Running a business is one of the toughest things a person can do. But not all industries are equal when it comes to health regulations or liability lawsuits. Especially with flooring for veterinary hospitals.
When it comes to running a veterinary clinic… it’s not all kittens and puppies.
You need to keep your customers coming in and attract more to sustain your operation.
You need to manage staff and make sure everyone knows how to perform their job.
Also, You need to meet all health and safety regulations to avoid any legal issues.
For Doctor Shannon Brown and her husband Jim Brown, owners of the Little Creek Veterinary Hospital in Mandeville, Louisiana. They had a monumental project ahead of them back in 2016… to open up their own veterinary clinic.
Since opening up in January 2017, Dr. Shannon is already seeing great success. After being in the industry for 18 years, her vast experience and a large network of past clients have allowed her clinic to prosper right after opening its doors for the first time.
But prior to taking her first furry patient, she needed to make sure her clinic met every health regulation set by the government.
And one of the biggest problem areas of any busy clinic is its veterinary floor. Constant traffic, fluids dropping on the floor, and trying to keep it clean is a continuous battle.
For the Little Creek Veterinary Clinic, the Browns wanted to avoid common flooring for veterinary hospitals. They wanted to find one that was both durable and easy to keep sanitized.
There Are Many Options Of Flooring For Veterinary Hospitals
Between ceramic and vinyl tile, epoxy paint, concrete sealing agents, and epoxy aggregate floors… there’s a lot to choose from for your animal flooring needs.
A lot of flooring used in veterinary clinics has tile, which is hard to clean and keep sanitary due to the tile being porous and grout lines breaking and creating gaps for dirt to accumulate in.
Vinyl tiles are presented as an alternative solution but they have a very short lifespan until they need to be replaced. They also get dirty and dingy fast.
A trending method today is to seal your bare concrete floor with a sealant material. The problem with this approach is that concrete will have cracks in it and the sealant will not close those cracks. Liquids and dirt will accumulate inside these cracks and make it hard for you to keep your floor clean. Plus you have to reapply the sealant often to keep the floor sealed.
Epoxy paint is an easy option to put on your floor. But, unfortunately, it is simply a thin coat of paint on your floor. It’s easy to wear off the paint and expose the substrate below to bacteria. These wear and tear challenges can be mediated by reapplying a coat of epoxy paint onto your floor every year.
But just be aware, it will require time to dry and for the fumes to evaporate, making the area unsafe for sick animals in the meantime.
Are any of these flooring options right for a fast-paced vet clinic?
Faced with all these flooring options, we ask Shannon and Jim how they decided upon a flooring option and why they decided to go with an Everlast® Epoxy aggregate flooring system for their clinic.
After researching many different options, they decided that they wanted to have a durable, long-lasting floor that was easy to clean right from the beginning.
They didn’t want to get stuck in a constant battle with having to fix or replace their floor every couple of years or months.
Because it’s a veterinary hospital, the floor has to be clean and sanitary at all times, throughout the day with all of their patients.
Unlike concrete sealant products and tile floors, any kind of stain on the floor is hard to get rid of.
With the Everlast® Epoxy floor, you can easily remove any liquids or stains from the floor by using a simple, safe cleaner. It also keeps the floor sanitized, so odor and bacteria cannot form.
After reading many reviews, they chose the Everlast® Epoxy system primarily because of its durability.
So they called up Vance, who had worked with them before.
When it comes to a product like Everlast® Epoxy floor system, you can install it by yourself. Between our instructional videos and needing only a handful of tools, it’s well within the capabilities of your standard DIY person.
However, we find that many of our customers either don’t want to install it themselves, or they don’t have the time to install it because they need the floor to be installed fast.
Certified Everlast® Epoxy Installer
That’s where you want to get it installed by a Certified Everlast® Epoxy Installer, to make sure everything is done correctly and quickly.
With Vance, the installer of the Everlast® Epoxy floor at the Little Creek Clinic. He’s been installing Everlast® Epoxy products for over 5 years.
Prior to discovering Everlast® Epoxy products, he installed ceramic tile for the longest time, handling many restaurant projects.
But there was always an issue with tile when it came to wet environments like kennels or surgery areas. Because tile are porous, they tend to absorb liquids that fall onto them… which include blood, urine, and other sticky liquids.
The challenge here is that these liquids allow hair and other dirt dropped onto the floor to become stuck to the tile, meaning you need to do some serious scrubbing to clean the floors.
But even then, it might not be enough. The odor and bacteria can still remain because mopping a floor isn’t that effective at cleaning and sanitizing it. You’re mostly just pushing dirt around when you mop.
The beauty of an Everlast® Epoxy floor is that it removes all of the weaknesses associated with tile and other flooring materials.
You can also easily trowel the epoxy material up walls. Allowing you to create an easy way to prevent dirt from accumulating in corners and also making it faster to clean the floors.
Another important feature of an Everlast® Epoxy floor is that it has a non-slip surface. It’s not rough enough to hurt animal feet walking on it. It’s just the right amount of anti-slip properties to prevent a person from sliding on a wet surface. Such as an operating room where blood and other bodily fluids fall onto the floor during surgery.
It’s The Easiest Flooring To Maintain
A major benefit for most busy areas, such as a surgical room or a place where animals are washed.
To top it off for veterinary clinics, when it comes to epoxy flooring for dog kennels. Everlast® Epoxy floors are a great option. Urine and scratch-resistant floors are easy to clean and keep sanitized, especially if you are keeping animals in there after surgery.
The last thing you want is for them to contract an infection from your recovery room! Finding solid kennel flooring options will make running your clinic a smoother process.
Whether you’re running a veterinary hospital or a dog kennel…
We here at Everlast® firmly believe that we have the right solution for your needs. We can confidently say this because many of our past clients have been veterinary clinics, dog kennels, and other animal facilities, i.e. businesses. That requires their floors to meet strict regulatory standards and be kept clean at all times.
However, we understand you have many questions before making your decision. Why not give us a call and talk to one of our friendly floor experts today?
“Are you searching for a flooring solution for your business? Give us a call at 800-708-9870 and have one of our floor experts recommend what options are available for you and your budget. Or visit Veterinary Clinic Flooring