In past years, many healthcare facilities overlooked the importance of flooring when considering patient safety and wellness. Hospitals, for instance, commonly used carpeting or flooring with seams between individual tiles. The seams between the tiles as well as the carpeting became magnets for mold, mildew, bacteria and other contaminants, making them unsanitary and unsafe for patients. Keeping such floors truly clean and sterile became almost impossible.
Another recurring flooring problem that is often overlooked or neglected is excessive moisture that causes damp or moldy indoor environments. Aside from a possible plumbing leak or natural disaster, a more common and less obvious source of moisture is the water vapor that emits from the concrete slab beneath the flooring. All concrete slabs— both new and existing—contain moisture. When moisture comes to the surface of the slab it will interact with flooring materials and the environment. The result? Debonded sheet flooring, bubbling, adhesive degradation, delamination, cupping, gaps between tiles, and damp, moldy conditions that could adversely affect patient and staff health.