“Rubber tiles on the floor of the second storey of the Old Supreme Court Building, Singapore”, by Jacklee, licensed under Creative Commons ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Among the familiar flooring options for residential and commercial settings in Singapore, rubberised flooring is gradually rising in popularity. This trend is mainly due to its applicability in interior and exterior environments for general and specific purposes. Since rubber flooring’s early days in the 12th century, it progressively evolved to incorporate varied designs and improve user features. This blog post highlights the principal properties of rubberised flooring and consequently relates how they bring advantages in three applications.

Properties of Rubberised Flooring

Three typical forms: rolls, tiles and mats for various applications in small, large, or odd spaces.
Its thickness range is typically from 1/8 to 3/4 inches.
High dimensional stability and toughness to protect the subfloor.
Durable tensile strength to provide strong resilience against physical impact.
Inherent elasticity to provide effective shock and vibration absorption.
Safety properties of moisture, fire and static resistance.
Friction-sliding coefficient of 0.85μ, well over the high slip-resistance value of 0.3μ.
NRC (Noise Reduction Coefficient) of up to 0.15 and reduces footfall sound by up to 20 dB (decibels).

Child and Senior Friendly

Do you have bruises and scars from falling onto the floors during your younger days? Parents need to protect the young ones from suffering injuries. Not only the young ones, but we also do not want any mishap to happen to older folks or anyone. Widely used in child-care and senior-care centres due to its resilience and safety, you can deploy rubberised flooring at home. Despite being sturdy against impact and strong friction, it has a relatively soft surface to cushion accidental falls. The dimensional stability of modern rubberised flooring seamless installation and thus significantly reduces bumps or bends. As it provides an excellent foot grip and shock absorption, elders can feel safe while walking or doing exercises in the house. Besides foot-grip, it also offers high water and fire resistance that helps to prevent slip injuries and fire accidents. Hence, rubberised flooring is recommended for children and seniors and provides the whole family with peace of mind.

Exercise Readiness

The modular forms of rubberised flooring facilitate flexibility in installation and replacement and thus enable exercise readiness. Each tile has interlocking fringes that connect and lock with one another like a puzzle, which offers the flexibility to install and replace. As people get more conscious of fitness and active in exercising, incorporating physical exercises in living and working environments becomes prevalent. Rubber rolls and mats are available readily and customisable to hold exercising equipment’s sizes and overall floor plans. Whether setting up indoor yoga or gym rooms or incorporating some forms of dynamic exercises, rubberised flooring is the ideal option. You can conveniently perform varied dynamic motions such as bicep curls, bicycle crunches and burpee lunges at home or in work areas. Rubber tiles and rolls are sturdy and have excellent shock absorption to protect the inherent floor surface from fitness equipment. Their slip-resistance and optimised cushioning provide the much-needed comfort and assurance while you concentrate on workout routines and intensity. In a space-constraint environment, it is a concern that noises easily affect family and neighbours. Rubber flooring products have the ideal noise-absorbance to mitigate the noise impact from gym weights and exercising equipment.

“Dunamis Therapy and Fitness”, by Greatmats, licensed under Creative Commons ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Workplace Ergonomics

Compared to tiles and mats, rolls have broader floor coverage and customisation and produce fewer seams. Consequently, they are less vulnerable to dirt and moisture seeping in. Standing and walking on concrete surfaces all day can inhibit blood circulation and lead to leg muscle fatigue. Industrial rubber mats offer a suitable soft and supportive balance to reduce fatigue. Through high elasticity, tensile strength, shock absorbance and anti-static, rubber floors provide workers with a safer environment. With effective vibration and sound absorbance, rubber floors are relatively quiet to walk on and contribute to a conducive workspace. Being highly versatile to deploy, you can efficiently install or incorporate them into different commercial settings. They are highly applicable in high foot traffic areas such as co-working spaces, hospital wards, school sports halls, and indoor and outdoor sports arenas. Together with its durable tensile strength, rubberised flooring has moisture and heat resistance that facilitates low maintenance. Therefore, rubber flooring products are ergonomic in various workplace environments.