BS 7953 : 1999 describes the types of interior and exterior entrance flooring systems, and gives recommendations for methods of selection, planning, installation and maintenance.
4. Functions
The majority of the soil in a building originates from the shoe soles of people entering the building. Other sources are the wheels of vehicles, for example wheelchairs, and wind-borne soil.
The amount of soil brought into a building varies according to the weather and external conditions, such as building work.
The function of the entrance flooring system is to:
- reduce the incidence of slipping accidents by reducing the amount of soil and moisture tracked onto hard and resilient floors
- prolong the life of interior floors by reducing the ingress of abrasive soil
- reduce cleaning requirements of internal floors by reducing the ingress of soil into the interior floors/floor coverings
To fulfill these functions an entrance flooring system should have the following qualities:
- removal and retention of soil
- ease of cleaning and maintenance
- retention of physical characteristics
5. Materials
5.1 General
… The entrance flooring system should scrape, wipe and retain, making contact with both feet of people entering the building and, in the case of wheeled traffic, with the circumference of the wheels… This applies to all situations, internal or external, where people move from a soiled to a clean environment e.g. from a kitchen to a dining room or from a factory to an office.
6. Design considerations
6.1 Ease of access
… An entrance flooring system should not introduce any features which make access more difficult. Consideration should be given to users of wheelchairs, sticks or crutches. The system should be designed without abrupt changes in level which could result in tripping accidents or impede wheeled traffic.
6.2 Effective length
The objective with any entrance flooring system is to achieve the maximum number of footfalls within the space available… In any case consideration should be given to such factors as external and internal conditions, traffic levels, size of entrance, use of building and type of internal floor coverings.
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