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Best flooring for a car wash office?

3K views 6 replies 4 participants last post by  poppameth 
#1 ·
Hello,

I have to replace our car washes flooring in our office area. At this time it has some nasty old (15 years+) carpeting. I wanted some input on what would be the best flooring for the job.

Office area is 5 x 10.5 feet. Subflooring is cement (and not level). The floor must withstand 500+ pound barrels of soap being rolled over it, lots of dirt being tracked in and lots of moisture! The carpet that is currently in this area is connected to the back room. Water from this room is wicked in to the office area at this time. Is there a good way to keep this water from coming in and ruining the new flooring?

I have been told Vinyl Composition Tile would be best for this.

Any and all helpful advice is MUCH appreciated!

Thanks!

CarwashGal
 
G
#2 ·
VCT is not a good idea if you have moisture issues. I'd recommend a vinyl or rubber tile that has an interlocking edge. You can install this stuff yourself if you want to. All you have to do is place the edges together and whack them with a mallet to lock them together. Trim around the edges of the room and you are done. Both types are suppose to hold up well to heavy loads going across them. They are also much better with moisture issues especially with no glue involved. Just about any majore brand makes the rubber ones. Johnsonite, Roppe, Esrie, etc. They are more expensive than the harder to find vinyl though. Rubber is more for gym floor applications in this type of tile. The vinyl would be cheaper and probably better suited to what you are doing. I'll have to get you a brand name on the one I can get when I get to the store this morning. Lowes has one from Refex Mouldings I believe.
 
#3 ·
Thank you for your reply!

I will take a look at home depot and see if they have them. The lady there is who recommended the VCT. It just didn't sound like the best option and I was hoping someone here could point me in the right direction. If I can't find something that will work well I might just strip it back to cement and seal it.
 
#6 · (Edited)
I agree that vinyl composition tiles aren't appropriate for a wet area. They're slippery as he11 when wet.

VC tile floors are at their best when they can be regularily maintained and the company wants to put forward a "clean" or "ship shape" image, such as grocery stores (except wherever the floor can get wet), car dealership showrooms, or any kind of establishment where the flooring normally stays dry. The beauty of VC tiles is that if they're properly maintained, your shoe never actually touches the tile. It treads on the floor finish mopped down over the tile, which if the floor is properly maintained, is regularily replaced. So, asking how long a VC tile floor can last if you maintain the floor finish on it is no different than asking how long the floor in a restaurant will last if you keep replacing the carpet. But, this is a wet area, so they're out of the running.

I'd agree with the idea to consider synthetic rubber floor tiles. However, the kind of tiles I'm thinking about are normally glued down.

If most people in the office wear casual (rubber soled) shoes to work, rubber on rubber is one of the highest coefficients of friction that you can get. Also, you can get rubber tile flooring that's heavily textured so that it maintains good traction even if the floor is bloody well underwater. Synthetic rubber is tougher than rhino hide, and you could drop one of those 500 pound barrels of soap on it without doing more than leaving a mark on it.

Johnsonite is the biggest name in synthetic rubber flooring in the US and Canada, probably all of North America:

http://www.johnsonite.com

They have a specific flooring for wet areas called "Safety Stride". It's specifically meant for any places where water on the floor causing the floor to become slippery is a concern:

http://www.johnsonite.com/en/FlooringSystems/SpecialtyApplications/SafetyStride.htm

Rubber floor tiles can be ordered in many (48 I think) different colours, and each colour can be "marblized" or "speckled" or both with any of the other colours. Also, there are about a half dozen different textures available that you can order the plain, marblized or speckled tiles in. Any textured rubber floor tile will provide good traction if the floor is only wet, and doesn't have standing puddles of water on it.

I think all of the different synthetic rubber tile floors can be found on this page:

http://www.johnsonite.com/en/flooringSystems/rubberflooring

And I think all of the different colours and textures available can be seen by downloading this brochure:

http://www.johnsonite.com/NR/rdonly...DC1-D1837E1F071A/0/JOH2217_Rubber_Singles.pdf

Synthetic rubber flooring is very expensive. Also, just like ceramic tile flooring, it tires out before it wears out. That is, people replace it only because they get tired of it and want something different.

But, rubber flooring is also very expensive.

Synthetic rubber flooring is about the only flooring you can get that will stand up to people walking on it with ice skates and spiked shoes on, but the kinds of rubber flooring meant for those situations is much thicker and harder than the stuff they make synthetic rubber floor tiles out of.
 
G
#7 ·
Quarry tile is definitely an option as well. I can be acquired with a sanded no slip finish and is certainly going to be the most durable product. It all depends on how much time and money you want to put into it.
 
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