Syracuse University, in Syracuse, NY, is an internationally acclaimed and prestigious school steeped in history. Founded in 1870, the university educates a student body of approximately 21,000 each year. With 70 percent of students living in the school’s 22 residence halls, the team overseeing housing has much to consider as they work to keep dormitories comfortable, safe and up-to-date.
Searching for a floor covering that could stand up to high-volume traffic and the brutal Syracuse winters, while offering a streamlined maintenance routine, the team selected nora® rubber flooring to cover dorm entrance areas, corridors, common spaces and stairwells. Over the past seven years, the floor has outperformed expectations. “The versatility of nora® lends itself to many different spaces,” says Robert J Spagnoletti, manager of maintenance, “and it performs in all of them, functionally and aesthetically.”
Spagnoletti offers an example of the transformation that has taken place in dorm stairwells. “The stairwells were previously concrete with a tread,” he says. “The way the nora all-in-one stair tread piece fits over the existing steps was just perfect. Installation was simple and easy, dealing with one piece. The stairs don’t look industrial any longer; they just look nice, and the rubber adds an element of safety.”
The floor’s easy maintenance regimen, which eliminates the use of coatings and wax, played a key role in the selection of rubber flooring. “That was a main driving factor,” says Spagnoletti. “We found a good product that we don’t have to wax and strip.” Since its installation, the nonporous rubber flooring has proven it can stand up to anything and deliver on performance—even the Syracuse maintenance team’s toughest obstacle.
“Our biggest challenge is the winters and dealing with the snow and salt, keeping the salt down outside, but minimizing the trailing effect inside,” Spagnoletti shares. The flooring has performed so efficiently that the maintenance team is using spare tiles of nora as walk-off pads for elevators during the winter.
“We’re getting strong support from all of our directors. They see the areas where nora has been installed and are happy with how it’s worked,” Spagnoletti says, adding, “That’s really cool for the entire facilities team, because the directors aren’t pressuring us to put down new product that requires us to go through the process of trying and testing again.”
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