Rubber Floors

Rubber is a natural material with shock absorbing capabilities. This property of rubber makes it an excellent choice for areas where you need sound and heat insulation, soft flooring that can resist water or flooring that can provide traction and prevent injuries. The kitchen, home theaters, work shop, gym, and sports arena are some of the places where rubber flooring is most appreciated.

Rubber floors are available as modular tiles, mats or textured surface. If you want you can also get a rubber coating installed in your premises. Environmentally friendly and durable, rubber is a great flooring choice.

Natural versus Synthetic Rubber?

Natural rubber is obtained by collecting and processing the latex of the rubber tree – Hevea brasiliensis. A native of Central and South America, the rubber plant is now widely cultivated all over the world including South East Asia.

The limited supply of natural rubber prompted a search for synthetic substitute and today petrochemical products are used to manufacture synthetic rubber. Many rubber products in the market today are a blend of synthetic and natural rubber.

Rubber Flooring

Rubber was used as a flooring material as early as the twelfth century A.D. Later flooring products like tiles, hardwood flooring and stone floors came in vogue. In the early 1900’s rubber flooring again gained in popularity on the back of strong demand from industries looking for strong yet soft flooring. The old rubber flooring was susceptible to damage from humidity thus restricting its use.

Modern rubber manufacturing processes have cured almost all the ills that older rubber flooring suffered from.

Modern rubber flooring is

• Renewable and environmentally friendly
• Anti-fatigue and shock resistant
• Resists stains and traffic well
• Insulates heat and sound
• Is anti static and microbe resistant.

Rubber flooring has several advantages but does have its share of problems

• It may absorb fats
• Rubber mats may be slippery when water is present
• Rubber floors are difficult to clean as the dust tends to stick on to it. It needs regular vacuuming to keep it clean
• Rubber flooring is also easily and permanently damaged by sharp objects

Rubber Floor Installation

Rubber floors are available as click and lock tiles and as roll down floors. The installation of rubber floors is therefore easy. Rubber can be easily shaped with a sharp knife and rubber tiles do not break if they fall accidentally. A rubber flooring is therefore an excellent material for a DIY flooring project.

Rubber from recycled automobile tires can also be used to create rubber floors minimizing its environmental impact. There is one caveat with rubber. You may have come across the argument that as demand for rubber grows – more forests may be cleared to make way for rubber plantations. A counterargument is that the environmental impact of rubber trees would be limited to reduced biodiversity. The carbon footprint of rubber flooring would still be among the lowest. At Contempo Floor Coverings you can find rubber flooring for both residential and commercial purposes. We have a wide range of rubber floors from the best brands. Our range of rubber flooring colors and patterns must be seen to be believed. We also store recycled rubber floors and floors made from a mixture of rubber and cork further reducing the environmental footprint of rubber flooring.

Visit our Los Angeles Flooring showrooms for more information about Flooring.