Carpets For Airports

[ilesmark]

Yep - you read it properly. There is a site devoted to airport carpets, Carpets for Airports, discovered when 'the BBC decided to stick its hand down the back of the internet to see what it could find'.

Enjoy!

BBC News - Carpets and counting: Five of the web's oddest communities

[Ancient Observer]

Back in the 80s there were some very weird carpets in T1 at LHR between the entrance and BA's "Gate 5" (I think it was called gate 5).
Apparently it was a designated "very heavy use" area, and carpet Co.s used to test out their latest creations there. The patterns were naff in the extreme.

That's my total info on carpets for airports. Sad.

Carpets for pubs would be more interesting........

[DaveReidUK]

Ah, not these, then:

http://www.pprune.org/military-aircr...m-carpets.html

[edi_local]

Terminal 1 at LHR seems to have gotten rid of most, if not all of it's carpets recently and replaced it all with tiles or Lino style. Indeed, Gate 20 used to have green grocer style carpet as it was transformed to look like the Games Terminal. Now it's been replaced by lino style with a grass pattern.*

I think EDI has done the same since the GIP takeover.

I seem to recall the Inside Gatwick program going on about there being a need to rip out all the carpeting as it cost so much to clean and replace when it ripped or wore out. Add to that the fact it retained dirt, dust, moisture and smells a lot more than lino or tiles do and some staff even reported there being fleas inside the carpets in some areas!


*I do think T1, Gate 20 was an odd choice to have made in order to store all the Olympics related stuff from the specially created Games Terminal. I mean it's due to be knocked down pretty soon, so it seems a rather short lived legacy.

[Bealzebub]

I imagine it is one of those subjects that unless somebody takes a stand on, others will just walk all over them.

[Donkey497]

Strange though it may seem, there are people out there who need to get out more than we do.........

[PAXboy]

ilesmark

... down the back of the internet to see what it could find'.

Lucky they didn't find us ...

Shhhssh, everyone, keep the window blinds down and they'll think this plane's empty.

[SawMan]

Beware the bored- their next action is always unpredictable

My work sometimes re-habs rental houses and while the average prospective tenant likes carpet, none of those houses get any because it is more maintenance- intensive than people will take care of and it is too easily ruined to be replacing before it wears out All these floors are designed with durability first and aesthetics second because of the economics, and airports are learning to follow suit with money being as tight as it is these days. Hence the 'battleship lino' and ceramic tiles you're seeing more of.

Other issues with carpet are static electricity and their retention and subsequent re-distribution of dust, dirt, spores etc. You can get sued over those kind of things these days

[ilesmark]

Thanks all for responses - as good reading these as it was reading the article!

I'd heard about carpet makers using high-traffic environments eg hotels for testing their products......suppose an airport would be even better.