Selecting a Gym Floor FAQ
What type of gym floor should we choose?
There are many options available for gym flooring but the first step to selecting one is to determine the range of activities that will occur in the area where the gym floor is to be. Beyond a range of sports, will there be meetings in there with tables and chairs? Will there be community meals in the area? Can the area’s environment be controlled for humidity or occasional water leaks? Not all floors are appropriate when the area is regularly used for sports and other events.
Is there any reason we shouldn’t buy a wood floor for our gym?
Wood is the most preferred material for most court sports, and especially basketball. While wood is the most expensive, it also lasts the longest and can be refinished a number of times over the years to keep it looking great. It holds up well and should last decades if properly cared for. However, it needs to be kept in an area where the climate can be controlled all year round. Most flooring companies recommend that the humidity level be kept in a range between 35-55% throughout the seasons. If that is not possible, or your facility has experienced some water leaks over time, this will cause damage to the wood, leading to early replacement or repair. Read our blog on finding the right gym flooring material for your facility for even more insight.
What alternatives to wood flooring are good options?
There are a number that are widely used for sports:
Pad and Pour:
This consists of a resilient rubber sheet that is then coated with urethane top surface. One of the advantages of this material is that it can be done in a wide range of colors so that you can highlight areas of the court in contrasting colors. It is also very good for areas where you have a lot of meetings as well as sports, as it does not react to spills or water leaks, and can also handle the use of table and chairs on the floor.
Rolled vinyl
This had a stable vinyl top that has a resilient foam attached to the back of it. It also can be done in a number of colors, but is mostly done in a wood grain that very closely mimics the look of wood. It is also good for multi-use spaces as it too does not react to water spills or leakage, and holds up well to the use of tables and chairs.
Plastic tile
These are interlocking tiles that are installed over a thin resilient rubber surface. They are extremely durable and very inexpensive. They can be made in a number of colors as well and have the same qualities as the previous two products, but they have the added advantage of being removable. Should you want to move a court, it takes very little effort to pick up the tiles and reassemble them somewhere else, whereas the other alternatives are permanent installs.
Which of these will fit our budget?
Wood is the most costly initially but, will also give you the longest life. If you can amortize a wood flooring over its useful life, you will often find that it is a very inexpensive alternative.
The Pad and Pour system is typically next, but like refinishing wood floors a number of times, these floors can have a new topcoat of urethane poured over them every few years to rejuvenate the surface.
Next is the vinyl system, but maintenance on that is very low. Occasionally, the lines may need to be repainted and the welds that hold the sheets together will have to be replaced, but these are very minimal issues.
Plastic tiles are the least expensive, and they are virtually indestructible. Even if a tile is damaged, it can easily be taken out and replaced. As with a vinyl system, the lines may need to be touched up over time.
Rubber Floors FAQ
What type of rubber flooring should I be looking at?
Our most commonly sold product is Flecks rubber flooring, in both commercial gyms and for home installations. It’s super durable and relatively inexpensive. It hides dirt well and is a pretty trouble-free flooring to take care of. You’ll see it in gyms across the country because of that durability and ease of maintenance.
Why are most rubber floors almost entirely black?
Most rubber gym floors are black because they are mostly made of recycled tires. The tires are ground up into extremely small pieces and washed a number of times to make sure there are no remaining impurities in it. They are also scanned with magnets numerous times to make sure that no metal is left in them, which would do a lot of damage to the grinders. The black background that you see then has colored virgin EPDM chunks added to it, which helps match the color scheme of the gym.
Should I buy tiles or rolls?
That depends on how long you anticipate being in the space. Tiles are slightly more expensive, but if they go wall-to-wall, they can be installed without the use of adhesive. Rolls need to be glued down virtually every time. We recommend tiles for most homeowners so that they can take up the flooring if they move or have something like a water leak. Most gyms use rolls that are glued in place so that they don’t shift over time.
I don’t like to see the gaps in between interlocking tiles, can it be avoided?
No one does. Early on in the process of making interlocking floors, the interlocks were not particularly precise and so you could often see through to the subfloor in the seams. That has improved considerably in recent years and now the interlocks are cut with a precise water jet. Especially in speckled tiles, you can’t see the edge of the tiles at all anymore.
What thickness of rubber should I buy for my gym?
That depends a lot on what you are doing in the area. Most fitness facilities use 3/8” rubber for their selectorized and CV machines and areas where light weights are used. We often have people ask us for ½” rubber, which is fine, but the 3/8” is usually more than adequate, especially when you consider that the extra 1/8” often costs 25% more than the 3/8”.
There are occasions where you will need more than 3/8” and that is usually in power lifting areas, where athletes are regularly lifting more than 200 lbs. For those areas, it’s preferable to have something thicker with an air space beneath it to help absorb impacts. Something like our 1” flexpave tiles would be better for these areas.
I don’t like the look of a black background. Are there other rubber options that are solid color?
Of course there are, and we have some options for that as well. They are typically made with all virgin material, since it’s virtually impossible to make black tires any other color. However, because they are made with virgin rubber, they are considerably more expensive. Typically, they have to be installed by a professional installer because there are different protocols for installing them, as opposed to recycled rubber, which can often be installed by anyone.