Many commercial clients may not realize that inlay is available for most types of commercial flooring. Inlay can add visual interest, beef up design, and doesn’t necessarily add much to the overall cost.
What types of inlay are available?
The most common types are borders and medallions. But, in fact, any kind of design can be executed as an inlay.
Designs can be strictly some eye candy or you can inlay logos or initials for marketing purposes. Keep in mind that if you put borders around certain areas of the floor, you may limit yourself in the future for changes in furniture placement.
In a school, for example, inlay can also help designate certain parts of the floor for specific uses like where the class should sit or stand.
How are inlays done?
Inlays are most often the same material as the primary material except in a different color or pattern. However, it’s possible to do inlays as a different texture, or even an altogether different material.
Flooring that is in discrete tiles is easier to work with for inlays, but sheet flooring can have inlays too.
What kind of flooring lends itself to inlay?
All kinds. Wood, ceramic and porcelain and stone tile, and other flooring that comes in tiles, like luxury vinyl tile (LVT), carpet tiles, or linoleum tiles.
If inlay interests you, talk to your commercial flooring professional who will have plenty of experience with it. There are unlimited photos of projects available if you do a search on google or Pinterest.
What’s important to note is that if you use different flooring materials together for the purposes of inlay on the same floor, they may wear slightly differently. Different flooring materials may also have different friction characteristics and varying degrees of safety.
So, if you are wanting to combine different materials, then you need to consider the wear characteristics of each type of flooring to make sure they are compatible with your intended use and foot or equipment traffic that is forecast.
Feel free to talk to us about inlay in commercial flooring!
We are experts at specifying the right product for your commercial flooring projects. @EagleMatFloors is family owned and operated, providing sales and installation of commercial flooring products to the Washington DC Metro area for over 35 years. We specialize in renovating and retrofit of facilities in the Corporate, Education, Government, Healthcare, Hospitality, Multi-Family and Public Spaces.
For more information please contact us at (301) 762-2000 or sales@eaglemat.net
