Story at a glance:
- The experts at Mondo explain how rubber flooring can make health care spaces healthier.
- Mondo Contract Flooring has transformed spaces with rubber flooring solutions for more than 70 years.
- All of Mondo’s products are GREENGUARD Gold–certified, which means they are low-emitting and contribute to safe indoor air quality.
Health care flooring must be versatile. It supports equipment transport, cushions the feet of hard-working medical staff, and provides acoustical properties to make it a quiet space for patients. Especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, medical centers need to rely on flooring that is durable, comfortable, and can withstand large amounts of foot and rolling traffic. Mondo Premium rubber flooring checks all three of these boxes and more.
Why rubber, compared to other forms of resilient flooring? “Dating back to 1839 when Goodyear invented vulcanization, the history of rubber in the world is one of extreme durability, and that’s a testament that has carried forward to contemporary rubber flooring as well,” says Garret Davelaar, national sales director for Mondo Contract Flooring. Rubber flooring provides comfort underfoot, noise reduction, ease of maintenance, and addresses infection control concerns, Davelaar says. When designing health care facilities in the post-pandemic era, these characteristics hold particular importance.
Mondo Contract Flooring has transformed commercial, educational, health care, and industrial spaces with its rubber flooring solutions for more than 70 years. Founded by Edmondo Stroppiana in Gallo D’Alba, Italy in 1948, Mondo gained prominence from its novel manufacturing process of athletic surfaces that led to their supply of their first Olympic track surface in 1976. The process known as dual durometer technology was adapted by Mondo’s R&D and engineering teams to accommodate contract products designed for a wide range of applications. For hospitals, labs, and health care facilities, Mondo Contract Flooring provides comfortable, hygienic, and safe contract flooring that prioritizes patient care and employee satisfaction.
The Children Hospital of Pediatry WUM in Warsaw includes more than 75,345 square feet of Kayar flooring. It’s all part of the architect’s “child-friendly” design. Photo courtesy of Mondo
How is Rubber Flooring Durable?
Rubber’s natural elastic properties as a raw material, when subjected to the vulcanization process, give rubber its incredible durability.
Mondo’s flooring solutions maximize this durability through a proprietary method called dual durometer technology, where two layers—an upper wear layer and a bottom performance layer—are molecularly bound during the vulcanization process. Davelaar says this technology enhances the floor’s abrasion and wear resistance, especially for health care–related applications with high rolling and point loads, while the bottom layer provides the comfort and acoustics so critical for the healing environment for health care settings.
Unlike other types of resilient flooring like vinyl or linoleum, rubber flooring does not require maintenance through stripping, waxing, or expensive chemicals. For high foot traffic areas, rubber flooring ensures a low life cycle cost since it’s easy to maintain and can last for several decades.
How is It Sustainable?
Sustainable practices have always been a top priority for Mondo Contract Flooring. The company’s waste-managed facility in Italy is powered by more than 4,000 solar panels on the roof, reducing its yearly emissions by almost 600 tons of CO2. During the manufacturing process no toxic gases are released, and all trimmings and waste are recycled within the factory.
All of Mondo’s products are GREENGUARD Gold–certified, which means they are low-emitting and contribute to safe indoor air quality for hospitals and health care settings.
Mondo’s rubber flooring solutions also contain virgin rubber, natural fillers, and color pigments that are free of Red Listed chemicals. Mondo has available Health Product Declarations as well as Environmental Product Declarations for transparency and LEED initiatives.
“Architecture shapes our perception,” said the architects behind this clinic in Vienna. Photo courtesy of Mondo
Where can Rubber Flooring be Used?
Rubber flooring’s versatility makes it an ideal choice for many environments, including schools, health care and life sciences facilities, and transportation hubs. Davelaar says rubber flooring’s underfoot comfort, acoustical values, and ease of maintenance are particularly beneficial for hospitals, labs, and health care facilities.
The majority of Mondo’s nine products are 3 millimeters in thickness, which provides a comfortable surface for doctors, nurses, and lab personnel who spend long periods on their feet. Rubber also contains sound-absorbing qualities, which can create a quiet, peaceful environment for patients and staff alike.
For those reasons, rubber flooring is standard in many health care systems. Banner Health installed approximately 900,000 square feet of Mondo’s Harmoni flooring across three medical centers in Phoenix, Tucson, and Chandler, Arizona. “They’re using it in corridors, patient rooms, operating rooms, emergency rooms, bariatric, and imaging. All of the areas you would think of where resilient flooring goes in a hospital,” Davelaar says.
Rubber flooring is also slip-, stain-, and chemical-resistant, which is why Children’s National Hospital in Washington, DC chose to install around 35,000 square feet of Mondo’s flooring in their pediatric research labs at the historic Walter Reed Medical Center location.
What about Floor Disinfection?
Preventing the spread of infection and disease is a top priority for hospitals and other health care centers. Installing bacteriostatic, or bacteria-resistant, flooring can prevent bacterial growth and keep patients safe.
Antibacterial agents kill bacteria outright, but these commercial antibacterial products can enter the environment and encourage the development of drug-resistant pathogens, says Erika Marcoux, technical product specialist at Mondo Contract Flooring. Alternatively, bacteriostatic flooring prevents bacteria from multiplying—without the addition of antibacterial agents. Mondo’s rubber flooring forms natural bacteriostatic properties during the vulcanization process, making it permanently resistant to the spread of bacteria and other microorganisms.
“In areas where infection control is essential, having a nonporous, smooth, and easy-to-clean bacteriostatic floor is of great importance. Infection control first begins with surfaces that do not promote growth, and standard and simple floor maintenance takes care of the rest,” Marcoux says.
