Flooring Ideas to Jazz up Your Exhibit

This closes out our series on Carpet and Padding for your exhibit space. So let’s have some fun and look at different options for flooring. I will start by listing the most common options and then we can talk about the attributes of each type.

1. Standard carpet and padding

2. Vinyl flooring which is also referred to as rollable flooring

3. Carpet logos and printed flooring

4. Combinations and cutouts

5. Carpet tiles

First: Standard carpet and padding. Since we have talked about purchasing a carpet over renting for most applications, and what to buy, there is not too much more to go over here. I do want to stress some important dos and don’ts.

1. Never put carpet directly on top of other carpet. This can happen in hotel ballroom settings where the floor is already carpeted. You should always put padding between the carpets to prevent the upper carpet from getting rippled; a term we call “walking”.

2. When calculating shipping costs verify that the carpet and padding will not affect your drayage costs. Either secure the carpet to a crate or verify that the carpet bag will not change the entire shipment to special handling over the crated rate.

3. Always ship your carpet in a carpet bag or protective crate to help avoid damage and stains. Rolling the padding and carpet together is a great way to provide extra strength and help keep the carpet from stretching.

4. If you want the carpet to last a long time then ask your provider to have the carpet edges bound. You don’t hear about this much anymore but it is a great way to prevent carpet threads and stopping the back of the carpet from separating.

Second: Vinyl flooring or rollable flooring. We have used this product many times in small and large applications. Vinyl flooring is printed in many different designs like wood and stone. You can put padding underneath it but very thin urethane padding is recommended. When you ship rollable vinyl it is best to roll it with a rigid tube or put it into a crate for protection. We have used rollable flooring many times for theme exhibits. The grass cloth pattern is great for Tiki Huts. There are industrial metal looks for heavy equipment. A Parquet wood look is great for home builder shows. Stone flooring has many applications for garden shows, heavy equipment, military and much more. Well let’s stop here. We’ll finish next week.

As always, please respond with your questions or comments and let others know about EXHIBITOR LOUNGE.COM. We will see you next week. Until then, I am your host Michael Gray telling you to RELAX in the Exhibitor Lounge.