After choosing the floorcoverings for your building, it’s easy to underestimate the importance of selecting the right floor trims to work alongside them.
The best approach for selecting the correct floor trim is to keep in mind the safety, performance, and aesthetic requirements of your specific environment and application.
Safety above all
The primary function of floor trims is to keep building users safe, by creating a safe transition between adjacent floorcoverings, reducing the risk of trips. With the growing trend to mix and match different types of flooring, which can often be at varying heights, this is ever more important. The correct floor trim also allows wheeled traffic such as trolleys to move freely between different types and heights of flooring without the risk of tipping.
Choosing the correct type and size of floor trim is crucial to ensuring an overall safer environment. Whether you are looking to create a safe transition between two floorcoverings of differing heights, the same or similar heights, or simply a border trim up to skirting, Gradus offers trims in a comprehensive choice of shapes and sizes to suit almost any interior scenario likely to be encountered.
When installing a trim with carpet, remember the compressed thickness of the carpet is vitally important to ensure a tight fit to the internal gauge of the profile.
Consider any performance requirements
Every space is different, meaning floor trims must be selected based on your specific performance demands.
In areas where there is frequent heavy foot, trolley, or wheeled traffic, heavy-duty floor trims such as our Trans-Edge range may be the best option, as these are manufactured in high-quality aluminium and designed for the most demanding environments. The incorporation of Gradus Interior insert material also provides a slip-resistant surface (inserts supplied separately).
Also, when installing with ceramics, wood or wood laminate flooring a suitable gap must be left between the profile and the flooring to allow for natural expansion.
Don’t forget aesthetics
Floor trims can also play a role in the visual impression that your building makes. Gradus offer a comprehensive range of floor trims, allowing you to complement any design scheme with a wide variety of colours, finishes, and materials available.
Depending on the project, you may require a floor trim that blends in with the surrounding environment, or alternatively one that contrasts against the floorcoverings, helping to define a walkway or separate an area. Our Luxury Trim System range is designed to create an elegant, luxurious appearance and features brass tops; available in six opulent finishes intended to complement the decor typically found within luxury hospitality environments and premium residential developments.
Consider the likelihood and frequency of future refurbishment programmes. Gradus Clip-Top and Clip-Top fx floor trims are great choices for applications where a regular refurbishment programme is expected or flexibility to change tops is preferred, as the tops can be easily replaced with a new colour without renewing the base or disrupting the fitted floorcovering.
In summary, it is essential to consider each element of safety, performance and aesthetics, which will help you to select the right trim. For further advice concerning profile selection or additional details, call Gradus Technical Support on 01625 428922.
The new Gradus Floor Trims brochure showcases selected profiles ideal for use with LVT or other types of modular flooring such as woods, ceramics and carpet tile. It encompasses a wide range of trims, to not only provide solutions for common everyday occurrences, but also for those unusual installation scenarios that you may encounter from time to time where a specialist trim is required.