Commercial settings, such as shops and offices, will have entrance matting installed with various requirements in mind, including ensuring the cleanliness of floors and displaying brand and company logos. However, in many cases, the matting will also need to fulfil other attributes.
A particular example of this will be any instance where the premises are located in a flood-prone area. If the next few months are anything like recent winters, there will be numerous incidents across the country where flooding occurs.
Earlier this month, Storm Claudia brought the first floods of the season and many more can be expected. A major incident was declared in South Wales, with Monmouthshire among the areas particularly badly hit.
Because different storms will hit the UK harder in some places than others, some places that get off relatively lightly in one storm may not be so fortunate in the next. Businesses need to be aware and have resilience plans in place to deal with a flood.
What Attributes Do Mats Need To Handle Floods?
Having matting that can resist being underwater without being ruined is important in such cases, with the best products for such a situation being those that can dry quickly, be cleaned easily and are designed to aid evaporation once the floodwaters have subsided.
For example, the 3M Nomad Modular mat has a draining feature, specifically designed to allow moisture to escape and evaporate. It is not just resistant to fire and UVG light, but also mildew, while any parts that are damaged beyond repair can be easily replaced.
This and other products in our range with similar qualities are just the sort of thing you should be looking for if your premises are at any kind of flood risk.
These benefits may be considered in the context of the damage floods can do to floors. Carpets in particular are prone to being ruined, which is why homes in flood-prone areas are better off not having them downstairs. While retail stores won’t normally have carpets, some business premises might.
That raises wider questions about the flooring that any building in a high flood-risk area should have, but an entrance mat may be a particularly good start, not least as some buildings may have steps to a higher level inside, meaning the entrance is more likely to be flooded than other ground floor areas.
How Does Climate Change Increase Flood Risk?
Wetter winters in the UK are a consequence of climate change, as the increased temperature around the globe means more water evaporates and precipitation is heavier, falling as rain more often and snow less frequently.
Even when it does now, there can be serious problems, as cold spells are increasingly due to polar vortices when warmer air than seen in previous winters can push colder air southwards from the Arctic, bringing severe blasts such as the ‘Beast from the East’ in March 2018.
When the weather currents change, melting can occur rapidly, which increases the risk of floods occurring compared to a slower thaw.
As flood risks increase, commercial buildings in at-risk areas need to be better prepared than ever. This can start with the entrance mats.