This is a picture of a project I recently completed for Ball Aerosol Corporation. The customer has a huge manufacturing plant located directly off of the front office area as is typical with a lot of manufacturing facilities. The problem they were experiencing was that there was so much grease, dirt, and oil being tracked in on the carpeting that it looked 10 years old in a matter of less than 2 years. I suggested that we create aisles or pathways to match the flow of foot traffic as the employees come in and out of the warehouse into the office. We chose to use a porcelain tile product as it's non-porous and won't absorb any of the foreign soil that is walked into the space. Additionally we put a grout sealer on all the grout to help keep the grout from discoloring over time. As a last line of defense they are using walk-off carpet mats in various areas to help keep the amount of soil that is walked into the offices to a minimum. This is one of the most common issues that our clients have about their flooring. It's not 100% guaranteed to solve the problem, but it almost always drastically helps reduce the amount of soiling on the carpeted areas, and still maintains the office's upscale look. It would be great to install the tile throughout the entire office, however the tile is about 4 times the cost of carpet tile. Additionally, carpet gives the office something that tile never will and that's a better acoustical value and warmth. In an environment where employees are constantly on the phone it's imperative that noise levels be kept to a minimum which is why creating these aisles for Ball Corporation was a great solution!
