Resin flooring systems offer a long lasting, aesthetic alternative to traditional materials

The concept of Seamless flooring is still relatively new within the flooring industry – and some struggle to believe it is possible.
  
Imagine the scope of design possibilities that comes with being able to create thousands of metres of flooring in the colour or colours of your choice – without a single system joint, crease or welding line. From an aesthetic perspective, resin flooring ticks all the boxes. Architects and designers can achieve virtually any block colour they require, or broadcast with decorative contrasting or complementary chip flakes to create more of a speckled effect. It is even possible, with highly skilled contractors, to create a marble effect from a resin poured from a tin. What’s more, this type of flooring, depending on the size of the room, can be laid in up to half the time of a traditional system.
  

While high performance polyurethane resin flooring systems, sometimes described as liquid applied vinyl, are a new concept to many, they have actually been used within the leisure sector for some years now and are increasingly being specified in the education, healthcare, food and pharmaceutical sectors as awareness grows of the additional benefits they can bring to a project over and above traditional systems.
  
With traditional materials, such as tiles, timber, sheet vinyl and lino, regular attention must be given to the joints to identify areas that require maintenance and cleaning. This is especially important in environments such as hospitals and food preparation facilities, where the highest standards of hygiene are required.
  
The beauty of seamless flooring is there is no grout or bonds where water could ingress and bacterial growth develop, eliminating the problem altogether. As an extension of this, seamless flooring can actually be extended up into the wall system for added ease of hygiene and impressive design flexibility.
  
In terms of application, these systems lend themselves equally well to new build and refurbishment projects. In the latter, savvy contractors have been quick to identify the time and cost savings resin-based systems can generate. Firstly they can be laid over any flooring type, so long as it is bound with no movement in the substrate, which negates the need to pull up existing flooring and send it to landfill. They can also be incorporated into underfloor heating systems and built up to meet specific comfort, acoustic design, vandal-resistance and slip-resistance levels up to R10 Rating, as required by the customer.
  
Secondly, as resin comes out of a tin, it is far easier to handle from a health and safety perspective, removing the need for installation teams to carry big heavy rolls of flooring across site.
 

It is also worth noting that some resin flooring systems are fully tested for VOC (volatile organic compounds) emissions and achieve the most stringent European Standards, which means they won’t give off the same strong odour that you can get after laying a new carpet or other floor.
  
People new to the clean, seamless look of resin flooring are always stunned to see it in action and often comment that it is the future of flooring. Due to the growing demand in this area there are now free CPD training programmes available, and networks of approved flooring contractors are in place to give customers added peace of mind of the quality of the finished effects.
  
While we all have a tendency to stick to the tried and trusted systems we are most familiar with you may find it pays, from an aesthetic, practical and long-term view, to consider a resin product for your next flooring project.