Your church building should be an effective tool for ministry in your community. It’s one reason why The McKnight Group shares our decades of church design wisdom in free i3 webinars every year, and why we post these articles. In this series, we’ve been looking at how your church building can make a good first impression. One way is to pay attention to the flooring under guests’ feet.
Understanding Carpet Tile
A type of floor covering that’s become increasingly popular in recent years is carpet tile. It was originally created as a solution for large office spaces that needed to quickly be able to replace carpet. Over time, however, manufacturers have embraced this product and developed many different patterns, styles, and installation methods.
The Types and Advantages of Carpet Tile for Your Church Design
There are different types of commercial grade carpet tile, and it’s important to understand that not all will hold up to the heavy traffic of your church building lobby. “Tenant improvement” carpet tiles may be less expensive, but they’re designed to last just five years, which is the average lifespan for a business office lease. Good stewardship includes making wise decisions on the quality of your flooring in such important areas of your church design. For this reason, while you don’t have to go with the top of the line, you do need to invest in carpet tile that will withstand many feet over many years.
One obvious advantage of carpet tile is that it’s installed in pieces. This means it’s easy to replace just one or two tiles if they get badly damaged, without having to reinstall an entire lobby’s worth of broadloom carpet. Carpet tiles also stand up better to spills because they have a vinyl backing which keeps liquids from getting underneath the carpet and damaging adhesives or causing buckling. Keeping spills on the surface level also makes for easier cleaning.
Church Building Lobby Examples of Carpet Tile
Here are three images of carpet tile in church building lobbies. In the first, at Bridgetown, you can see how the tiles form a pleasing overall pattern that isn’t clearly tile-based. Guests and attendees may notice the pattern, but they’re not likely to be focused on individual tiles or left wondering how the flooring was installed. 
This second photo is from Summit Church. Here, your mind might think there’s a plank style of pattern in the carpet, but they aren’t likely to realize that it’s composed of 24”x24” tiles. In this final image, from Fearless Church in Centerville, Ohio, we have another carpet tile pattern that is meant to appear less rustic, which supports their church vision for ministry in their community.
These examples demonstrate how carpet tiles that may not consciously be noticed can still make a good first impression. In this case, carpet tiles also make for easier cleaning and spot replacement, which is good stewardship of the resources you’ve invested in your church building. Carpet tile now comes in a variety of shapes and sizes. Square tiles may be 18”x18” or 24”x24”. Planks could be 9”x36” or 18”x39”. You can even find hexagon shaped carpet tile.
To learn more about how to develop the best church design for your ministry needs, sign up for each of our forthcoming free i3 webinars.