Office flooring comes in a number of different styles, all with various pros and cons. In this post, we’ll discuss the advantages and disadvantages of common flooring types and what to look for in the best flooring for offices.
We’ll also share best practices for properly protecting, maintaining, and cleaning various office flooring types.
How to Choose the Best Flooring for Offices
Flooring for the office should be a combination of practical, durable, and comfortable. You want your office floors to last a long time, but you also want employees and visitors to be comfortable walking on them. Consider how long the flooring will last, how difficult the flooring is to keep clean, and how comfortable people will be walking on it.
Office Location
You may want to vary your office flooring depending on the location and purpose of each room. Lobby areas, for example, see a lot of foot traffic, which means durable flooring is necessary. Lobbies are also the first area of your office that guests and clients see, so it’s important it also looks aesthetically appealing.
Carpet may not be as durable, but it has sound-absorbing qualities, which make it ideal for conference rooms or private meeting spaces.
Durability
Replacing office flooring is no small cost. How long is the flooring going to last? Choose the most durable materials for high foot traffic areas or any rooms that will be prone to spills, such as the kitchen.
Cleaning
Consider how difficult it is to clean each floor type and how much it will cost in supplies and labor to keep the floors clean. It’s easier to see dirt and spills on hard surfaces, but they can also become slippery or sticky if poor quality cleaning products are used.
Carpets are simple enough to vacuum, but they can trap mold, dust, and pollutants deep down. Deep carpet cleaning will be required in addition to regular vacuuming.
Comfort
Your team spends a lot of time at work, and hard floor surfaces can cause stress, pain, and discomfort. If you choose a hard floor type, ensure you offer the appropriate products to help reduce work-related strain and injuries.
This is especially important if employees use standing desks instead of using a chair. If that’s the case, you should invest in padded mats to reduce stress so that they aren’t standing on a hard floor all day.
💡 Standing Desk vs. Chair: Which is Better? Learn about the pros and cons of standing vs. traditional desks.
Other Considerations
Depending on the type of flooring you choose, you may need to invest in additional desk mats for all workspaces with rolling chairs to prevent floor damage.
The Pros and Cons of Office Flooring Types
Common office flooring types include hardwood, laminate, carpet, concrete, and epoxy.
Floor Type |
Pros |
Cons |
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Hardwood |
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Laminate |
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Carpet |
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Concrete |
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Epoxy |
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How to Choose the Best Carpet for Offices
The best carpet for an office will have a low profile so that there isn’t as much room for dust and dirt to hide. Despite regular vacuuming, carpets can trap dust, mold spores, and other pollutants deep down. Low profile carpet is short, flat, and dense, making it easier to maintain and keep clean.
This type of carpet is easier to move around on when walking from room to room in a workspace. It’s also easier to move any type of chair on, including rolling chairs.
How to Choose the Best Flooring for Home Offices
Choosing the best flooring for a home office is a little different. Aesthetics play a larger role, as does personal preference. Often the flooring you have in a home office matches the rest of your house. What’s key is ensuring it is well protected and maintained.
If you have carpet in your home office, ensure it is regularly vacuumed and is deep cleaned every so often to prevent dust, mold, and pollutants from building up. You should also purchase a mat for rolling chairs so that you don’t damage your carpet by rolling over it all day.
If you have a wood or laminate floor in your home office, you should invest in an under chair rug that will prevent your chair from damaging the flooring. If you stand instead of using a chair, you should also purchase a padded mat to reduce the stress on your body from standing all day.
How to Protect Office Floors
Protecting office floors, performing maintenance, and cleaning them regularly will improve the flooring’s longevity. Not providing the appropriate protection can be costly in the long run, as it’s much easier and cheaper to pay for protective mats or rugs than it is to replace flooring.
How to Choose the Best Rugs for Rolling Chairs
Purchasing a sizable office chair rug is the best way to protect carpet from office chairs. The rug will allow you to smoothly move your chair along the surface, and it will protect the flooring underneath, including hardwood, laminate, etc.
The best rug for office chairs, whether at home or in the workplace, will have a low profile so that the chair can easily roll over it. Choose a rug based on how it looks in the workspace and the appropriate size required. The rug should cover the entire area your chair may need to roll over.
- Multi Purpose Office Chair Mat
- DELAM Office Chair Mat
- Office Chair Mat With Desk Lip
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Blue Office Chair Mat
How to Choose the Best Office Chair Mats
Office chair mats are inexpensive and come in a number of different sizes. The small cost is well worth the investment in protecting your hardwood or laminate floors.
Choosing the best one comes down to finding the size of mat you are looking for. The mat should cover any area your chair may roll over to ensure no damage to the flooring occurs. They come in square mats, rectangular mats, and ones with a lip to fit conveniently with your desk.
- SHAREWIN Chair Mat
- AiBOB Desk Chair Mat
- Kuyal Clear Chair Mat
- Yecaye Office Chair Mat
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Seteol Home Office Chair Mat
Maintain Regular Cleaning
Regular cleaning plays an important role in protecting your floors as well as lengthening the longevity of your flooring. Ensure you have protocols in place for how and when office floors are cleaned and what products are best.
Invest in quality floor cleaning products that keep your floor clean and in good condition for many years to come. Look for products that will disinfect without leaving a sticky or slippery residue. For carpets, look for products that remove deep, set-in stains while eliminating odors.
Did you know you can purchase cleaning products directly from Blue Summit Supplies? Conveniently order your cleaning supplies with your other go-to office products.
How often are your office floors cleaned, and who is responsible for cleaning them? Does cleaning fall on staff to organize, or do you hire office flooring or office carpet cleaning services?
When considering whether to pay for a floor cleaning service or to do it in-house, consider the value of your employees’ time. Professional cleaners can take the burden off of your staff, and it will free up their time for more important things—the job you hired them to do in the first place.
More from Blue Summit Supplies
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