How Can Flooring Impact a Data Center’s Efficiency?

February 24, 2025

Anyone with experience in the data center space knows good design involves more than choosing the right equipment and arranging hot and cold aisles. The flooring you choose to install is a crucial component for a comprehensive design that maximizes efficiency and functionality from all parts of the server room.

If you’re looking to install or upgrade your data center floor, this guide will explain what you need to know to ensure your floor meets your requirements.

Why Does Data Center Flooring Matter?

While flooring may be the last thing on your mind when designing or updating a data service center, it plays a significant role in supporting your daily operations. The right flooring can help enhance data center function in the following ways.

1. Increasing Cooling Efficiency

Cool data center floors absorb exhaust heat from your equipment, which can help you shift some of the burden off your cooling system. Raised floors provide about two to three feet of subfloor between the walking area and the ground, through which you can circulate cold air to control temperatures more effectively.

Improving cooling efficiency can also help you reduce your operating costs, as your HVAC system will be able to maintain acceptable temperatures while using less energy. This capability is especially important given the global rise in power costs.

2. Providing Design Flexibility

Legacy flooring is significantly less versatile than modern data center flooring because it comes in large sections as opposed to individual tiles, like raised floors. It also does not allow proper airflow because the space underneath is too shallow.

Regardless of the material you choose, you can easily rearrange raised flooring tiles to adapt to changing data center needs, such as:

  • Adjusting the hot and cold aisle layout.
  • Installing new equipment.
  • Simplifying access to cabling and cooling channels.

3. Reducing Your Risk of Downtime

Electrostatic discharge (ESD) can harm servers and other data center equipment in rare circumstances. While it’s a low-risk factor, protecting your equipment from a potential accident can help you prevent unplanned downtime and enhance your reliability.

Covering your floor with static-resistant material and using only anti-static cleaners can help you shield your assets from electricity-related incidents that could cause extended downtime. Vinyl, concrete and rubber are excellent materials for dispelling static buildup.

4. Lowering Maintenance Costs

Raised flooring makes it easy to access underlying cables and HVAC systems, significantly reducing the amount of time needed for maintenance and repairs and maximizing uptime as a result.

Reducing planned downtime also enables you to save costs typically associated with lost productivity.

5. Contributing to a Safer Working Environment

Flooring tiles that account for concerns such as cable management and electric shock can help you protect your equipment and your employees from workplace hazards.

Calling on a professional service provider to replace your legacy data center floors can also help you improve safety by reducing the risk of improper installation.

6. Enhancing Aesthetic Appeal

Raised data center flooring can help you create a tidier, more streamlined work environment by hiding power and networking cables underneath. This capability creates a cleaner look that can help boost employee morale.

What Types of Flooring Are Best for Data Centers?

The flooring material and design you choose will have a significant impact on the overall function of your data center.

You can choose from several types of data center floor tiles:

  • Raised flooring: Raised floor systems leave a gap between the ground and the floor surface, enabling you to run cables and vent hot air underneath your floor without taking up additional space. With the proper cleaning and maintenance, raised data center flooring can last up to 20 years.
  • Slab flooring: While slab flooring is generally more affordable than raised flooring systems, it is less energy-efficient because it requires an overhead cooling system. It is highly durable, though, and can handle heavy loads.
  • Concrete flooring: Concrete is a highly versatile and durable material for raised flooring systems under high stress. Its ability to dispel heat and ESD makes it a safe choice for anti-static protection.
  • Vinyl and rubber flooring: If you need a cost-effective flooring material with the capacity to conduct and dispel electricity, vinyl or rubber floors may be a good choice for your data center.

The Importance of Data Center Floor Cleaning for Maximum Efficiency

Regular maintenance and cleaning of your data center floors is critical for many reasons:

  • Protecting sensitive equipment: Infrequent cleaning can allow contaminants to build up in the subfloor, which can potentially affect sensitive pieces of equipment.
  • Controlling pests: While rodents and other vermin can cause serious damage to server room components, keeping your data center clean makes it easier to repel them.
  • Extending equipment life spans: Letting dust accumulate on your floor can allow cooling equipment to draw these particles in, reducing cooling efficiency and potentially causing damage.

Establishing a schedule for routine floor cleaning is critical. For example, raised flooring should receive a basic cleaning every week with a dedicated dry mop and a thorough cleaning of the subfloor every three months.

Important Considerations When Choosing a Data Center Floor

Some key factors to consider in choosing a floor replacement include:

  • Scalability: As demand grows, you’ll need to add servers and other equipment. Choosing a modular flooring type, like raised vinyl flooring, can help you reconfigure your data center to meet evolving needs.
  • Maintenance requirements: How much downtime could you spare maintaining your floors? Although flooring that has high cleaning and maintenance requirements can impact your ability to maximize uptime, relying on professional cleaning services can help ease this issue.
  • Budget: While raised flooring systems typically cost more than slab systems, they may help you save money over time by eliminating complex steps in data center maintenance processes.

Tailor Your Data Center Floor to Your Needs With DataSpan

With more than 25 years of experience in installing, repairing and maintaining data center floors, DataSpan is a trusted service provider who can help you maximize efficiency from the ground up. We offer various material options and design expertise for new flooring systems, and you can call on us for cleaning and maintenance services to keep your floors in excellent condition.

Or, if you’re looking for a better way to keep up with a demanding maintenance and cleaning schedule, you can count on our team of professionals to handle those tasks for you. We provide specialized anti-static cleaning services as well as repairs and replacements so you can keep up with your typical operations.

Enhance operations in your data center with a flooring system designed specifically for your needs. Contact your local DataSpan rep to discuss custom flooring solutions.

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