Tile: Supporting the Priorities of Healthcare
Tile offers the essential technical performance characteristics required to support the priorities of hospitals, medical facilities, continuing care centers, and any space dedicated to healthcare services. Specifiers of materials for healthcare interiors need to understand how surfaces not only limit toxic emissions but also withstand disinfectants. Designers are strategically thinking through their selection of materials in order to ensure surfaces support cleaner—and, thus, generally safer physical environments.
Notably, tile—with its dense, durable body—is simple to clean and maintain. When interior surfaces are easily cleaned and very hard-wearing, they support sanitation efforts, better indoor air quality, and overall hygiene and safety for patients, staff, and guests. This is a major advantage, as those who operate healthcare facilities must go above and beyond to ensure the best experiences for patient populations, while also identifying operational efficiencies.
- Tile is one of the only hypoallergenic flooring options because it is naturally inert and resistant to dust and other harmful pollutants that are known to cause a variety of health problems.
- Unlike other surfaces, tile is impervious, meaning it’s inhospitable to dust mites, bacteria, fungi, mold and other irritants.
- Tile is designed to handle regular heavy traffic, resist moisture, and be unaffected by abrasive dirt that can create places for bacteria and germs to hide.
- Seamless flooring minimizes spaces for bacterial growth, and large format porcelain tile options allow for fewer and smaller grout lines. Additionally, Crossville offers matching cove base products eliminating a 90-degree angle where the floor and wall meet that is harder to clean.
- Tile is low-maintenance, moisture-resistant, scratch-resistant, and stain-resistant.
Tile: An Appealing Surfacing Solution for Healthcare Design
Of course, tile’s superior technical performance is of utmost importance to those who specify materials for healthcare environments, but design style and aesthetics are also a major consideration. Today’s healthcare industry is extremely competitive; patients, guests, and staff want to show up to spaces that are attractive and appeal to modern design sensibilities. Healthcare designers know that appearance matters; the look and feel of a building and its interiors can strongly support the overall experience for those in need of medical and healthcare services.
With so many beautiful and timeless looks for walls, floors, countertops, as well as exterior vertical surfaces and facades, tile products are great go-to options for healthcare designers, architects, and facility managers.
Crossville Tile Collections: Distinct Advantages
At Crossville, we have an unparalleled commitment to quality in the manufacture of porcelain tile. As an American manufacturer, we are proud to deliver tile products that support the design of healthier, cleaner spaces and support sustainability and green initiatives thanks to our proprietary recycling programs. Our porcelain tile collections are not easily harmed by chemicals and can be cleaned and disinfected with a bleach solution or any CDC-approved disinfectant.
Porcelain tile flooring from Crossville ensures the powerful performance to handle high traffic and constant impact from wheelchairs, dollies, and crutches. Our porcelain tile panel collections are excellent for protecting elevator bank walls from banging gurneys, while porcelain countertops offer extremely low maintenance for hygienic environments.
Let’s look at a few more advantages related to installing Crossville tile for clean indoor environments.
- Wall surfaces are just as important as flooring. High traffic areas need impact resistant walls. When walls are damaged, the surface can harbor bacteria and germs in the crevices. Crossville’s gauged porcelain tile collections provide the durability and easy to clean surfaces needed. See this case study to learn how Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center renovated hallways.
- Countertops are surfaces that must also be considered in the era of post COVID-19 interior design. Crossville’s porcelain countertops are devoid of the pores and seams commonly found in other countertop surface materials. From reception areas to food prep stations and healthcare work areas to office spaces, Crossville porcelain countertops provide a hygienic surface needed for infection control.
- Crossville porcelain tile panels are excellent for hospital renovation projects. They can install over existing tile or stone surfaces, eliminating the need to demo spaces while providing nearly seamless surfaces that will look beautiful, last and stay easy to clean for the very long term. This case study from a Florida hospital is a great example.
- Flooring for healthcare and continuing care must meet demanding specification requirements. For the floors in this senior living center, the design team opted for a Crossville wood-look porcelain tile collection. This product provided a beautiful look and style in a tile that also provides the necessary slip-resistance, durability, low maintenance, and ease of cleaning required for such a busy place for a unique segment of the population. Likewise, the design team selected other Crossville tile collections for bathroom walls, further adding style and performance to more surfaces in the facility.
- The use of stunning Crossville porcelain tile panels in the entry of the Circle Health building in Massachusetts answers performance and aesthetic demands. The large porcelain tile panels installed efficiently and offered the expansive dimensions befitting the large lobby and entry areas. The look the panels achieved is sophisticated and stylish, ensuring appeal for the space that will transcend over time.
- Crossville tile collections helped the designers of this residentially-inspired extended-stay facility capture the feel of ‘home’ without compromising the necessary commercial-grade performance the space required. The overall results are beautiful and compelling as healthcare design continues to evolve.
Ready to specify tile surfaces for your next healthcare design project? View our vast array of tile collections and start creating today!
