Commercial Tiles & Planks
First, carpet tiles are pre-cut squares or rectangles (planks) of carpet that are attached to a backing. They are also referred to as tiled carpet, modular carpet, or modular flooring. Commercial carpet tiles are durable enough to be placed in commercial, hospitality, or other heavy use settings.
These commercial tiles carry contract grade ratings and meet commercial flammability and durability standards. Not only is the pile or carpet contract rated, but the backing is hard-wearing. Our commercial carpet tile collection includes natural fiber tiles like Sisal Tiles and Contract Coir Tiles, tretford®’s Interlife goat wool tiles, and a range of synthetic tiles that are ready for hospitality, retail, or office settings.
Office floors or commercial spaces encounter heavy traffic on a regular basis. Versatile commercial carpet tiles offer many advantages, including:
Budget Friendly Modular carpet tiles are a cost effective way to cover floors in commercial spaces. There is less waste with carpet tiles because you buy only what you need and are not left with carpet scraps. And since tile installation is generally easier than wall-to-wall carpet installation, businesses save money on labor costs.
Ease of Handling Carpet tiles or squares come in boxes and are lightweight in comparison to carpet rolls. As previously noted, installing tiles in an office or corporate lobby is easy compared to wall-to-wall carpet installation.
Flexible With commercial carpet tiles, you can easily create patterns or cover oddly shaped spaces. You can swap out stained or damaged tiles quickly in high traffic areas—no need for a complete re-installation. For this reason, we recommend having extra tiles on hand, just in case!
Removable Building technicians can easily lift a carpet square if they need to access the substrate floor, cables, or other mechanical portals. Since workplace environments change frequently, this modular aspect can save time and money whenever there is a need for an office remodel or reconfiguration.
Sound Absorption Floor tiles are inherently layered—a carpet layer attached to a backing, and sometimes a secondary backing is present. This layered structure improves acoustics and absorbs more ambient noise than wall-to-wall carpet. This results in a marked reduction in overall background noise in busy spaces.
Design Freedom As mentioned above, swapping out tiles when stained or lifting carpet tiles to access the subfloor is a definite advantage of carpet tiles over wall-to-wall carpeting. Another advantage is the ability to quickly and easily design a new look:
For a soothing and minimalist look, you can lay carpet tiles with the rib facing all one direction for a monolithic look or create a subtle pattern with a quarter turn of each tile.
Spark visual interest with a pattern, like checkerboard or stripes. Experienced installers can cut tiles to create more detailed patterns like herringbone or basketweave.
Define traffic flow by using different colored office carpet tiles to map the way to the elevators, for example.
Establish zones by congregating one color tile in an area meant to be used as a lobby or casual gathering space, for example.
Dress up a conference room with company colors.
Yes. Many of our customers lay carpet tiles themselves, but even professional installation is less expensive and time-consuming than a wall-to-wall project. Whether you are loose-laying, using peel-and-stick adhesives, or gluing down, installation is a snap. All our carpet tiles have installation guides to assist you. For an in-depth guide to carpet tile installation, including how to create a pattern with carpet tiles or how to cut carpet tiles, head over to our Guides page for all you need to know.
With most applications, a padded surface beneath carpet tiles is not needed or recommended. Rug padding is by nature soft and could prevent the tiles from laying flat and tightly packed, thereby creating a walking hazard. However, with some commercial tile installations, a compact underlayment is used. This would always be at the discretion of a professional installer. Some carpet tiles come with padding sandwiched between the carpet and the backing. In these cases, the padding is manufacturer-approved and does not present a walking hazard.
Carpet tiles require the same attention that a wall-to-wall carpet or an area rug requires—regular vacuuming and quick attention to any spills. In a commercial setting, tretford®'s Interlife Tiles or our synthetic Hospitality tiles are easy to clean and carry contract-grade ratings. If a tile becomes stained or damaged, you can swap it out for a new tile (consider ordering an extra box for this purpose) while still maintaining design continuity. A Care Guide comes with all our commercial carpet tiles, findable under the Care tab on each carpet tile’s product page.