The popularity of wood floors over the years has evolved from being a staple of residential projects to being the showcase feature of offices, restaurants, and hotels worldwide.
The versatility and variety of hardwood floors mean today there is a wood flooring choice that’s right for any project. As a result, wood floors are a popular commercial flooring option. Find out what the benefits of wood flooring in commercial settings are with this comprehensive guide.
If you need help and advice our team of experienced commercial specification consultants is always available for even the most challenging projects or briefs.
What is Commercial Wood Flooring?
Commercial hardwood flooring, whether solid or engineered, isn’t all that different from a wood floor you’d use in your home. However, at the same time, it is important to consider the unique setting that you are going to install the floor.
There are determining factors you should consider during the specification process. These factors will ultimately guide your wood floor choice as different wood floors can have advantages over others depending on the type of project you are working on.
For example, if you are looking for a wood floor that is suitable for a pub, or commercial flooring options for restaurants, you should consider the footfall and potential spillages it may encounter. This is because they will require significant cleaning. In this case, choose a wood floor that offers durability, with a finish that makes it more resistant to liquid, and is easy to maintain.
Take our Strada collection, for example, these 20mm hardwearing floors are designed for super high-traffic areas. For this, they have a twelve-coat finish and a 7,000 Taber Resistance which provides uncompromising durability.
We believe that commercial wood flooring should also be made from high-quality materials. If a wood floor is specified for a project the likelihood is that the flooring choice is chosen for the benefit of the end-user or if that area was customer-facing. A hotel lobby, a collaborative space within an office, the entrance to a re-branded shop – all these scenarios demand a floor that looks and feels the part so quality matters.
A Ted Todd floor is only manufactured using real timber. This means you will always have that natural touch, look, sound and even smell, something which is simply not achievable with a man-made alternative like LVT that’s only designed to like real wood.
Likewise, engineered wood flooring is the perfect choice for a large residential development. Unlike solid wood flooring, you can install engineered boards with underfloor heating.
Advantages Of Commercial Wood Floors
We have touched on the durable nature of wood floors, but the character of a wood floor is often enhanced over time by everyday wear and tear. If you think about reclaimed wood floors, their beauty, and appealing characteristics shine through in their texture, colours, and marks. All of which, add to the floor over time by the passage of feet or movement of furniture. A carpet for example wouldn’t age in quite the same way.
Plus, if you decide an area of your floor needs a replacement, each plank and block (if fully bonded during installation) can be individually replaced. This saves you time and money by prolonging the life of your floor. This is not only an economical benefit but an environmental one too. If you had chosen to install a lino or vinyl flooring across the entire expanse of your project, a hole or burn mark in an obvious place may mean you have to rip up your whole floor and put down a new one. Which ultimately is no good for your project, pocket, or the planet!
If a wood floor has the right thickness and wear layer, you can sand and refinish the floor. This means you can change the appearance of the floor making it an incredibly versatile option. For example, you could change the tone of your floor from light to dark (depending on the original finish of your floor). Or you could remove some of the surface texture to create a smoother floor if you decide that’s your aesthetic preference years later.
Wood floors can also add value to your property! A couple of years ago the National Wood Flooring Association found that 88% of estate agents estimated an increase of up to 10% for homes with hardwood floors! Meaning if you are a housebuilder or developer making that investment at the beginning of a project by installing a quality wood floor over a cheaper alternative like imitation laminate flooring, it could mean more profit upon completion of your project.
Architects and designers of commercial projects have also begun to consider other factors when designing homes, office spaces, restaurants, and hotels. Especially in light of COVID-19, they have started to think about a user’s health and well-being. Interestingly, wood floors can also help on this front as wood is scientifically proven to provide better indoor air quality than man-made alternatives.
Our wood floors are also SVOC free which is good news for your long-term health. To find out more about the adverse effects of indoor air pollution, what exactly VOCs and SVOCs are, why not read our blog Healthy On The Inside.
What is the Best Flooring For A Commercial Office?
