Although commercial flooring is not terribly complicated there are many times that people are disappointed with the performance of their new floor. Most of the time with a little planning and a good understanding of the environment the floor will be installed in these situations can be avoided. Also, by following the maintenance procedures that the manufacturer recommends can solve many situations before they become a problem. Throughout this article when we refer to commercial resilient floors, we mean both commercial sheet goods as well as vinyl composition tile (VCT).

Prior to selecting a specific floor you should analyse the area that the floor will be installed in. You should discuss with a qualified flooring contractor how you plan on maintaining this area. As an example, some older facilities have dark colored resilient floors throughout their work areas. With todays trends towards light colored floors you should be made aware that light colored floors do require more maintenance to keep them looking clean. If maintenance is not going to be frequently performed then you should be selecting colors that won't show the tracked in soil as easily. Adding more walk off mats and chair mats may also help especially if they are cleaned often.

Another fact that you should be aware of is that commercial resilient flooring does not have an easy clean urethane surface like the residential vinyl floors. This is because commercial floors are required to hold up under heavy traffic situations and the residential wearlayers would wear out under these traffic conditions. Most commercial resilient floors require constant cleaning and periodically need to be polished. If these floors are polished regularly the polish takes most of the beating instead of the floor's surface. There are many types of polishes available for commercial resilient floors and they can vary in degrees of hardness, slip resistance, as well as gloss level. So care should be used in selecting the right polish for each application.

Before moving heavy objects over a new commercial floor you should always wait a few days until the adhesive has a chance to setup properly. Indentations in a newly installed floor may be caused by adhesive displacement. This is where a heavy object is set on top of a newly installed floor and the object's weight pressing downward causes the wet adhesive to move away from the area where the object is sitting. Once this happens and the displaced adhesive cures the indented vinyl floor will not recover. If you have to move heavy objects over a newly installed floor you should always lay sheets of plywood or underlayment on top of the floor to disperse the weight of the moving object. This problem can also occur from rollers. Even wheel chairs can displace adhesive if allowed to roll on a newly installed commercial floor.

Using the manufacturer's recommended adhesives and floor patches can help avoid future problems. Generally the manufacturer's recommended adhesives are of a better quality and have more additives then what most installers would buy if the choice is left up to them. The adhesives should create a strong bond between the flooring and the substrate, as well as increase the overall PSI rating of the flooring. Heaven forbid a real problem occurs, but if one does most manufacturers will walk away from claims if the flooring wasn't installed using the manufacturer's recommended installation products and procedures. Whoever is specifying the jobs should always specify the installation materials that must be used with that flooring.

Before installing any resilient floor covering over a concrete slab several moisture tests and PH tests should be taken. When a resilient floor is installed over concrete the vinyl acts as a moisture barrier. Most adhesives used for commercial resilient floors are water based and if excessive moisture is trapped in the concrete slab the adhesive will never setup properly. Also, if the PH levels are too high the adhesive may never set up properly. This can cause severe indenting from adhesive displacement and in VCT this can cause the adhesive to ooze up between the tiles. The moisture can also cause the tiles to curl or pop loose. There are several methods used to detect moisture in a concrete slab. Any device you choose to use must be able to test for moisture below the surface of the concrete, otherwise you may get false readings. The concrete slab should be free of any types of chemicals, solvents, or cleaning agents before conducting your tests.

If you follow the above suggestions many problems can be avoided.