Commercial Grade Tiki FLOORING

The Bahi Hut is getting new flooring. The owner is going to let me weigh in. The original floor was a grass mat squares type of floor. Now it's a nasty dark worn out carpet. I'm looking for something that looks like the original grass mat but will wear better and take spills and be easy to clean. Any suggestions?

you may consider carpet tile, if you can find something that approximates the original grass mat, these are great since you can replace portions of it as required, instead of the whole carpet.

i also did a google for artificial seagrass floor, and came up with this; i would bet there are more options out there:
https://www.curranfloor.com/viewcategory.php?tag=All-Synthetic-Sisal

bamboo flooring is cheap, durable, easy to clean. it's also bamboo so what's more tiki than that?

Couple thoughts...

Asphalt tiles (peel-and-stick, glue-down, etc.) are of the mid-century timeframe and are surprisingly durable.

Bamboo flooring may be too soft for a restaurant/bar environment. I have it in parts of my home, it looks good, but there are times when I drop stuff and the bamboo suffers deep and irreparable gouges. It may also not be abrasion-resistant enough to survive bar stools and bar tables being repeatedly dragged across it.

Ceramic tiles are now being made which LOOK like various kinds of wood and may offer adequate durability. It depends on how quickly the surface can be worn down, in other words, how deep the colored finishes are on the surface of the tile. It may suffer from chipping, but I'd look further into it cuz I suspect it could work for you. I know that what I've seen in stores would look great in a tiki environment.

Whatever you do, buy spares so you can make repairs in the future. Color matching can be very difficult if you don't buy some spares at time of installation.

That SynSisal is cool! But up to $130/square yard :o

I've found bamboo to be hard, we've dropped tools on it without a dent or mark but scratches incredibly easily. Chairs and bar stools scraping across it would be horrific. Just my 2 cents.

On 2017-10-05 11:49, Johnny Dollar wrote:
you may consider carpet tile, if you can find something that approximates the original grass mat, these are great since you can replace portions of it as required, instead of the whole carpet.

i also did a google for artificial seagrass floor, and came up with this; i would bet there are more options out there:
https://www.curranfloor.com/viewcategory.php?tag=All-Synthetic-Sisal

This stuff looks pretty good:
https://www.curranfloor.com/weave.php?weavename=honolulu

Bamboo is out, this place gets heavy wear. Maybe a ceramic floor in a wood or stone look, but care will have to be taken not to clash with the beautiful rock walls on two sides. Meeting with the big guy Saturday to discuss.

Do you have photos of the original? Was it under the carpet? We just remember carpeting...

On 2017-10-09 13:09, mike and marie wrote:
Do you have photos of the original? Was it under the carpet? We just remember carpeting...

There is a vintage photo of the interior now hanging inside the bar and the original floor was grass mat squares, wall to wall. Also noticeable in the same shot is the small alcove and the hallway to the bathrooms were both added later--the entrance to the bathrooms was where the back bar is now. It was a tiny little place when first built.