Flooring

Re: Flooring

Bob Russell — Thu, 30 Aug 2012 18:03:56 GMT

It will look fantastic!

Re: Flooring

Gerry Henry — Thu, 30 Aug 2012 17:23:08 GMT

LOL, and colour I've chosen is ... light grey!

Re: Flooring

Bob Russell — Thu, 30 Aug 2012 17:12:51 GMT

We have the Altro safety flooring but something brown has discoloured it throughout the practice. It is rust coloured and runs in parallel lines almost like the outline of drains.

If you are going to spend this sort of money make sure they seal the old floor well. At first we thought this was staining from above but over the years it is clearly coming from underneath. Very annoying!

Darker colours perhaps might be better than our light grey choice.

Re: Flooring

Rob Loxley — Thu, 30 Aug 2012 16:57:46 GMT

Probably not super cheap but super hard wearing are poured epoxy resin floors

Re: Flooring

Gerry Henry — Thu, 30 Aug 2012 13:44:53 GMT

Looking at ALTRO SUPREMA II non slip, welded etc. What percentage of the flooring price would you expect to pay in laying costs. ALTRO is about £18 per m2, the under floor is old fashioned terrazo so minimal screeding required.

Re: Flooring

Anthony Todd — Thu, 30 Aug 2012 11:20:55 GMT

[quote user="Malcolm Ness"]The best we have found is commercial grade vinyls with welded seams and welded in coved skirting.[/quote]

I'll second that. Stick down tiles and anything stuck with evostik, or it's successors or derivatives, invariably fails as does any flooring without the joints welded with molten vinyl. [Not easy to DIY, incidentally]. They've gone to water based adhesives which I don't think are as good; certainly not better.

Tar or bitumen based adhesives might not fail but are jet black!.

Vets' floors should be "tanked" ie should hold water up to the top of the coving which should be, therefore, "fit under "not sit on".

Surface seals invariably fail ,even if guaranteed for life, as one of ours over attractive cork tiles, thereby absorbing any liquids which befell them. The permanent odour was not a blessing.

They start off transparent and always go brownish and show the worn areas.

Water and free edges or tiles invariably and inevitably are a disaster.

Do not economise on clinic flooring.

Re: Flooring

Hannah Wynne Richards — Thu, 30 Aug 2012 11:08:17 GMT

Since new floors in business premises have to be non-slip to comply with the law, then I don't know how you can avoid carborandum old smooth vinyl is ok-but not newly laid

Wynne

Re: Flooring

Malcolm Ness — Thu, 30 Aug 2012 09:44:48 GMT

Hi Gerry,

Over the years we have put down a number of floors in various surgeries etc. The best we have found is commercial grade vinyls with welded seams and welded in coved skirting.

Preparation seems to be the most important factor - good screeding and a properly nailed down plywood layer placed by a good tradesman. If this is compromised, no matter what you put on top will fail/wear prematurely.

Some of the vinyls have the pattern in the base layers and the upper (wearing) layer is transparent - these are a little more expensive but they seem to perform better for longer.

Re: Flooring

Julie Innes — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 19:08:31 GMT

I used ecotiles- they weren't all that cheap, but hard wearing and easy to lay. My husband and I did the whole surgery in under a week (135sq m) although doing some of the awkward cuts was a bit of a challenge! the plus side is that if 1 tile gets damaged you can replace it fairly easily. They are slightly harder to keep clean than I had originally hoped, but do clean up with a bit of a scrub!

Re: Flooring

Martin Atkinson — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 18:59:40 GMT

[quote user="Mark Holmes"]

f you want to work evenings open a few more hours. Do a job you are good at and let somebody else do a job they are good at. It aslo depends on what you call income generaltion. Spend the time wpoking on practice promotion. Organise an open day, write some patient care hand outs. Write a blog etc. Update your practe facebook page. It doesn't generate an income directly but may be time better spent than hours faffing around doing a floor laying job badly

[/quote] My surgery needs decorating, I'm too tight to pay anyone do it plus the logistics of working around decorators is too horrible to contemplate so every bank holiday I think I'll get on with it, I then look at the size of the task ahead and go for a bike ride instead. Its not all just about generating income but quality of life. Just before it all falls down around my ears I'll get the decorators in.

Re: Flooring

Mark Holmes — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 17:07:42 GMT

[quote user="Thomas Johnson"]

[quote user="Mark Holmes"]

Actually laying it yourself is very expensive when you consider how much you charge pre hour to how much you pay somebody else to do it.

[/quote]

Only if you do it when you could have been working, if you do it in the evening or at weekends you haven't lost any income.

[/quote]

If you want to work evenings open a few more hours. Do a job you are good at and let somebody else do a job they are good at. It aslo depends on what you call income generaltion. Spend the time wpoking on practice promotion. Organise an open day, write some patient care hand outs. Write a blog etc. Update your practe facebook page. It doesn't generate an income directly but may be time better spent than hours faffing around doing a floor laying job badly

Re: Flooring

Thomas Johnson — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 16:59:38 GMT

[quote user="Mark Holmes"]

Actually laying it yourself is very expensive when you consider how much you charge pre hour to how much you pay somebody else to do it.

[/quote]

Only if you do it when you could have been working, if you do it in the evening or at weekends you haven't lost any income.

Re: Flooring

Mark Holmes — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 16:52:28 GMT

Actually laying it yourself is very expensive when you consider how much you charge pre hour to how much you pay somebody else to do it.

Re: Flooring

Lorna McHardy — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 14:54:31 GMT

I thought you said price was important? Given that laying flooring is a job I enjoy hardly at all, I don't think you could afford my rates :0)

Re: Flooring

Gerry Henry — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 14:49:55 GMT

Dear Kismet, Thank you for your kind offer to floor my premises yourself. Please advise me of your rates at your earliest convenience.I have no doubt that your preparation will be exemplary. BTW its 200 sq metres so you might want to give yourself a few weeks. :)

Re: Flooring

Lorna McHardy — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 17:18:38 GMT

[quote user="Gerry Henry"]

Looking for new floors, vinyl type, hard wearing, no carborundum (shiny grit) finishes; any advice, price very important!

[/quote]

If price very important, I'd consider doing the work myself. Generally (and probably superfluously) speaking... preparation is at least as important as the material you choose.

Re: Flooring

Gerry Henry — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 13:29:43 GMT

How much per sq metre please for the stuff on a roll?

Re: Flooring

Martin Atkinson — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 13:20:38 GMT

We had Altro flooring laid throughout the whole building when the clinic was built in 1986 it has stood the test of time, apart from a few of the coving strips that have come unstuck, until this year when one strip had to be cut out and repaired where some of the waiting room chairs had worn it. I can't remember the original price for the whole job but that piece 4.5 x 1 M cost £285 to have the old bit cut out and the new piece welded and coved back in place. It is a perfect job and I highly recommend the company Deco Floors if you're based with reasonable distance of London.

Re: Flooring

Bob Russell — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 13:04:08 GMT

Cheapest is self-adhesive stick on tiles (Marley) on a well prepared surface. We have sheet vinyl (non-slip) throughout the practice but these tiles in the office. Sadly I think they have stood the test of time better than the sheet vinyl. Our builder put them down himself on a self leveling screed. He was a bit of a perfectionist! We have some spares for patching but have never needed to use them ten years later.

Not sure if they satisfy the requirements for hospital status though.

Our really expensive sheet flooring looks pretty cr*p as something has come through from underneath and stained it. Joins have needed repairs. The tiles look almost as good as the day they went down!

I got a quote for replacement as the floors are looking distinctly 'tired' but nearly had heart failure!!