Entryways create a building’s first impressions. They are also its most trafficked areas, and since more than 80% of the dirt entering a building comes in on the soles of shoes, installing the correct entrance matting is essential.
By dramatically reducing the amount of dirt and moisture tracked over interior floors, entrance mats save on both cleaning and maintenance costs, sparing floors from scratches, stains and other damage. They make entryways safer by reducing the risk of slip and fall accidents. The right entrance matting system can also serve as a stylish design element to complement or contrast with a building’s aesthetics.
Perhaps the most important choice when selecting entrance matting is the material it’s constructed from. Polyamide offers superior performance to many other fibres, and provides the basis for many of Advance Floorings’ entrance matting systems.
Polyamide fibre features a mix of fine yarn piles for moisture absorption and thick monofilament piles to scrape off solid particles. More resilient than many other entry matting materials, polyamide rises back after pressure, meaning the weave stays open to trap more dirt and moisture. This resilience also means greater resistance to wear. As a synthetic fibre, polyamide holds dye especially well, and will retain its look and feel over many years of use.
Both moisture absorption and dirt removal are vital in furthering the life of interior flooring, whether hard or soft. Entrance matting traps dirt from both foot and wheeled traffic so it can be easily vacuumed away.
The ability of entrance matting to wick away moisture is also an essential safety feature. Most slip and fall accidents occur in entryways, particularly in commercial buildings, which typically have hard flooring that is particularly slippery when damp, making high-performance matting essential for the safety of visitors.
Because people entering a building often do not stop to wipe their feet, it is important that an entrance mat is long enough to ensure enough contacts with shoe soles. Australian and New Zealand codes recommend a minimum mat depth of 1.8 metres from front to back, which allows for two contacts of each foot.
Advance provides a range of entrance matting systems designed for performance, durability and style. Products such as Axis, CoralTread, EverTread and Zeno offer sophisticated visual appeal that creates a great first impression for any building, while serving to protect its interior and its occupants.
Check out the range of NZ Manufactured Entrance Mats here.