By Tracy Cook
There are many expectations from indoor spaces today: they must look aesthetically pleasing but be strong enough to withstand heavy use, be easy to clean but not feel sterile and unwelcoming, and they should feature healthy, sustainable materials that support human and environmental health. There are dozens of boxes to check and considerations to be made when designing and specifying a commercial environment. These spaces need to work harder and smarter for those who use them.
Flooring is the foundation of any interior, visually and functionally setting the tone for the space. While there are many high-performance flooring solutions, including some custom options for specific uses, one surface stands above the rest in terms of versatility: hybrid carpet.
The first hybrid carpet hit the market in 1967. Decades later, these innovative floors remain a smart and efficient solution for many commercial spaces, balancing comfort for occupants and long-term performance for facility managers and building owners.
First, it is important to understand what is a hybrid carpet and where it should be specified.
What is hybrid carpet?
Hybrid carpet refers to flooring that combines the comfort and acoustic benefits of carpet with the durability of a resilient floor. It includes three essential layers: a polyvinyl chloride (PVC) cushion backing, a vinyl precoat, and nylon yarn tufted into a nonwoven, primary backing. The three layers are fused together to create a durable floor cover that looks like carpet but performs like a resilient sheet. This combination gives hybrid carpet extreme longevity and easy maintenance. Depending on the manufacturer, hybrid carpet is available in rolls and/or tiles and with or without a factory-applied adhesive. Seams are chemically welded during installation to create a wall-to-wall impermeable moisture barrier.
How does hybrid carpet address common concerns?
Acoustics
In education, healthcare, or workplace settings, acoustics play an important role. Evidence-based design indicates that a calm, quiet environment is critical to cognitive health, and flooring can significantly contribute to or reduce unwanted ambient noise. With its added cushion layer and a tufted surface, hybrid carpet absorbs more noise than hard surfaces, reducing echo and ensuring speech is clearer and easier to understand. Some hybrid carpets can perform more than 200 percent better than hard surfaces in Impact Insulation Class (IIC) ratings, which measure how well a flooring absorbs impact vibrations within a room and between floors of a building.
Health and comfort
Hybrid carpets provide firm support underfoot, which studies1 suggest can reduce discomfort and reduce the risk of trips and falls. Hybrid carpets can also support respiratory comfort. In 2022, Allergy Standards Ltd. certified a hybrid carpet as the world’s first asthma & allergy® friendly soft-surface flooring, making it scientifically proven to reduce exposure to asthma and allergy triggers and contribute to better indoor air quality (IAQ).
Allergens in the air can trigger asthma and allergy symptoms; it is important to be able to remove the allergens using a standard maintenance routine. Hybrid carpet’s low pile height and unique structure easily release the particles during vacuuming. In fact, Allergy Standards Ltd.’s scientific testing proved 95 percent of allergens were removed from the certified product with a simple dry vacuum.2
Moisture mitigation
When a concrete slab releases excess moisture, major issues, such as mold, can start to grow. When installed over high-moisture substrates, hybrid carpets with a permanent wall-to-wall moisture barrier insulate the moisture in the slab from the drier air above. This virtually ceases all moisture vapor, harmlessly dissipating any moisture movement into the space above the installation and virtually eliminating the conditions that would be favorable to microbial growth. This allows hybrid carpet to be installed without calcium chloride or in-situ relative humidity (RH) testing, provided that no free liquids or moisture-stained concrete are present on the substrate. pH testing is required according to ASTM-710-05 and levels must be between 7.0 and 9.0 for installation. It is important to review manufacturer instructions prior to installation.
In addition to fixing moisture issues from the slab up, hybrid carpets can also address moisture issues from the top down. A hybrid carpet with a closed-cell cushion leaves no paths for water or other contaminants to seep through (unlike open-cell, which does allow water to seep through). A closed-cell cushion hybrid carpet with welded seams is impermeable to liquids, including spills and leaks. For optimal impermeability, speak with the manufacturer’s representative about the hybrid carpet’s performance in the industry’s Moisture Penetration by Impact Test, which can be used to test for impermeability on the body of the carpet and at the seam after 10,000 impacts at 68 kPa (10 psi), as well as impermeability at the seam after 50,000 cycles of Phillips Chair traffic.
Maintenance upkeep
Since hybrid carpets stop liquids in their tracks, preventing them from soaking through to the subfloor, cleaning up spills and leaks is a breeze. From an everyday maintenance standpoint, hybrid carpets are designed to look new with less effort. Low pile heights ensure dust and allergens are easily removed with a dry vacuum, and resistance to crushing gives the floor long-term durability.
Sustainability
The specific sustainability attributes of a hybrid carpet will vary depending on the manufacturer. Still, many on the market are made with some level of recycled content and can be diverted from landfills at their end of life through a manufacturer’s flooring take-back and recycling program. Since their day-to-day maintenance does not require harsh chemicals, hybrid carpets help reduce volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Careful material selections that are free of ortho-phthalates and PFAS will also support healthier indoor and outdoor environments.
Made to last
Another benefit of hybrid carpet is its proven durability, even in demanding, high-traffic environments. An elementary school in Wheat Ridge, Colo., installed a hybrid carpet in its building in 1967 (the year these resilient carpets were first introduced). In 2023, the school was demolished to make way for a new building. Before demolition, the manufacturer of the hybrid carpet visited the school to test how the floors were still holding up after all those decades. The results? Soil still lifted easily from the fibers, and the welded seams performed like new. A 19-L (5-gal) bucket of water poured over the 55-year-old seams cleaned up easily, with no moisture making it through to the sub-floor.3 On another note of sustainability, the team removed the carpet before demolition so it could be recycled.
