Quartz broadcast and anti-slip floors

A quartz system broadcasts kiln-fired, colour-coated quartz granules into a resin base instead of vinyl chips. The granules are angular and hard, so the finished surface has real mechanical texture rather than the softer profile of flake. It's a thicker, more durable build and it costs more.

Where we use it

• Pool decks and patios. The obvious case — wet feet, bare skin, and sun. Quartz can also be built with a lighter colour that stays cooler underfoot.
• Commercial kitchens. Grease and water together are the worst slip combination there is. Quartz with a coved base is close to standard.
• Ramps and entries. Any sloped surface that gets wet.
• Garages for households with mobility concerns. Worth considering even where a flake floor would technically pass.

The tradeoff

Quartz is harder to clean than flake. The same texture that gives you grip holds grit, and a wet mop takes more effort. In a commercial kitchen that's an acceptable trade for not having staff fall over. In a home garage that never gets wet, it's usually unnecessary — a flake floor already outperforms bare concrete.

Grades and what they mean underfoot

Grade selection is a trade between traction and cleanability, and there is no universally right answer. A commercial kitchen wants coarse and accepts the scrubbing. A residential pool deck usually wants medium — enough grip for wet feet without being unpleasant to lie on.

Double broadcast systems

For heavy-duty applications, quartz is broadcast in two passes with a coat of resin between them. This produces a substantially thicker build — often 60 to 125 mils — and a surface that will outlast the building's use case. It costs roughly double a single broadcast and it is genuine overkill for anything residential, but it is the correct specification for commercial kitchens, food processing and wash-down areas.

Coved base

In any wet area, the junction between floor and wall is where water sits and where bacteria grow. A coved base carries the flooring material up the wall four to six inches in a continuous radius, eliminating the seam entirely. It is close to standard in commercial kitchens and is frequently required by health inspection.

Cove work is slow and skilled — it is formed by hand and takes considerably longer per linear foot than flat work. Expect $8 to $15 per linear foot on top of the floor itself.

Cleaning a textured floor

The practical downside of quartz is maintenance. A dust mop skates over the texture without picking much up, so routine cleaning wants either a stiff broom or, better, an autoscrubber in commercial settings. In a residential pool deck, a hose and a stiff brush handles it.

What to avoid is letting grit accumulate in the texture, because that grit becomes the abrasive that wears the topcoat. On a smooth floor the grit gets swept away; on a textured floor it sits in the relief until something removes it.

Common questions