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Polyamide or Polypropylene for Commercial Entrance Matting?

We all like to complete our Commercial Entrance Matting jobs with a fine level of finishing. Secondary entrance matting requires some specific attention as all traffic in a commercial building has to enter and exit.

With matting making one of the most intensively used pieces of carpet in a building, there are three reasons why it pays off to select a well performing mat:

  • A mat protects the other installed flooring against wear and tear. Sand on a floor acts like sandpaper, damaging both hard floors and soft floors. Many flooring brands recommend that a good quality entrance matting should be applied in order to live up to the lifetime expectation and to avoid quality claims.
  • It catches dirt and moisture, reducing the cleaning effort. Some people claim that this cost reduction could go even increase above 50%. We at Rinos are unsure about this claim but we all know from our own homes that it does make a big difference.
  • It contributes to avoiding slip accidents caused by a wet floor. It is the Facility Manager’s nightmare to be held accountable for injuries caused by a slippery floor on a rainy day.

Needle felt or tufted carpet

What do we mean about good performance? Basically, a mat needs to absorb dirt and moisture and these functions should be sustained over a lifetime.

This performance depends a lot on the basic material choice as well as manufacturing method.

Needle felt has been applied in a lot in entrances because it is very strong and rather economical.

However, due to the manufacturing method it has a rather closed surface that hinders the absorption of dirt. Needle felt may be fine for high traffic areas, but not at the entrance.

Tufted carpet is a better choice because these carpets have an open structure that allows for dirt absorption.

Polyamide or Polypropylene

When it comes to tufted carpet, there is a choice between polypropylene and polyamide (nylon) mats. Polypropylene is very popular because it is economical and looks good when new.

However, the choice should be based on the performance of catching dirt and the visual aspect after a couple of years in use.

That is particularly important in contract situations with heavy traffic. Rinos, a Dutch manufacturer of textile entrance matting, makes this visible. Both fig.1 and fig.2 show a Polypropylene and a Polyamide entrance mat: new and after a laboratory simulation of about 5 years use.

The polypropylene pile has reduced in height more than the Polyamide pile (fig. 1). Polypropylene is not resilient and lies flat after intensive use. It looks dull and won’t absorb dirt anymore (fig. 2). When used with high traffic, it will show a very clear walking trail. The use classification according EN 1307 is class 22 (residential use)

The polyamide reduces in height too, yet not as strong as the Polypropylene. The visual aspect is the biggest difference. The polyamide pile is resilient and raises back after pressure. The structure looks almost new, remains open and continues to absorb dirt and moisture. This carpet is classified 33 (heavy commercial use).

Monofilaments create a sandpit

The polyamide fibre enables constructions with a mix of fine yarn piles for moisture absorption and thick, monofilament piles to scrape off dirt.

Fig.1 shows that this construction creates a kind of sandpit in the mat: it allows for a lot of storage capacity between the piles. Due to the space between the resilient piles, polyamide mats are easy to clean with a vacuum cleaner.

Regular cleaning recovers the storage capacity, thus maintaining the basic function.

Affordable quality for your project

If you need to select or specify a secondary entrance mat for commercial use, the most important thing is to choose a polyamide mat with use classification 32 or 33.

If there is space and budget for a large outdoor mat, a product without scraper yarn is excellent to optimise for moisture absorption. If there is only a small outdoor mat or no outdoor mat at all, a polyamide product with scraper yarn is the better choice.

At Rinos we have a wide choice of distributor branded contract products available with many optional specifications and fast logistical service. We pay particular attention to absorption performance and visual performance of our products.

For more information and distribution please contact Rinos on Tel: + 31 38 385 3500 – Email: [email protected] – Website: www.rinos.com

 

Rinos-Figs Matting

 

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