 125 years of experience. When shopping for commercial flooring consider: durability, easy-care, budget, and, of course, style. We can help your vision come to life.

Making the right decision

First, identify the business? Is it office, school or university, restaurant or hotel, retail store, fitness and gym outlet? What kind of foot traffic does it see? This is an important question since some businesses see heavy foot traffic seven days a week.

Then identify needs: Will there be oil and grease spills and dropped food? Are there special safety requirements, i.e., fire-proofing, non-slip floor, or extra impact resistance? Does it need a logo or any special flooring medallion?

Types of commercial flooring

• Commercial carpet. You'll often see this in offices. They are visually appealing, come in a wide color palette and many styles. These rugs also have extra provided durability and stain resistance. Many sometimes even use commercial carpet for residential use.
• Some don’t have commercial grades, per se, but have durability measures, such as the Janka Scale for hardwood or the AC (Abrasion Class) Rating for laminate. Janka measures a wood’s hardness. AC is even broken down into residential and commercial categories.
• Luxury vinyl is the preferred flooring material of restaurant designers which will give you an idea of how durable it is. It has a high-end style, is affordable, has waterproof capabilities, and is durable. It's also easy to clean.
• Rubber flooring is most often seen in gyms and weight rooms. It's durable and comes in an assortment of colors and patterns. It's resistant to impact, mold, and mildew. Easy to clean, it also has excellent traction ("grip") so people won't slip.
• An epoxy coating isn’t a flooring but, rather, it’s what you put on flooring when you want to upgrade. It isn't painted, either; many use the two terms interchangeably but they couldn't be more different. When it hardens, the epoxy coating makes the floor tough and resistant to chemicals, oils, grease stains, and impact, making it ideal for commercial kitchen flooring.