Where can hybrid carpet be specified in various segments?
Today’s hybrid carpet is offered in many colors and pattern combinations, including customizable options, making it usable in any high-use space. There is room for hybrid carpet in nearly any segment.
Education
Education facilities are some of the best candidates for hybrid carpet. From an acoustic standpoint, the carpet can dampen echoes and ambient noise in classrooms and hallways. Classrooms can also greatly benefit from hybrid carpet’s contribution to indoor air quality (IAQ). Asthma is one of the leading causes of school absences among children, accounting for more than 10 million missed school days annually.4 A hybrid carpet that is proven to minimize exposure to triggers of asthma and allergies in a space can significantly impact students and staff.
With an uptick in emotional support animals (ESAs) on college campuses,5 the higher education space may also see an increased need for hybrid carpet. ESAs are protected under the Fair Housing Act, and many colleges and universities are beginning to develop more accommodating policies. From a facility standpoint, one of the biggest effects of allowing animals into residence halls is the stress on the flooring. At the University of California, Merced, animal accidents required the facility staff to replace the carpet in about 15 percent of rooms yearly.
Tired of having to replace relatively new carpets each year, Steve Costa, the university’s facilities housing manager, and his team found a hybrid carpet with a closed-cell backing instead. This has proven to be a more sustainable solution, as the team can now easily and effectively clean animal accidents without replacing the flooring.
Workplace
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Association (OSHA) estimates worker absences and reduced efficiency resulting from poor air quality create a combined loss of $15 billion annually for businesses due to worker inefficiency and sick days.6 A Harvard study from 2021 found similar results: low air quality in offices significantly impacted employees’ focus, response times, and productivity.7 As was mentioned for classrooms, hybrid carpet will support a healthy and productive office space by reducing dust and allergens, limiting opportunities for microbial growth, and allowing quick and effective cleaning without harsh chemicals.
While traditional resilient flooring may offer similar benefits to a space’s air quality, hybrid carpet provides the added benefit of acoustic comfort. According to a study in the National Library of Medicine, distractions in the workplace can contribute to a loss of more than 90 percent of productivity for an organization.8 Another study found acoustics top the list of priorities for employees.9 A hybrid carpet can make the office more comfortable and productive for employees.
Healthcare
While resilient sheet products remain a preferred flooring solution for many acute healthcare settings due to infection control requirements, there are areas in healthcare and senior living that can benefit from the performance attributes of hybrid carpet where infection control is less of a concern.
The national, standardized Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey provides healthcare systems insight into patients’ perceived care. The survey asks recent patients various questions about their care, including communication with doctors and nurses, hospital staff responsiveness, hospital environment cleanliness, and more.10 Another topic covered is the quietness of the hospital environment. Studies have shown noise can negatively impact a patient’s well-being, and it is one of the most stressful and distracting non-clinically relevant elements in a healthcare setting.11 The acoustic benefits of a hybrid carpet make it suitable for lobbies and waiting areas, where dampened noise levels can offer a more calming first impression of a facility. Similarly, hybrid carpets in staff wellness rooms or break rooms can offer visual and physical comfort and a quiet place to recharge.
Senior living communities are also good candidates for hybrid carpet. Throughout areas where accidental spills and pets can cause moisture concerns, such as corridors, sitting areas, and dining rooms, a hybrid carpet offers long-term resilience and easy maintenance of traditional resilient flooring while providing the comfort and warmth of carpet. A hybrid carpet in these spaces can also help reduce slip, trip, and fall accidents, often exacerbated by slippery surfaces, glares, and too much cushion underfoot. The low pile height of a hybrid carpet allows for easy rollability, so people who use wheelchairs or walkers can easily maneuver.
Multifamily
As gathering and amenity spaces gain importance for multifamily residents, hybrid carpet provides the soft texture of carpet, while its cushion helps dampen sound between floors. Similar to education environments adopting more animal-friendly flooring, the moisture barrier of a hybrid carpet is ideal for common rooms, hallways, and pet-friendly residences within a multifamily complex. Hybrid carpet, backed by a certification such as asthma & allergy friendly®, can also be a great selling point for prospective residents with asthma and allergy concerns in a pet-friendly building.
The list of suitable environments for hybrid carpet includes hotels, restaurants, airports, etc. In high-traffic areas where acoustics and moisture mitigation are top concerns, hybrid carpet has emerged as a valuable consideration.
Conclusion
Resilient surfaces are popular choices for commercial spaces for their easy cleaning routines, lowered ability to harbor allergens, and contributions to better IAQ. However, when a soft surface is still desired for certain spaces to soften acoustics and provide a more textural aesthetic, hybrid carpet checks all the boxes. This tried-and-true classic flooring remains innovative and flexible for the needs of buildings today.
Author
Tracy Cook has more than 30 years of experience in the flooring industry. She has held various leadership positions in product innovation, marketing, and business development. Currently serving as senior director of soft surface product management for Tarkett, Cook is an expert in the requirements of today’s commercial interiors and the ways flooring innovations are rising to meet them.
