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The business case for facility expenditures is grounded in the knowledge that life-cycle economics is significant to the continued viability of the facility. The aim of this study is to develop an algorithm for life-cycle cost analysis (LCCA) and evaluate flooring products to inform decision makers about the long-term cost of ownership.

The protocol for executing an LCCA is defined by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, including defining the problem, identifying feasible alternatives and establishing common assumptions and parameters, as well as acquiring financial information. Data were provided by an independent third-party source.

The results of this study are twofold: assess functionally equivalent flooring alternatives to determine the best financial value and develop a replicable protocol and algorithm for LCCA. The study found that modular carpet was the best financial solution. As a tool for decision makers, this LCCA informs asset management about the long-term cost of ownership, providing a protocol for making practical, informed decisions for the lowest cost solution for functionally equivalent alternatives.

Projecting LCCA beyond 15 years may have limited value based on potential changes in the financial climate. Further research should focus on the implications of changes in the discount rate over time and testing the algorithm on other building systems.

Maintenance costs are considerable when compared to initial cost of flooring. Equipment costs have a significant impact on long-term cost of ownership. Using LCCA to inform specifications and to determine the best solution for a building system such as flooring provides an evidence-based process for building design and facility management.

Life-cycle costs have a significant impact on the financial health of an organization. Using LCCA to make informed decisions about facility design and specifications may contribute to increased financial stability and resources to benefit the organization’s long term goals.

This study contributes an algorithm instrument for buildings and building systems. The flooring tested with this protocol provides evidence to inform flooring selection based on lowest cost while considering other factors that inform appropriate selection of flooring materials.

The tight schedule of developing, designing, and managing educational facilities limits the time and resources needed to correctly assess the full cost of building materials. As a result, the selection of interior finishing materials is commonly driven solely by initial cost. This study evaluates interior floor materials currently available for use in K‐12 educational facilities in the State of Florida. The range of materials chosen for the comparison encompasses common flooring materials installed over appropriate sub‐floor materials. The flooring alternatives are evaluated using a service life‐cycle cost (LCC) analysis based on the 50‐year service life specified by the Florida Department of Education. A net present worth (NPW) analysis that includes initial costs, operation and maintenance costs, and replacement costs of each selection is used to evaluate the materials. Interior floorings initial cost, replacement cost, service life, and operations and maintenance costs are compared to the materials resulting LCC.

The purpose of this study is to create a knowledge base for decision-making in healthcare design by seeking, analyzing and discussing the preferences of facility managers of healthcare facilities regarding floor finishes and their selection criteria. The goal is to enable a simplified and holistic selection of floor finishes based on multiple criteria. The authors studied floor finish selection in three healthcare units: emergency, surgery and in-patient units.

The authors completed a literature review to identify types of floor finishes currently used in healthcare facilities and the criteria applied for their selection. Using the literature survey results, a questionnaire was designed and administered to healthcare facility managers. The descriptive statistical analysis and the Friedman and Wilcoxon signed-ranks tests were used for reporting and analyzing the survey data.

The top five floor finishes used in the healthcare sector were identified as vinyl flooring, vinyl composite tile (VCT), rubber, linoleum and ceramic flooring. The top five selection criteria for floor finishes were durability, infection control, ease of maintenance, maintenance cost and user safety. The non-parametric test results show that the floor finish rankings and selection criteria were similar in the three healthcare units under study.

The most significant contribution of this research is to the design decision-making process of healthcare facilities. These results offer an understanding of what floor finishes are preferred by healthcare facility managers and why. This knowledge is crucial for designers and facility managers to make informed choices and floor finish manufacturers to keep their product line relevant to the industry.

This research proposes the study of the pathology in floor finishes, focussing on proactive maintenance strategies to promote the durability of these elements. A model to assess the floorings' performance levels was designed to support decision-making regarding maintenance activities to be carried out, in order to prevent the defects and extend the floors' service life.

The model to measure the floorings' level of performance was developed based on the literature and applied in fieldwork, focussed on visual inspections of floor finishes. Photographs were taken and standardized inspection forms were used to collect the data about the defects in the floors.

This study provides a simple classification model to assess floorings' performance levels, capable to define priorities and help decision-makers in adopting maintenance activities. The model was validated through a case study, which showed that occasionally the choice of the floor finishes is incorrectly made only based on aesthetic criteria and not taking into account the main criteria, i.e. the use of space.

This work contributes to a development of methodologies to assess floorings' performance levels, to study the behavior of different floor finishes, to propose maintenance strategies to improve their performance in service and adopt better solutions in the buildings' design phase.

