Thursday, October 20, 2022

Is a Stone Floor Safe for Older Adults

 

Is a Stone Floor Safe for Seniors(Older Adults)

By Frederick M Hueston stoneforeniscs.com

 

 

A simple google search will come up with hundreds of recommendations for flooring for older adults. Most of them are recommending carpet, cork, rubber or other non-slip type flooring. While these are good choices for older folks there is one thing they have not considered?  These flooring types may be slip resistant, but they are often a trip hazard. Here is why

A lot of older adults shuffle rather that step and walk normally. Also many use a cane or walker. Flooring like carpeting, cork or rubber can reduce the gliding resistance of a shoe and cause someone to fall.  So what are the other choices.

Stone

No, isn’t marble and granite shiny and it’s too slippery? You would think that these shiny surfaces would be slippery when in fact they are not if properly polished.  Most of the slip fall accidents that occur are not on stone flooring.  The top reason for falls is tripping over something and the second is uneven surfaces. Fortunately, a properly installed stone floor is very flat. This means that shuffling or using a walker is very easy and will not catch like it would on carpet or other type flooring

In addition, unlike most ceramic tile, stone has a very narrow grout joint. The advantage to such a narrow joint it is unlike to catch in one shoe or the leg of a walker or a cane.

What if the stone gets wet? Any surface that gets wet can be a slip hazard. Even wet carpeting can be very slippery when wet. The good news for marble and granite is that there are treatments that can be applied to give the stone surface a safe walking surface even when wet. These treatments create microscopic depressions in the stone which act like tiny suction cups. They provide just enough grip when wet to prevent a slip but not enough to catch and cause a trip.  They should be applied by an experience applicator or stone floor restoration contractor.

What about vinyl or wood flooring? These materials can also be slip and trip resistant if properly installed. However, unlike stone they will need the application of a finish which can not only increase maintenance cost and frequency but choosing the wrong finish can also make the floor more slippery.

 

Thousands of slip fall accidents occur each year and installing the proper flooring can not only prevent these but can be safer for the older adult.

 

No comments:

Article have Moved to the a new site

All of my article as well as many new ones have moved to my website, here is the link https://stoneforensics.com/articles/