CRI's Carpet In Schools Portal For School Designers, Administrators

Carpet and Rug Institute (CRI) Offers Two New Web Portals - Resources Offer Insight into Carpet in Schools and Carpet, Allergy, and Asthma

Portal Number Two: A New Tool for School Designers, Administrators:

CRI has created a pair of simple-to-use web portals designed to offer an online digest of information about carpet to two vital audiences: school designers and administrators and the healthcare community.

Last post [titled CRI's Carpet, Allergy, Asthma Portal for Healthcare Providers], we looked at CRI’s new web portal for healthcare providers located at http://www.carpet-rug.org/health/. This time, we look at the new web portal for school designers, facility managers, and administrators that talks about carpet in schools.

It’s located on the CRI web site at http://www.carpet-rug.org/education/ and it talks about the benefits carpet offers to a school environment, including:

• Safety - Because it affords more traction, carpet helps prevent slips and falls. When falls do happen, chances of injury are greatly reduced on soft flooring.

• Increased Comfort - For teachers and other staff, a cushioned walking and standing surface reduces leg fatigue. Plus, carpet provides a non-glare surface that reduces reflection and eyestrain.

• Better insulation - Carpet is warmer to sit on or work on, extending the learning area to space on the floor, especially with younger children. Thermal comfort exists because carpet retains inside ambient temperatures longer.

• Costs less over time - Carpet that is properly selected, installed and maintained lasts up to 10 year or longer. When product, installation and maintenance supplies and labor costs are considered over a 15-to 20-year period, carpet delivers lower life cycle costs than other floor coverings. Read the entire study titled "A Life-Cycle Cost Analysis For Floor Coverings In School Facilities."

• Reduced noise - Based on a study by the American Society of Interior Designers, carpet is deemed to be 10 times more efficient in reducing noise compared with other flooring options. Also with carpet, less acoustic protection is needed on the ceiling and elsewhere. This quieter environment provides a better learning atmosphere with fewer distractions.

• Improved IAQ - Carpet can improve the indoor air quality (IAQ) by trapping allergens in its fiber which prevents them from circulating back into the air. The allergens can then be removed through proper vacuuming. Additionally, carpet has lower chemical emissions than most indoor furnishings and may be the lowest emitter of all floor covering choices.

The page also contains information about proper installation, and how to specify the right carpet in any commercial situation. Finally, there is an entire section on cleaning and maintenance, including research comparing the costs of maintaining hard surface floors versus carpet over time, and links to information about CRI’s Seal of Approval testing and certification program for cleaning products and equipment.

We worked hard to put these portals together. I hope the school design community – and anyone else who needs them - finds them helpful.

~Bethany


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