Flooring

[Anonymous]

Hi All,
I'm located in Southeast Florida and have a bought an old store, this store has a terrible looking linoleum tile floor. I want to redue the floor but i'm not sure what flooring makes the most sense....my contractor is advising me to put industrial strength ceramic tile on the floor that is 12x12 with a gritty surface.

What do you all think and what would you suggest? i am concerned about people slipping and tiles breaking, i want something that is durable and easy to maintain and clean. What advice do you have?

[KJD]

My ceramic tile is 15 years old and still looks great.
It costs more to put in but is very easy to maintain and well worth it.
I have only one suggestion. If you have ceramic put in have them fill the grout lines all the way to the surface of the tile (much easier to mop) and have the grout sealed with a good grade of sealer after it is cured.

[pete f]

Ceramic tile is the way to go, I have it in 2 stores, and see it in many others, it is going in my next one. I have tried the non slip style, light colors that is textured, and at one store, plain dark mexican red smooth. The easiest one to keep clean, and always looks the best, is the red smooth one. I have non slip in a light color, it is hard to keep clean. I have lighter texture smooth type at another, it shows the dirt more than I like. I am putting in either a darker texture type or a darker smooth one in the next store. As for slipping, that is what you have insurance for. Keeping the mat clean is more important, I have not had any slip issues either.

[kate]

If you're going to strip off the linoleum (which you would have to do for a good ceramic tile job), you will know what your subfloor is, if you don't already.

If the subfloor is concrete, and it's in decent shape, why not stain that and save the expense of another layer of flooring. Small cracks and divets can be repaired, and the stained floor can look great even if the existing concrete is "mottled". 2 Layers of poly sealer applied like wax every 2 years or so should protect you from spills.

Florida should have plenty of people who can stain the concrete for you as it's becoming more and more fashionable in residential and commercial building, but there's plenty of info online about doing it yourself. Could be a stylish and cost-effective way to go.