Winter’s Here: Top Reasons Your Clients Need Durable Floors
Durability is the Key to Successful Winter Flooring
Depending on where your client lives, the winter can be a punishing season. When people leave the ice, snow and chilly winds to step inside a building or home, winter often follows.
Snow, ice, dirt, sand, salt and ice-melting chemicals frequently make their way into businesses and can wreak havoc on flooring. For this reason, durable flooring and proper maintenance are a must-have for anyone in a wintry climate. While you may not be able to prevent winter’s harsh elements from entering your client’s business, the good news is that your clients can avoid the cost, time and stress of having to repair their floors and needing to prevent winter damage by choosing durable flooring and employing proper maintenance from the start. However, before we review what types of durable flooring are best, let’s examine three wintry factors that affect flooring: solids, liquids and chemicals.
Solids
When the snow flies, so does the sand and salt. Rock salt can get stuck between boot treads, and dirt-laden snow often clings to shoes. All of these abrasive materials end up on your floor and the battle begins. Sand and salt underfoot acts like rough-grit sandpaper, potentially stripping protective coats from floors and creating an unsightly mess — not to mention a slipping hazard. Whether your client sweeps once a day or once an hour, sand and salt will inevitably make its way on to their floors. Precautions like walk-off mats and rugs do help.
Liquids
Abrasive damage is not the only threat to flooring during the winter. Snow and ice can melt quickly on floors and, if unaddressed, can cause major problems. Salty and chemical-filled snow can melt and leave stains. The truth is, liquids can damage any type of floor if they aren’t properly cleaned up, and any moisture under wet flooring will likely produce mold and mildew. Without durable floors and proper maintenance, preventing damage to floors is a full-time job — and any misstep in protection creates an unattractive and unsafe setting for customers.
Chemicals
The potential chemical damages of winter conditions are perhaps the most threatening to floors. Only the most durable flooring will stand up to chemical degradation, and even then, constant tending is required.
Ice melting chemicals, although there are many different kinds, all work the same way. A chemical is applied to ice that lowers its freezing temperature. The melting ice creates a brine and prevents further freezing. This brine is then easily picked up underfoot and carried indoors. At the very least, ice-melting chemicals leave stains on floors, but if left unattended, they can do much worse.
Sodium chloride (also known as salt and often called rock salt) corrodes cement. Magnesium chloride, another popular ice-melting chemical, corrodes metal. Chemicals like these that can compromise substances such as concrete and metal can do even worse to floors. No matter what type of floor you have, it’s important to clean up ice melting chemicals quickly.
Which Flooring Options are Most Durable?
The unfortunate reality is that the winter weather can damage floors, but now that we’ve covered the hows and whys, the next step is to talk about the action you can take: making sure your client has durable floors and uses proper maintenance. Let’s compare four of the most common flooring types.
Laminate:
Laminate is perhaps the least durable flooring choice for winter defense. It is not strong in the presence of moisture, as it will curl and buckle. In addition, the thinness of the flooring makes it prone to abrasive damage inflicted by sand and rock salt. It is recommended to use microfiber mops to clean your laminate floors every two months, though you’ll likely have to increase this frequency during the winter.
Ceramic will certainly hold up well against many of the challenges that winter brings. There are two main characteristics, however, that exclude ceramic flooring as a durable flooring — at least as far as winter is concerned. First, grout lines collect dirt and can become compromised. Second, when wet, ceramic becomes very slippery, which is not the best choice for winter months.
Engineered hardwood is harder than laminate — it will not rip or be punctured by rocks or sand. Routine, proper maintenance will ensure your hardwood floor stays in top shape, even during inclement weather. Sweep daily, vacuum weekly and clean with a recommended wood floor cleaner monthly. Wipe off any moisture or spills immediately to prevent cupping. Even though hardwood may require a bit more attention during the winter months, it’s one of the most durable flooring solutions that can last beyond 100 years if properly maintained.
LVT is also an ideal choice for winter defense because it is extremely water-resistant and has a hard, durable wear layer. The tough wear layer will resist scratching and scuffing and give your clients time to remove harmful chemicals. While it is not 100% impervious to winter stresses, LVT will do its job holding up under physical stress and wet conditions, giving employees time to clean up moisture and prevent damage.
If you want to learn more about the benefits of LVT and engineered hardwood, contact us. We also have many other helpful articles on our blog. As the leader in durable flooring solutions, we would love for our artfully-crafted products to be a part of your next project.