Some considerations associated with specifying a floor for an office include:
Acoustics
Offices can be noisy places so it is vital to choose to fit out materials that can help reduce noise levels. Some may naturally think that a wood floor isn’t as effective at reducing noise as a carpet for example. But at Ted Todd, we have excellent solutions to improve the acoustic properties of our wood floors. Including quality acoustic underlay which has a per 1000kg/m3 density 20db9(A) level of impact sound reduction.
Durability
The floor in an office must be designed for the most demanding of spaces, it needs to be practical, comfortable, and welcoming.
Zoning
In an office environment, wood floors can also be used with other flooring solutions to zone areas within open-plan spaces. There are usually designated areas assigned to specific tasks dotted throughout most offices; break-out spaces, meeting rooms, kitchen, and more. Our wood floors come in a huge variety of tones, formats, and paying patterns. Even if you used wood throughout your entire office project the scope to zone areas with just wood floors would be fully achievable.
Safety
These days safety plays a significant part in the material choices for any office project. ‘Wood has consistently shown the ability to halt the growth of and kill harmful bacteria that comes in contact with its surface’.
Additionally, you should factor in the slip resistance of your chosen floor. At Ted Todd, we would always recommend an oil wood traffic finish. This will improve your slip rating due to the nature of this specially designed finish.
Well-being
The mental health and well-being of employees over the past year or two have been increasingly considered by employers. This is either at the concept stage of an office design or when retrofitting office spaces. There have been many recent studies that have advocated the use of natural materials in office design and bringing the connection to nature back. Plants, ventilation, external views, or even pictures of nature around the office teamed with natural finishes not only can improve mental well-being but can also have physical health benefits. To learn more why not delve into our recent blog An Introduction to Green Architecture.
Choosing Wood Flooring For Heavy Traffic
Ted Todd and Woodworks wood floor is built to last. The durability of both our engineered or solid wood flooring is reelected in our minimum 20-year guarantee. We have over the years listened to our customers. From this, we have worked on many commercial products that have inspired our portfolios. We deliver the perfect floors for heavy traffic environments and offer great solutions for commercial flooring options for restaurants.
As mentioned earlier our Strada collection offers uncompromising durability due to the 12 coat finish applied to all floors in this collection (internal link).
Additionally, Standen and Arundel from our Crafted Textures collection are ideal floors for a pub or bar space due to their surface texture. Undulating and finished in hardened oil these 20mm thick floors are more forgiving to marks and general wear and tear than a polished floor could offer.
Maintaining Commercial Floors
The care and maintenance of your Ted Todd or Woodworks floor are actually more specific to your floor’s finish than any other aspect. If you stick to these care systems your commercial wood floor is easy to clean.
You should use Care systems 1 & 3 on Lacquered and Hardened Oiled Floors. Whereas, use Care systems 2 & 4 for Natural & Hardwax Oiled floors. To find out more about our four-floor care systems, view our floor care videos here.
Upon handover of your floor, there is the option to apply a floor care polish after installation. This leaves you with high anti-slip and anti-static characteristics.
Additionally, after the floor has been in situ for a while, it would perhaps have undergone more intensive daily cleaning than a floor installed in a domestic setting. This may mean that a commercial wood floor might require and quick polish or an oil replenishment application (that comes as part of our care system kits). Also, at some point in the future, a commercial floor may need to be sanding and resealing.
Summary
Whether you are looking for commercial gym flooring, cladding for a bar, or a unique floor for a high traffic hotel lobby, you’re certain to discover that in our Ted Todd and Woodworks portfolios. They offer a huge selection of luxury wood flooring in every tone, format, design, and specification your project needs. Plus, if you require something very specific not in our portfolio, we offer a bespoke service to allow you to create the perfect floor to fit your project spec. Our team of commercial speciation consultants with expertise in every commercial sector is always on hand to offer you free advice, samples, and quotes. To discuss your project, start the conversation by emailing sales@tedtodd.co.uk or calling 0800 8007123.