USA (Erie, PA) | Education

Wattsburg Area Middle School

Middle school facility supports safety and comfort with nora rubber flooring

When officials at Wattsburg Area Middle School planned to renovate the school in its entirety, they looked at all areas that needed to be addressed – heating and air conditioning, walls, ceilings, doors, windows and floors. They needed a flooring material that supported and accommodated teachers, students and staff.

The school’s flooring material at the time, VCT tiles, required intensive waxing protocols that resulted in maintenance over summer and holiday hours, which was a significant time commitment and worry for the administration. They were looking for a new flooring material that reduced costs, required less maintenance and further supported the success and continued education of the students.

The administrators toured a school in a nearby district that was outfitted with nora rubber flooring products. While they were expecting typical flooring that requires lots of maintenance upkeep, they were met with premium rubber flooring and “were really pleasantly surprised to find out how nice the floor looked at the age of 13 years,” said Eric Shultz, Wattsburg Area School District’s Plant Operations Supervisor. “The durability and overall look that it gave the building were attractive to us.”

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Wattsburg selected noraplan^® eco to cover 15,000-square-feet of the school for its maintenance, acoustical and safety benefits. With premium rubber flooring, the need for extensive maintenance regimens associated with VCT tiles is reduced, meaning that the “cost of all of our product has gone down tremendously,” said Shultz. The flooring’s sound reduction and durable qualities also impressed the school’s Assistant Principal Krista Wehan, who said, “I wear high heels a lot, and I can definitely feel the difference in walking on the floor. The students can’t hear me coming quite as well.”

nora^® flooring will be utilized in two science labs, the home economics room, campus corridors and the cafeteria.

Wattsburg Area Middle School Principal Chris Paris shared the student response to the renovations: “The kids were excited when they first came in. They were a little overwhelmed, I think, by everything that was done, but we try to teach them to take care of it. It’s their building.”