Eight months of painstaking work was required to complete the construction of DuPont Flooring Systems’ new Houston branch headquarters. This new workspace, at 7108 Old Katy Road, was designed to capitalize on the design possibilities presented by 50,000 square feet of space -- an increase of 20,000 square feet compared to the company’s previous Houston facility at 5849 Westview Drive.

According to Rick Goolsby, general manager of DuPont Flooring Systems, the new building is designed to be utilized by architects, designers and facility managers as a resource in choosing the proper flooring for varied and unique installations. In essence, visits to the building will help professionals decide on the best type of floor covering not only for practical uses, but also to meet the criteria and specifications of good design, Goolsby says.

“Primarily, the building was designed to be a working showplace,” he explains. “So all the different offices have a different type of floor covering installed. The concept is to give an idea of how different types of flooring look in different spaces.”

In all, DuPont Flooring Systems’ space in the new facility encompasses 35 offices, various conference rooms, a specifications room, a copy room, a coffee bar, and a floor resource library. Flooring used in these spaces includes a wide range of product categories -- from Freudenberg’s nora rubber flooring and Roppe luxury vinyl to Bruce hardwood floors and Lees carpet.

All carpets in the building, which include the Pacificrest, Atlas, Monterey, and Milliken brands, were made with Dupont Antron fiber. An Atlas custom area rug lies atop a Roppe floor in the lobby. An Atlas product also was used in conjunction with a Roppe floor in the coffee bar. The break room features Forbo linoleum, whereas the specifications room features Everfloor flooring, and the copy room makes use of nora rubber flooring.

The resource library utilizes a marble-look Amtico vinyl. DuPont VaporStop water vapor barrier was also used in that area, because the library is a high-moisture environment where water vapor emissions rise from the underlying concrete, Goolsby says.

Throughout the duration of the facility’s construction, installers went from room to room laying down the floors in a matter of hours. In fact, all of the flooring work in the building was completed in a three- to four-day period, notes Goolsby. At the height of construction, as many as 20 workers from different trades were working in the building at once. Six of them were dedicated solely to the installation of floor coverings.

“Part of the challenge was making all of the different flooring in the building coordinate with wall colors and all the parts and pieces of the building,” Goolsby explains.

DuPont Flooring Systems’ staff has been working within the new Houston office space for about a year.