How to Choose the Right Classroom Flooring

More goes into choosing the right classroom flooring than meets the eye. Unlike an office block or an industrial building, the range of activities that school floors have to cater to is huge, from gyms to science labs. Most importantly, flooring solutions have to be safe for students as well as the staff who work there. 

Here, we look at some of the considerations that go into selecting school floorings and look in detail at four of the most popular options. 

School Flooring Needs 

When starting work on an educational institution’s floor, there are some unique considerations that have to be weighed first. You wouldn’t want the same surface in a kindergarten classroom and a high school laboratory. And don’t get us started on gyms—those require a different surface altogether. 

Schools often face tight budget constraints, so it’s especially important to provide a value for money solution. This includes installation costs and a floor’s durability and lifetime maintenance costs. 

Acoustics and aesthetics also need attention in educational environments. For example, large numbers of students walking through corridors can be distracting for students in adjoining classrooms, so contractors working on school floors could consider noise-resistant options. 

Common Flooring Types 

So, what are the options when it comes to classroom flooring? Here are some of the most popular choices. 

Polished Concrete  

For a low-maintenance option that looks fantastic and will stand the test of time, consider a polished concrete floor. Concrete is a highly durable option, which can withstand the pressure of having hundreds or thousands of students walking on it day in, and day out.  

Using a spray-on polished concrete floor system like Terrazzi (see below) can make installing a high-quality polished concrete floor even easier, quicker, and cheaper. 

Urethane Concrete 

Sometimes referred to as “polyurethane concrete,” especially where there are multiple layers of top coat, urethane concrete is an advanced industrial concrete flooring perfect for heavy-duty usage. Engineering classrooms and science labs need urethane concrete floors because of its impact and chemical-resistant properties. 

However, these aren’t its only advantages. Urethane concrete is an economical choice for spaces 3,000 square feet or larger. It contains natural ingredients such as soybean polyols, is odorless, and doesn’t contain VOCs or other toxic substances. Urethane concrete is slip resistant, and an almost limitless range of colorants can be used and combined to create unique designs. 

Vinyl Commercial Tile

Vinyl commercial tile (VCT) flooring is a resilient and aesthetically pleasing option for heavy-use areas, such as a school hallway. They reduce noise from footfall, and their resistance to water accrual means that they are less slippery than wood or concrete floors.  

However, VCTs contain grout, which makes them harder to clean than some alternatives. They also require careful preparation of the subfloor, as any imperfections or unevenness in the surface can cause the tiles to chip or break. Strong adhesives used to lay VCTs also make the tile harder to remove when renovating. 

Linoleum

Linoleum is an environmentally friendly option as it is made from linseed oil, which comes from flax. It is biodegradable and free from toxic chemicals such as formaldehyde. It is also flexible and soft, holds color and pattern well, and, when sealed, is a low-maintenance option. 

However, linoleum gives off linseed fumes for up to a month after installation, which, while harmless, many people find it unpleasant. It can also take on a yellow tint in the light, particularly if not maintained properly. Unsealed linoleum requires frequent polishing and buffing and quickly becomes susceptible to scratches and moisture damage without this upkeep. 

Addressing Your Flooring Needs 

Given all these advantages, polished concrete floors and urethane concrete floors tend to be the optimal choices for schools looking for highly durable, versatile, cost-effective, and low-maintenance flooring solutions. Duraamen offers products that can help contractors install either solution in schools when required. 

Terrazzi Polished Concrete Floor System 

Duraamen has developed Terrazzi, a spray-on concrete polished floor system, making a high-quality installation quicker and easier to achieve, while also reducing cost. 

Terazzi provides an ultra-smooth, super-fine surface which not only increases the strength of the floor but can also be polished to create an aesthetically pleasing finish.  

Kraftig Urethane Modified Concrete Floor Kit 

For a urethane-modified concrete floor, consider Kraftig. This urethane concrete floor solution is crack-resistant, which improves hygiene by limiting the space in which bacteria can live and breed as well as protecting the substrate from water damage. 

The Kraftig kit also comes with an anti-skid additive. It will adhere easily to all sorts of substrates including concrete, quarry tiles, and brick pavers. Everything you need to install 1000 square feet of urethane concrete floor is included for less than $4,500, making it a cost-effective option and quick to install. 

Conclusion 

Many factors influence the choice of flooring for a school or a classroom. Polished or urethane concrete offer durable, cost-effective options for general and specialist school flooring, respectively. Duraamen’s range of installation kits can help contractors carrying out projects for schools find a cost-effective solution.