Hotel Wet Areas And Swimming Pool Flooring

o you run a hotel, and is your swimming pool/deck the most popular area for guests? We bet that your pool area is covered in tiles, as that's what most hotel and pool builders use, but have you ever considered other flooring options that are a lot more durable and luxurious looking?

Let's face it: Tiles around pools can be a nuisance and even dangerous for your hotel guests. They often crack, especially when exposed to direct sunlight for a long period of time and heavy foot traffic. They can be very slippery when wet, and they get very hot to the touch when exposed to direct sunlight. They are also great breeding grounds for mold, fungus and bacteria, and they can be hard to maintain and clean.

What if we told you that other flooring options on the market are much more durable, hygienic and safer for your guests and staff?

Here, we have epoxy flooring options that will reduce your pool maintenance costs and transform your hotel pool into the most luxurious area.

Epoxy Flake Flooring

Epoxy flake is one of the most decorative and durable flooring systems suitable for outdoor use. This system consists of multiple flexible layers of resin and hardener combined with decorative vinyl flakes. The combination makes epoxy flake highly durable, withstanding years of usage without altering the appearance or performance of the floor.

The epoxy flake topcoats make this system weather-resistant, saving your underlying concrete from cracking and your hotel pool from damage. The UV properties of the topcoats prevent the floor from discoloration under direct sunlight, making it ideal for hotel resorts in sunny places like Florida, California and Texas.

Since the floor has a smooth surface, stains and dirt cannot soak through it like with unsealed concrete floors, making it extremely easy to clean and requiring occasional mopping.

Not having any gaps, like hardwood decking or tiles, means that mold, bacteria and fungus will not be able to breed on your floor, making it more hygienic for your resort guests. The added anti-slip improves the safety of your pool staff and children running around the pool.

The unlimited flake color blends makes epoxy flake the most customizable outdoor flooring option.

Honed Concrete

When your hotel pool deck concrete floor is installed, it is first ground down to expose the desired aggregate level (the sand and stone underneath the surface). This varies from nil exposure, where no stones are visible, to total exposure, where all stones are visible.

After grinding, concrete floors are then 'honed' using different levels of diamond grit to achieve the desired level of shine. The finer the diamond grit used, the higher the degree of shine.

As polished concrete tends to have a higher level of shine, making it very slippery when wet, honed concrete for outdoor use can't be highly polished and is only available in a matte finish.

Once the concrete is honed, a penetrating sealer is used to seal and protect it from stains, scratches and scuffs. Because the sealer penetrates the concrete surface, it is almost impossible for it to wear off, scratch or be damaged by heavy foot traffic, making it a lower-maintenance and longer-lasting option.

Grind And Seal

Polished concrete is now the trendiest and most luxurious flooring on the market. However, it tends to be very slippery when wet, so it is not recommended for outdoor use.

Fortunately, this is where the grind and seal method comes to the rescue. The difference between polished concrete and grind and seal is that instead of mechanically polishing the surface with resins and polishing machines, the appearance of polished concrete is achieved by applying a topical sealer in your choice of matte or gloss. If using outside, a non-slip grit is added to this coating to ensure the surface is slip-resistant. Grind and seal flooring has many benefits, such as durability and ease of cleaning, prevents bacteria, mold, and fungus growth, and is cold to the touch.

Even though it is still much more durable than tiles, the only downside of grind and seal is that the topical sealer tends to wear away and needs to be resealed every couple of years.

Quartz Shield Flooring

‍Quartz shield flooring is a combination of epoxy resin mixed with quartz granules. Like flake flooring, quartz shield is water and weather-resistant, abrasion, stain, and scratch-resistant. Designed for the most demanding environments, a quartz shield can withstand anything you throw at it, from heavy outdoor furniture and heavy foot traffic to the highly chlorinated pool water. Like flake flooring, quartz shield flooring comes in various colors, making it easier to complement your hotel pool deck design.

Rock/Stone Carpet

Do you own a hotel in a county style and want to transform this feel to your outdoor areas and pool deck? One excellent option to do is stone carpet.

Stone carpet is a mixture of different-sized and colored rounded pebbles, marble pebbles or quartzites mixed with a high-performance polyurethane coat.

Stone carpet is laid similarly to screed, where the concrete floor is first waterproofed, then the stone carpet is laid on top.

Stone carpet has excellent benefits for hotel pool areas, such as soundproofing, ease of care, durability, and a pleasant feel on the feet. It also prevents mold and fungus growth.

The best part is that stone carpet is highly customizable, allowing you to choose custom colors, sizes, borders and patterns.

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