PROJECT SPECIFICATION DETAILS

The Challenge

The timber bull nosed stairs leading up to the treatment rooms in the Birmingham based Hawkins Dental Practice had become worn through daily foot traffic over many years. The stair floorcovering and consequently the stair nosings needed to be replaced.

The Practice Manager contacted McLeod Carpets, a flooring contractor based nearby, and tasked them with finding a company to supply stair nosings for the Dental Practice. The staircase in question required nosings of different lengths over the 12 straight steps. In addition to this, the bottom 2 steps needed to have ‘hockey stick’ curves on either end. The curved steps were of differing size, further complicating the job. The stair nosings had to be fitted along with the replacement carpet of the dental practice staircase. All of the nosings had to comply with Health and Safety regulations, with regard to the visibility of the nosings and the minimisation of slip and trip hazards.

The Solution

McLeod Carpets got in contact with Quantum Flooring Solutions, to take advantage of the free QSMS measuring service. Within 24 hours, a surveyor from Quantum Flooring Solutions had been on site to measure up all of the steps. This included making templates of the 2 curved steps. The QSMS surveyoradvised that the correctstairnosings for the job should bethe HB1 nosings from the Quantum Flooring Solutions H-Range. These heavy duty nosings are specifically designed to fit the traditional bull nose shape of a timber stair and fit flush with the thick carpeted floorcovering. The stair nosings for the curved steps would be individually fabricated to the curved templates.They are made from straight lengths of stair nosings by Quantum Flooring Solutions specialist in-house welding team. Black infills were used for the tread in the stair nosings, to contrast and complement the light grey carpet on the staircase. They provided and LRV difference of at least 30 points as required by Building Regulation guidelines.

The Outcome

A local Quantum Flooring Solutions Distributor cut the stair nosings to size, and numbered them to ensure that the correct lengths were used for the right steps. These, along with the expertly fabricated curved steps, were fitted to Hawkins Dental Practice’s staircase with minimum fuss. The heavy-duty stair nosings, with bull nose fronts to go with the shape of the original stair noses, fitted perfectly onto the staircase. The Quantum Flooring Solutions slip resistant treads help to ensure that all employees and patients who enter the dental practice can do so with the danger of a trip or a fall reduced to a minimum. In addition to the practical benefits, the work done by Quantum Flooring Solutions’ team throughout the process resulted in a pleasing and highly professional look for the owners of Hawkins Dental Practice.