Flooring for bars and restaurants: what the surface actually has to handle

The floor in a hospitality venue works under conditions you will not find anywhere else: grease, boiling water, wine, cleaning chemicals, trolleys, heels and health inspections. Let's go through the requirements zone by zone — they are fundamentally different.

Zone 1. Kitchen

The toughest area in the building.

Slip resistance. A wet floor with a film of grease is the leading cause of workplace injuries in catering. You need a floor rated R11 to DIN 51130, and around fryers and ranges R11 with additional displacement capacity. The Spanish building code CTE DB-SUA requires class 3 for wet production areas.

Grease resistance. Animal and vegetable fats break down many polymers. PVC copes with them well, but the seams are the weak point: grease works its way into the joint and destroys the adhesive bond from the inside.

Heat resistance. Spilled boiling oil, boiling water from a pot, hot water during wash-down.

Chemical resistance. Industrial degreasers, alkaline products, chlorine-based disinfectants — every single day.

Hygiene. The sanitary requirement is that the floor must be washable to the point where no reservoirs are left for bacteria. An open seam is exactly such a reservoir.

The answer: sheet vinyl is laid in continuous 2 m wide runs and every seam is welded with a rod into a single monolithic surface. The skirting is not a surface-mounted profile but a coved one: the sheet is turned up the wall by 100 mm, forming a continuous tray with no 90° internal corner. That is precisely what gets asked about during a health inspection.

Zone 2. Bar counter and service area

A combined load: constant spills behind the counter, the highest staff traffic in the venue, and point loads from equipment.

Requirements: use class 33–34, slip resistance R10–R11 in the working strip behind the counter, waterproofing across the whole area, welded seams.

Separately: the area around the ice machine and the dishwasher is effectively a wet room and is treated like the kitchen.

Zone 3. Dining room

Here appearance comes to the fore, but the technical side does not go away.

Requirements: class 33 for loading, slip resistance R9–R10 (dry area), resistance to stiletto heels — a point load in the order of several hundred kilograms per square centimetre, tested to EN 433. The load class depends directly on the thickness and wear layer of the flooring.

Stain resistance: red wine, coffee, beetroot, turmeric, tomato sauce. PVC with a polyurethane lacquer does not absorb pigment if it is cleaned up promptly.

Acoustics. An underrated factor: a hard floor in a room with hard walls produces a booming echo, guests raise their voices, and the venue ends up sounding like a railway station. The fix is an acoustic underlay under the adhesive, plus textiles and soft furniture.

The dining room also suits glue-down LVT planks — a wood decor creates the right atmosphere, and in a dry area the seams do not have to be welded.

Zone 4. Customer toilets

Slip rating: R10 as a minimum, R11 ideally. Full waterproofing, welded seams, coved skirting. Resistance to disinfectants and urine — an aggressive environment that is often underestimated when the flooring is chosen.

Zone 5. Entrance area and terrace

The first few metres take all the street dirt and, in the rain, all the water. Class 33–34, slip resistance R11, and a barrier matting system is mandatory. The outdoor part of the terrace is a separate job: PVC floors rated for interior use are not suitable for external application.

Why welded seams are not an option but a requirement

Three reasons why seams are always welded in hospitality:

1. Hygiene. An open seam even 0.2 mm wide is a capillary that draws in grease and organic matter. It cannot be washed out. Within a few months it becomes a source of odour and biofilm, and the first thing an inspector picks on.
2. Moisture. Water that gets under the floor through a seam has nowhere to go. The result is adhesive failure and blisters.
3. Mechanics. An unwelded edge is gradually lifted by passing trolleys and eventually tears away.

Welding is done with a hot-air gun after grooving the seam: the groove is cut with a router, the rod is laid in, and the excess is trimmed with a crescent knife in two passes. The rod is matched to the colour of the flooring — with careful work the seam is barely visible.

Consumption: for a 100 m² room with a 2 m wide roll you get around 50 linear metres of seam plus the perimeter.

Compared with porcelain tile

The standard solution in Spanish hospitality is porcelain tile. A direct comparison:

The main practical argument is the schedule. Replacing the floor of a working restaurant with porcelain tile means closing for a week at least. With vinyl it can be done zone by zone, and often between shifts. What's more, if the venue already has ceramic tile, it is possible to install vinyl directly over it, without demolition.

Maintenance that will not destroy the floor

Daily: machine or manual damp cleaning with a pH-neutral or mildly alkaline product for PVC floors. In the kitchen, a degreaser approved by the flooring manufacturer.

Never: abrasive powders, solvents, acetone, or strong acid-based products. A steam cleaner only if the manufacturer expressly allows it.

Every 3–6 months in high-traffic zones: machine cleaning and reinstatement of the polymer protective layer. It costs less than replacing the floor and extends service life by one and a half to two times.

Barrier matting at the entrance is the single most cost-effective measure. Three metres of matting removes up to 80% of the abrasive grit and extends the life of the entire floor beyond it.

What to order

Kitchen, toilets and bar area: commercial sheet vinyl in class 32–33, Bfl-s1, with welded seams. Dining room: sheet or glue-down LVT planks, depending on the interior concept. Plus welding rod to match.

A calculation based on your floor plan, broken down by zone and by the required slip ratings, is available through the quote request form.

FAQ

What slip rating is needed in a restaurant kitchen? R11 to DIN 51130, which corresponds to class 3 under DB-SUA for wet areas. In the dining room R9–R10 is enough.

Do the seams have to be welded? In the kitchen, the toilets and the bar area, yes — it is a hygiene requirement. In a dry dining room unwelded seams are acceptable.

Can vinyl be laid over old porcelain tile? Yes, provided the tiles are firmly bonded and the grout lines are filled or a self-levelling compound is poured. That avoids demolition and keeps the downtime short.

How soon can we reopen after installation? Light use after 24 hours, full loading after 48–72 hours. Seam welding is carried out no earlier than 24 hours after the flooring is laid.

Will the floor stand up to trolleys and mobile equipment? Yes, with class 33–34 and correctly welded seams. The seams are the key point: an unwelded edge is the first thing to lift.

Another type of space with heavy traffic and floors that need to handle moisture is gyms and sports centres: the requirements there are different, and we cover them in vinyl flooring for gyms.