Interior designers in Kenya have the onus of deciding which types of finishes that most appropriate for particular types of building. Various buildings have their own specific uses. The designer that is able to conceive good spaces should also be able to put together appropriate finishes for their various types of developments. In this article we shall consider selection of certain floor finishes within a building.

Selection of Materials By Interior designers in Kenya

The floor is one of the surfaces within any space that experience is the most wear and tear. The impact of shoes walking along floors cannot be understated. Ladies in high heels, machinery on castors or furniture with steel plate gives floor finishes quite a beating. Floors must be made to be resilient to be able to bear the impact of being used every day. They need to be able to withstand high impact, as well as natural forces that are imposed on them by virtue of the environment. All these factors must be put in mind by Interior designers in Kenya.

Various Material Factors Need To Be Considered By Interior designers in Kenya

Once floors are built, they constantly suffer from the effects of heating and cooling that naturally occurs due to their diurnal temperature changes. During the day, temperatures of surfaces rise up considerably. At night temperatures drop with the cool night temperatures. Due to these kinds of variations in the temperature of spaces, expansion and contraction is inevitable within these surface finishes. The end result is a loss in the integrity of finishes used. At the end of the day one may find certain materials beginning to peel off floors surfaces. Interior designers in Kenya need to be aware of which finishes work in different settings and confirm the use of that which is most adoptable to it application.

Another big factor that floors must be able to cope with is with regard to activities happening on them. For example, people walk on floors. Various user activities may lead to more or less people being present within the space and walking on the floor surface. For example, Interior designers in Kenya will regard a commercial space having heavy traffic very differently from a residential house plan which only has a few people actually using the space.  

Depending on the traffic, i.e. the numbers of people each day or per given period, finishes must be carefully considered to handle this number. Therefore when there is high traffic incident to a space, the choice of finishes that is required for that space must be in tandem with the high traffic expected. Interior designers in Kenya therefore must match user requirements with intrinsic characteristics of that floor finish.

Technology Gives Options For Interior designers in Kenya

Technology today has given us a lot of solutions that cater for various user needs. In the past builders were required to work with building technology and materials that were available at the time. However today there exist several options that good Interior designers in Kenya are able to harness for various design challenges. Each day, new design technologies emerge that conquer a previous challenge with regard to building.

For example, when dealing with the design of hospital interiors, a challenge that was often posed is with regard to creating hygienic floors that do not have niches that are prone to collection of dirt and infection. This calls for floors that are seamless, having no jointing and being entirely intrinsic in their setup, to avoid air pockets and areas which gather dirt. The use of epoxy flooring today allows interior designers in Kenya to design a floor that will be completely seamless in this respect. Such materials are hardy, non –slip and durable, not to mention the fact that they have no joints, and have the advantage of being easy to install. As a result hospitals today have the option of constructing wards and operating theatres without being encumbrances of the past.

Another example can be seen in the creation of office buildings today. When interior designers in Kenya are selecting their finishes for the various areas of an office, they are able to now choose various finishes with different user areas including high traffic areas, areas with moderate movement, and more intimate areas where only one or two people access at a time.

Conference areas, reception spaces as well as common passages now have the option to receive elegant solid fittings and finishes which are hard wearing and do not deteriorate over time. In order to maximize the sustainability of these spaces, maintenance free and slow wearing finishes are very popular today. Technology has even provided means that allow different materials to receive different colors and textures that correspond with a user’s aspirations for the space. These are all useful for the Interior designers in Kenya to employ in the course of their design.

For example one may find that timber finishes are unable to withstand the traffic that may be generated within a high traffic room, perhaps such as at reception area. However, clients may desire to have a wood like finish in that area due to their personal preferences. It is possible today to get ceramic floor tiles that have a timber-like veneer, to give the appearance of timber within such a space. These faux-pas materials are a great means with which Interior designers in Kenya can achieve specific effects in their interiors.

That being said, there is a need to educate oneself on the various materials that are available for application within a construction site. In order to get a rich interior composition, Interior designers in Kenya need to exercise this knowledge.

General