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Welcome to Solutions, a new feature in Facility Manager that provides questions and answers to real-life scenarios of the frequent and not-so-frequent situations encountered by facility managers. Whether you are seeking answers to a question or whether you wish to share your personal knowledge or experience to a question, Solutions is the place for your interactive participation. We invite and encourage your answer to the question posed on this page by Steve Rosenblatt. We also welcome any questions you might have for future installments of Solutions. Send your questions or answers to rv.baugus@iaam.org. Will The Carpet Hold Up? The Hickory (NC) Metro Convention Center is undergoing another expansion. The only way we can get the space and flexibility we need is by using movable walls to create meeting rooms from an exhibit hall. We need carpeting for the meeting rooms, which means we will have a carpeted exhibit hall floor. My concern is the
carpeting. Are there other facilities with a similar situation? Are there operating policies/procedures regarding forklifts, heavy equipment, etc., running on the carpet? What problems might I not be aware of at this time? This is important to know because we want to keep existing customers happy (or at least not miserable) while causing them inconvenience while expanding the facility. Steven Rosenblatt
Executive Manager
Hickory Metro Convention Center
Hickory, North Carolina
Modular carpet (carpet squares) can work in this situation. If damaged they are easy to replace. Today’s designs make them look less like bathroom carpet tiles than they used to many years ago. They can be very attractive.
Tom Mobley
General Manager/CEO
Washington Convention Center,
Washington, D.C.
We do not have carpeted exhibit floors, but require all wheels to be plastic wrapped when rolling on carpeted surfaces in meeting spaces or ballrooms. The same requirement applies for motorized and nonmotorized rolling equipment. The purpose of the requirement is for protection from dirt or oil on the tires of the fork or boom lift. Doing the above for carpeted areas in an exhibit hall would not work the same as the wheels would be moving from a concrete surface to a carpeted surface and negate the purpose of the wheel wrap.
Al Lomas, CFE, CMP, CMM
Assistant Director
San Antonio Convention Facilities
San Antonio, Texas
We don’t allow vehicles (even golf carts) on our pre-function carpeted areas. In very special cases, the rubber wheels would be wrapped or taped as to not burn or mar the carpet, very similar to what decorators do when they are running over carpet during a show move-in. But there is some fork lift traffic, electric pallet jack, and heavy cart traffic on the rubberized carpet. It cleans up pretty well.
Hymie Gonzales
Assistant Director
Austin Convention Center
Austin, Texas
Our carpeted and terrazzo floors must be protected from equipment/machinery by the use of a floor covering and/or covered wheels.The potential problem if this is not followed is the budget impact due to the need to replace stained and/or torn carpet, the need to keep large inventory of replacement carpet and more. I agree that we all want to keep our customers happy, which means maintaining the aesthetics of the building for many customers to come.
Gloria Lopez Carter
General Manager
Dallas Convention Center
Dallas, Texas
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