Home Home Flooring Vinyl vs. Rubber: What to Consider When Choosing Hospital Flooring

Vinyl vs. Rubber: What to Consider When Choosing Hospital Flooring

The quality, toughness, durability, ease of installation and maintenance are the essential factors that are considered when one is looking for the best option for flooring in hospitals. A hospital floor will have to stay in good shape for a long, long time and endure through quite the beating – walking with all kinds of shoes, potentially by thousands of people on a daily basis, different types of wheels, falls of different objects, a lot of stains and so on.

While there are many different flooring options, when it comes to public places, regardless of their nature, many of those options, for example, hardwood floor, are immediately eliminated. The most popular choices for hospital floors nowadays are vinyl or rubber flooring, both with their advantages, and both excellent options.

Vinyl Floors

picture of a room in a hospital with vinyl flooring
source: karndean.com

It’s not at all surprising that vinyl flooring has been becoming more and more popular both for residential and commercial use. And when it comes to hospitals in particular, vinyl flooring offers the most important characteristics needed in any healthcare facility. One of the many reasons to decide to choose hospital vinyl flooring is that it’s highly durable, and it can withstand an incredible amount of foot traffic.

Vinyl flooring is made of resistant and hard-wearing materials. This, of course, doesn’t make them indestructible, as no material is, but it does mean that they can endure more than many other floors. Vinyl can’t be broken and it’s really hard to damage it, and it doesn’t stain easily all of which makes it the perfect choice for healthcare centres.

Hospitals are the place where people have some of the worst and some of the best days of their lives. And all of that can be quite messy. Vinyl tiles and sheets are the perfect choices for hospital floors because they are quite easy to clean – since they are waterproof and quite stain resistant. In hospitals, cleanliness is one of the most important things. Vinyl flooring can be sealed perfectly, meaning that it can prevent microbes and germs from spreading.

Vinyl comes in tiles, planks or sheets, which are very easily installed and removed. They don’t even require the removal of the previous flooring, which can make renovations easier and faster. Furthermore, if the floor is covered with vinyl hospital tile flooring, and tile has been damaged in some way, it can be removed and replaced, and the same goes for planks. This is quite useful for places like hospitals where so many things can happen to the floor.

Another characteristic that makes hospital vinyl flooring the best option is that one of the layers that make the vinyl tile, plank or sheet is padding, which makes vinyl softer than most flooring options. Thanks to this, falls can be somewhat cushioned, which makes this hospital flooring solution safer than many others, both for people and for equipment. These layers also make vinyl flooring sound-absorbing, which is another important factor for hospitals. Furthermore, while no floor can be completely slip-proof, vinyl flooring for hospitals feature coating materials that are quite slip-resistant.

While aesthetics may not be vital for a hospital, beautiful design is always appreciated. More importantly, people feel more relaxed in visually pleasing surroundings, and more importantly, good design and cleanliness can make patients feel more comfortable and safer.

Rubber Floors

picture of a rubber hospital vinyl flooring with a patern
source: flooringabudhabi.com

Rubber offers more or less similar advantages, which is why it’s another popular choice for hospital floors. It’s strong, easy to instal, maintain and clean, it’s comfortable, and it’s slip-resistant. Furthermore, these floors can’t fade or stain, and they are mildew resistant. They also provide good sealing, which is very important when it comes to healthcare flooring.

Rubber flooring comes in rolls, which means that it offers easy and affordable installation. Rubber is a very low-maintenance material for floors. It doesn’t require waxes or other coatings, which makes it very cost-effective. Rubber floors are quite slip-resistant, which makes them safe for both the hospital personal and the patients. They are also sound-absorbing, and they are quite comfortable on your fit, because, like vinyl flooring, they provide cushioning underfoot.

The main disadvantage of rubber floors for hospitals is that vinyl floors are more resistant to chemicals, as well as more water-resistant. Vinyl floors are also superior to rubber when it comes to aesthetics because they are much more versatile. The top layer of vinyl tiles, planks or sheets features a photograph, and with the advancement of technology, vinyl flooring can mimic any other flooring type, or offer many colours and interesting designs.

Final Thoughts

picture of a hospital waiting room with vinyl flooring
source: abudhabicarpets.ae

Both vinyl flooring and rubber flooring have many advantages when it comes to hospital floors, and both can perform perfectly. Whichever option you choose, hospital floors cannot do better than these two options. And even they both have some advantages and disadvantages over the other, both can do the job perfectly.

One of the ways to choose between the two is by comparing the prices. Rubber is generally more expensive than vinyl. Another is aesthetics. Furthermore, there is the option of not choosing. Because of their small differences, these two options may offer better performance for different areas in the hospital. Finally, don’t forget about quality. Different manufacturers offer different qualities of both flooring options.