Education Providers: Getting Ready for the New School Year?
What to consider when refurbishing your Flooring.
New Year, Term 1, Fresh Floors
As the summer holidays approach and the education sector prepare to close their doors, essential building maintenance and upgrade plans will likely be getting prepared. You may be considering revamping your flooring for new requirements or needing to fix urgent spots that are potential Health & Safety risks.
As specialists in flooring for education, Mercia Floors knows that this can be a complex task to undertake, when planning and choosing the right people and solution for the project required.
In our latest blog, we offer a quick and easy overview on what you need to consider when getting your floors ready for the new term year. Whether your school needs a major flooring rehaul, or you have a floor hazard to fix, follow the guidance below to get started.
1) When to consider Flooring Solutions in Education
Typically, flooring in school settings are advised to be replaced approximately every 10 years, with high traffic areas such as corridors or entrances potentially sooner. It’s also important to remember that anti-slip properties, such as product coatings and paints, start to deteriorate between 3-10 years depending on the foot traffic, poor cleaning practices and wear and tear.
However, to remain on top of regular maintenance, we recommend floor checks to be carried out on your usual walk-arounds checking health and safety protocols are being adhered to. Identify which rooms in the school are a priority and look for any potential hazards.
As a carpeting specialist, Mercia Floors have come across situations where wear and tear and failed seams in vinyl and carpet have been either unidentified or allowed to develop, causing an increasing safety hazard and unnecessary capital expense to replace a whole floor, when a repair would have sufficed if actioned proactively.
Example:
Below is an image of when a school had some seams fail in their Hall vinyl, it wasn’t dealt with right away, the school ‘just taped over it’ to limit the trip hazard. This didn’t stop the excessive cleaning, washing all the water and grit into the seams, splitting them further, contaminating the seams and causing the vinyl to start bubbling up. Now the whole floor needs replacing, costing 10x more than a repair.
So, do keep in mind to schedule regular maintenance checks, to avoid such issues.
2) The Wider Considerations for flooring in Education
It is currently important to recognise the rising shift in standards for Schools, for example toward assessments for students with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SENDs), to ensure safety and inclusivity in school environments. Examples include requirements such as certain colour schemes to assist visually impaired students, or low-glare materials to remove sensory overload in SEND spaces.
In the UK, school flooring must also comply with strict rules from regulators such as the Department for Education and the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) Guidelines. Typically, guidelines assess an education space’s:
Therefore, be sure to assess if you are floors are working within these guidelines.
3) Getting the right Flooring Provider on board
Flooring for schools and education do, therefore require a specialist that understands such specific requirements. They will comprehend the usage and of each area of the building, as well as have a thorough understanding of what materials are to be used and where. as well as an understanding of school timelines, budgets plus other limitations.
Therefore, a good flooring provider will:
So, be sure to fully assess your flooring provider for these credentials before contracting them for your building.
If flooring for schools is something you want to discuss, or you need further advice, contact the team here at Mercia Floors and we will be happy to guide you and answer any questions you may have.
Call: 024 7736 0320
Email: info@merciafloors.co.uk
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