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When trying to choose which flooring you want installed for your business, making a decision can be both an overwhelming and tedious process. In the world of commercial flooring, there is a vast assortment of options available that are made to accommodate to any given company’s unique set of needs and budget. In making the right decision, one of the most important questions a business owner should ask themselves is: “Do I need resilient flooring or not?”.
In most cases, people cannot identify a resilient floor vs a non-resilient flooring and are unaware of the defined differences between the two. To help you better understand the major and minor variances, let’s start with their basic definitions:
Resilient flooring: is an engineered product that is manufactured using various types of flexible, “bouncy” material such as cork, linoleum, rubber, sheet vinyl and vinyl composition tile (VCT).
Non-resilient flooring: commonly referred to as “Hard Surface”, is made up of organic, inflexible and hard surfaced flooring material/minerals such as brick, ceramic and porcelain tile, laminate flooring, natural stone, slate, solid wood and engineered wood.
So which one do you choose? Let’s look at some of the top comparison points:
Elasticity
Unlike tiles which are comprised of minerals, resilient flooring is designed with materials that hold some degree of elasticity. This makes it flexible, conformable, and comfortable for various types of performance such as dancing, sports and other recreational activities. Non-resilient flooring, on the other hand, provides minimal to zero resilience (“bounce back”) when walking on it which can cause discomfort after a lengthy period of time.
Durability
Hard Surface is desired where extreme durability and water-resistance are required. It is mostly utilized in bathrooms and high-traffic public areas, such as shopping malls and corporate centers. Resilient flooring is also comparably durable and can last for a long time, but as with everything, both categories have their flaws. Resilient flooring tends to acquire permanent indenting from small pressure points, such as furniture legs over time and non-resilient flooring, especially tile, is always at a risk of cracking.
Pricing
Not only is resilient flooring a lot cheaper than non-resilient, but as previously mentioned, it is also comparably durable, making it a rather cost-effective option for residential homes and commercial buildings. However, resilient flooring is all over the place when it comes to its pricing and perceived value by consumers, whereas the pricing of tile, stone, slate, brick and hard wood minimally varies, affirming its consistency in quality.
Maintenance
Resilient flooring and non-resilient flooring not only drastically differ in pricing, but also in maintenance needs as well. Although Hard surface sometimes is more expensive than resilient flooring, it is much cheaper and easier to maintain. In fact, sometimes the cheapest of materials (VCT) is the most expensive to maintain.
Style Options
Both resilient and non-resilient flooring provide numerous style options that can be made unique. Resilient flooring is available in large sheets or pre-cut tiles that allow you to combine different colors, styles and textures, making it adaptable to suit almost any décor. Hard Surface also comes in a variety of textures, colors and patterns that remain a highly demanded consumer preference for residential homes and commercial buildings.
Resilient flooring offers a number of benefits that are rather hard to argue ─ however, many facilities continue to use non-resilient flooring, as its quality, attractiveness, and value remains a constant. As a business owner, you must take a number of factors into consideration when deciding on which would be suitable for your business and its brand image. Your organization is unique, and so are its commercial flooring requirements so the best flooring decision for you depends on the nature of your activities, the level of traffic, and your budget/quality vs cost importance.
Contact us today to help you select the right commercial flooring for your business.
