Commercial Flooring for Retail Spaces in Hampshire

Choosing flooring for a shop or retail premises involves more than finding something that looks right.

Retail flooring has to cope with customers walking through the building throughout the day, displays and shelving, cleaning, deliveries and, depending on the type of business, areas with very different requirements.

A flooring product that works well across the main shop floor may not necessarily be the right choice for a stockroom, entrance, staff area or customer toilet.

At Enhanced Carpets & Flooring, we supply and install commercial flooring for shops, retail units and other businesses across Hampshire. Here are some of the main things worth considering when planning new flooring for a retail environment.

Before deciding on a particular floor covering, we would normally look at how the premises is actually used.

Things we would normally consider include:

• The amount and type of foot traffic
• Entrances and busy walkways
• Displays, shelving and other fixtures
• Cleaning and maintenance requirements
• Customer-facing areas
• Stockrooms and back-of-house areas
• Staff kitchens and toilets
• The existing floor covering
• The condition of the subfloor
• Access for installation
• Budget and expected lifespan

There isn’t one flooring product that is automatically suitable for every retail premises.

A smaller boutique may have very different requirements from a busy convenience store, showroom or larger retail unit.

Luxury vinyl tile can work particularly well in retail environments where appearance is important alongside practical day-to-day maintenance.

LVT is available in a wide range of wood, stone and other finishes, allowing businesses to create a particular look without using the natural material itself.

It can be considered for areas including:

• Main shop floors
• Showrooms
• Reception areas
• Customer consultation areas
• Salons and similar premises
• Staff and meeting areas

Manufacturers including Amtico and Karndean produce flooring suitable for a range of commercial applications, although the particular product needs to be selected according to the intended use and manufacturer guidance.

As with any LVT installation, the condition of the floor underneath is important. Uneven areas and imperfections in the subfloor may become visible through the finished flooring, so preparation often forms an important part of the installation.

Commercial vinyl is another practical option where durability and straightforward cleaning are priorities.

Depending on the product selected, commercial vinyl can be suitable for busy shop floors, corridors, staff areas, stockrooms and other parts of a retail building.

Sheet vinyl can also provide a relatively continuous surface with fewer joins than many modular flooring products.

There are numerous types and specifications available, however, so we wouldn’t recommend choosing commercial vinyl purely because a product is described as hard-wearing.

The expected traffic, cleaning regime, environment and condition of the existing floor all need to be considered.

Carpet tiles aren’t limited to offices.

They can also be useful for certain retail environments, particularly where comfort, acoustics and the ability to replace individual sections of flooring are important.

They may be considered for:

• Showrooms
• Consultation areas
• Customer waiting areas
• Upper floors
• Offices within retail premises
• Lower-traffic customer areas

One practical advantage is their modular construction.

If an individual tile becomes permanently marked or damaged, it can generally be replaced without removing the entire floor, providing suitable replacement material is available.

For businesses that expect layouts to change over time, this can be useful.

Different parts of a retail premises can require different flooring.

Staff kitchens, toilets, changing facilities and other areas where water or spillages are more likely may require flooring with different performance characteristics from the main sales floor.

Suitable safety flooring can provide increased slip resistance for environments where that is required.

Products from manufacturers such as Polyflor, Altro, Tarkett, Forbo and Gerflor are available for a wide range of commercial applications.

The correct product should always be selected according to the particular environment, expected use and manufacturer’s guidance rather than assuming one safety flooring product is suitable everywhere.

The entrance to a retail premises can receive considerably more wear than other areas.

Customers repeatedly travel through the same relatively small section of flooring, while dirt and moisture can also be brought into the building from outside.

The flooring around an entrance therefore needs to be considered as part of the overall scheme rather than simply continuing whatever has been used elsewhere.

Depending on the premises, entrance matting and appropriate commercial flooring can form part of the flooring specification.

Transitions between different floor coverings also need to be planned properly to provide a neat and practical finish.

There is no reason every part of a commercial building needs to have identical flooring.

For example, a retail premises might use LVT across the main customer-facing area, carpet tiles in a consultation space and suitable commercial or safety vinyl within staff facilities.

Choosing flooring according to what each area actually needs can often make more sense than trying to find one product to do everything.

The important part is planning how those surfaces work together.

Floor heights, thresholds, doorways and transitions all need to be considered before installation.

The finished flooring is only part of the job.

Once an existing floor covering is removed, we can sometimes find old adhesive, damaged screed, uneven surfaces, previous repairs or different substrates underneath.

Depending on what is found, preparation may include:

• Removal of old flooring and adhesive residues
• Minor repairs
• Appropriate primers
• Smoothing compounds
• Other preparation appropriate to the substrate and flooring system

LVT and commercial vinyl in particular generally require a smooth, suitable surface to achieve a professional finish.

This is why we prefer to inspect commercial flooring projects properly rather than assuming that a new floor covering can simply be fitted directly over whatever is already there.

Closing a business completely isn’t always practical.

Depending on the particular premises and scope of the work, it may sometimes be possible to plan flooring installation in stages or around access requirements.

There are a number of things to consider, including:

• Moving displays and fixtures
• Customer and staff access
• Floor preparation
• Adhesive and curing requirements
• Deliveries
• Areas that need to remain operational
• Reinstatement of furniture and displays

These are worth discussing before work starts so the flooring installation can be planned around the requirements of the business as far as reasonably practical.

There isn’t a single answer.

LVT can be a good option where appearance and straightforward maintenance are priorities.

Commercial vinyl can provide a practical, hard-wearing surface for many busy areas.

Carpet tiles can work well where comfort and acoustic performance are important.

Safety flooring may be required in areas where increased slip resistance is appropriate.

Quite often, using a combination of flooring products is the most sensible solution.

The right specification will depend on the type of business, traffic, cleaning requirements, appearance, budget, existing floor and conditions on site.

Enhanced Carpets & Flooring supplies and installs commercial flooring for shops, businesses, landlords, contractors and other commercial clients across Hampshire and the surrounding area.

Our commercial flooring services include:

• Commercial vinyl
• Safety flooring
• Carpet tiles
• Commercial carpet
• LVT
• Screeding and smoothing compounds
• Subfloor preparation
• Flooring uplift and replacement

We are based in Portsmouth and undertake commercial flooring projects throughout Hampshire, including Fareham, Havant, Waterlooville, Southampton and surrounding areas, with projects further afield considered depending on the requirements.

Before recommending a flooring system, we can visit the premises, look at how the different areas are used and inspect the existing floors.

That gives us a much better basis for discussing suitable products and preparation than choosing flooring without seeing the building.