Snohomish Library carpeting and flooring project

The main area of the Snohomish Library building will be closed through Sept. 5 for a carpeting and flooring project.

A worker operates the "Terminator," a machine that removes old flooring, as part of the work at the Snohomish Library.

During the closure, a “mini-library” is open in the building’s meeting room from 10 a.m.-6:30 p.m., Mondays-Saturdays and 1-5 p.m. on Sundays. Available services include picking up materials on hold, returning materials, checkout materials, wi-fi, accepting Explore Summer logs and handing out prizes. No public computers and no public restrooms will be available during the project.

The full library will re-open on Sept. 6.

“This is a standard replacement and update cycle of carpeting for us. After 13 years of use in a public space we would expect to be replacing the carpet,” said Brian Rush, facilities manager for Sno-Isle Libraries. Most of the carpet and flooring in the 23,000-square-foot library is original to when it was built in 2003.

Flooring in the public areas of the library were a combination of carpet tiles and rolled carpet. The new material will be all carpet tiles to make it easier to replace damaged or worn areas. The staff work area was a hard flooring material that had been put down in one piece. Rush said the replacement material will also be tiles and much more resistant to wear.

The flooring work is just part of ongoing maintenance and upgrades to the Snohomish facility in recent years. After energy efficiency upgrades in 2015, the building is using 17 percent less electricity and 70 percent less natural gas than in 2011.