A new situation

Now, more than ever it’s worth knowing why resilient flooring can help maintain a clean and hygienic environment.
COVID-19 has had an immediate and potentially long-lasting effect on how we use buildings. Our places of work, schools, healthcare settings and homes are under greater scrutiny.

Our habits have changed.
Buildings are not fully occupied; our interactions are online, or at a distance. Healthcare settings are reserved for the critically ill and emergencies. Schools and stores are being reconfigured for social distancing and homes have become multi-functional spaces.

Spatial planning will accommodate the necessary changes caused by this global pandemic. For now, we are learning how to mitigate its effects. Just as cleaning our hands regularly is vitally important, the frequency and manner our surfaces and floors are cleaned should be given attention. It’s obvious, but all our living and work environments need to be kept clean.

Disinfection, sanitisation and clean-ups are necessary procedures that resilient flooring can cope with, often multiple times in 24 hours.

What is it about resilient flooring that makes it easy-to-clean?

The resilient flooring industry in Europe produces some of the safest, most hygienic and easy-to-clean floor products, usable across commercial and residential environments.

What about the floor?

A resilient floor surface should be cleaned frequently and in line with the intensity of its use. What sort of environment is it, how many people does it accommodate, and with what needs? A cleaning regime should reflect all these attributes.

Naturally, it’s a good idea to review your regime when things change – in line with local health and safety requirements.

Whether a building is managed by a commercial service provider, or by its individuals, maintaining a resilient floor is straightforward:

Resilient floors are highly durable because of their intrinsically closed surfaces, meaning liquids aren’t absorbed, and dirt won’t be easily embedded.

These are added to strengthen performance, they reduce the impact of wear and hermetically seal the joins between tiles.

Stubborn marks can be treated and removed because resilient floors are, by construction, resistant to staining.

Resilient flooring in situ

ERFMI resilient flooring in homes
ERFMI resilient flooring for offices
ERFMI resilient flooring in healthcare

Safe for healthcare; safe for homes

A resilient floor is often found in healthcare spaces exactly because it meets the requirements of these high-risk spaces. Given the nature of these environments, floors need to be very durable, easily cleaned and able to cope with intense use. Maintaining mandated hygiene standards is critical to healthcare spaces.

Disinfection, sanitisation and clean-ups are necessary procedures that resilient flooring can cope with, often multiple times in 24 hours. Resilient flooring is installed in both clinical and non-clinical areas because of the numerous options available.

Clinics, operating theatres and waiting rooms

Roll format flooring such as vinyl, linoleum and rubber is often used in surgical and clinical rooms because it can be heat sealed at edges and curved upwards to intersect with walls, reducing the likelihood of bacterial spread, ensuring cleaning is efficient and water/dirt collection is reduced. These floors are made to cope with high load weights and the impact of disinfectants.

Tile or roll products such as LVT, linoleum and non-PVC products can be used in non-surgical spaces, and cope with being cleaned regularly as facilities require. Wayfinding and spatial design techniques are often helpful in large buildings and achievable with resilient flooring.

Residential accommodation and housing

Using resilient floors in residential spaces makes them easy to manage also. Spills can be mopped up quickly, spaces cleaned and disinfected safely, for peace of mind. Readily available neutral detergents are ideal for cleaning all resilient floors.

How to clean resilient floors

As a general guide, resilient flooring can be cleaned in a few simple steps:

The four step process for cleaning a resilient floor