Should You Use Commercial Carpet, Hard Flooring, or Both in Your New Office?

It can seem like everyone is moving away from carpet: store floors are increasingly made with tile, offices have vinyl wood planking, and even homes are moving to wood and tile flooring alternatives. But offices still need carpet in key sections of the floor space. If you’re renovating your office and you need to pick new floors, here’s a quick breakdown of where you should use carpet and where you should use harder alternatives.

Where should you install tile or vinyl flooring?

These floors are easy to clean, which makes them a great choice for high-volume areas or anywhere you’ll need to be cleaned more frequently. A popular choice is vinyl or ceramic plank tiles, which match almost any design style, can change how spacious a floor plan looks, and offset stains in between daily or weekly cleaning better than plain tiles. Install them in:

Entryways, because people are entering directly from the outside, with snow, rain, and mud on their shoes. It’s also the first place new clients and potential employees see, so dress it up.

Main hallways. This includes everything from the hallways to separate main office spaces, the aisle in front of cubicles, and anywhere else there’s a lot of traffic.

Where should you have carpeting?

Carpet is more comfortable. Whether it’s the visual look of carpet that makes the office a bit more relaxed and warm-looking or the actual padding underneath and the cushion in carpet, it’s easier on the feet. So install it:

Where the cubicles are. That’s where your employees are going to do the most sitting and standing, and it’s also where the shift of chairs and cubicle walls can cause the most scratches to vinyl. People in high heels will thank you.

Wherever people stand for long periods of time. This includes the aisles between cubicles, presentation areas, and training rooms (people listening to high heels will thank you). It can also mean the areas you’ve already planned for tiles or wood, so find sturdy rugs that both make it easier to walk and pull your design together.

A planned mix of hard and carpeted flooring is the right fit for your office. Go to Tangram to get started.