Background: The ageing population is generating increasing concern over the occurrence and associated costs of falls in healthcare settings. Supplementary to the investigation of strategies to prevent falls, is the consideration of ways to reduce the number of injuries resulting from falls in these settings.Aims: This overview assesses the status of research on flooring in healthcare settings to reduce the incidence of injury resulting from falls.Methods: A comprehensive literature search, carried out in conjunction with a Cochrane Systematic Review on hospital environments for patient health‐related outcomes, identified the available evidence. Searches were also conducted in Medline and Scopus specifically to identify studies on flooring types, falls, and injuries. Reference lists of relevant studies and reviews were scanned and relevant authors were approached for further information.Conclusions: Flooring should be considered as a possible intervention for reducing injuries from falls, however, more rigorous and higher quality research is needed to identify the most appropriate materials for use.

The purpose of this paper was to assess the economic impact of investment in different animal welfare–enhancing flooring solutions in Swedish dairy farming.

The authors developed a bio-economic model and used stochastic partial budgeting approach to simulate the economic consequences of enhancing solid and slatted concrete floors with soft rubber covering.

The findings highlight that keeping herds on solid and slatted concrete floor surfaces with soft rubber coverings is a profitable solution, compared with keeping herds on solid and slatted concrete floors without a soft covering. The profit per cow when kept on a solid concrete floor with soft rubber covering increased by 13%–16% depending on the breed.

Promoting farm investments such as improvement in flooring solution, which have both economic and animal welfare incentives, is a potential way of promoting sustainable dairy production. Farmers may make investments in improved floors, resulting in enhanced animal welfare and economic outcomes necessary for sustaining dairy production.

This literature review indicated that the economic impact of investment in specific types of floor improvement solutions, investment costs and financial outcomes have received little attention. This study provides insights needed for a more informed decision-making process when selecting optimal flooring solutions for new and renovated barns that improve both animal welfare and ease the burden on farmers and public financial support.

The purpose of this paper is to identify, analyze and discuss floor finishes used in health-care facilities and their selection criteria in the form of advantages and disadvantages. The authors also identify the top three health-care floor finishes and selection criteria based on the literature review results. Although flooring materials have a considerable impact on the life-cycle cost and indoor environment of health-care facilities, what criteria may be used for such flooring choices is not thoroughly studied.

The authors performed a systematic review of the literature on certain flooring systems currently used in health-care facilities and the criteria applied for their selection. Peer-reviewed studies and articles published after Year 2000 consistent with the research design were included.

Sixteen different selection criteria that influence the choice of floor finishes in health-care facilities were determined and discussed. The results show that the top three-floor finish materials preferred in health-care facilities are sheet vinyl, rubber and carpet, and the top three selection criteria for floor finishes are indoor air quality, patient safety and infection control.

The results of this study will assist building owners, architects and interior designers with implementing an informed design decision-making process, particularly in relation to floor finish selection. The findings will also provide guidance to floor finish manufacturers to improve their products based on facility managers’ preferences.

This article will select 25 years of subdivided data to perform Kaplan–Meier survival analysis on the export trade relations of Chinese wooden flooring, use discrete-time cloglog models to analyze influencing factors, use logit and probit models to test the robustness, and try to systematically reveal the duration of China's wood flooring export trade and its influencing factors.

This study used Kaplan–Meier survival function estimation method. In the survival analysis, survival function and hazard rate function are often used to characterize the distribution of survival time.

The continuous average export time of China's wooden flooring is relatively long, about 14 years. China's wooden flooring has a negative time dependency. After the export trade exceeds the threshold value of 15 years, the failure rate of trade greatly decreases, which has a “threshold effect.” Gravity model variables have a significant impact on the duration of China's wooden floor export.

Studying the duration of forest products trade is of great significance for clearing deep-level trade relations and promoting sustainable development of forest products trade.

Epoxy resins are finding increasing use in a wide variety of industrial processes since they offer a combination of desirable properties which are probably not found simultaneously in most other resinous or plastics systems. At the same time, formulation of epoxy compositions can be very versatile bearing in mind the wide choice of both resin types and hardeners; these choices may be made to provide compositions with specially required properties such as hardness, flexibility, heat resistance, good ageing characteristics, etc.

Discusses some aspects of composite construction and composite materials in the flooring industry, in particular relation to failures in the construction of hard public access flooring. Outlines the background to the increase in investigations into problems in two types of floor, namely: hard public access floors in malls and transport buildings, and raised platform floors in offices. Details the main points to emerge from investigation into complaints of defective flooring, concentrating on ill‐considered integration of engineering and architectural design skills in relation to new and existing structures and finishes and the problem of using new methods and materials without considering how they differ from those that went before. Suggests that the industry is taking considerable risks with clients′ money during its learning process.