When picturing a high school basketball game, the shining maple floors are a defining feature of any basketball game. The vibrant lines painted on the court and resounding smack of the ball as its dribbled. But those shiny wood floors come at price - easily starting in the tens of thousands for a standard gym, with annual maintenance costs adding to the overall price tag. With a cost like this, most schools and institutions want a way protect their investment. While there are synthetic gym flooring options, athletic departments, coaches, and players often prefer genuine wood flooring. The timeless look and superior performance of wood gym flooring is what athletes and fans have come to expect. Perhaps your local school isn't developing the next LeBron James or Kevin Durant, but fans of wood floors believe that because of the foundation that lies beneath a hardwood floor, which absorb shock, athletes are less likely to sustain injuries.
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Wood flooring has a longer lifespan than synthetic flooring, but it comes with a higher upfront cost. Installing a wood floor is more expensive than synthetic alternatives, and depending on the amount of sanding and refinishing required, can deplete an institution's maintenance budget. Colleges and larger high schools, both places that have a wide range of needs for their athletic spaces, will often have a main gym with wood flooring and a secondary gym with a synthetic flooring for practices and other uses. In cities and small towns alike, school gyms are used around the clock for various school and community events, making durability and longevity of the flooring vital. The Maple Floors Manufacturers Association estimates a $2,088 annual daily maintenance cost for 10,000 square feet maple sports flooring (174 hours at $12 an hour). Plus another $2,800 for the annual cost of screening and re-coating maple sports flooring. And finally, $845 annual cost of refinishing maple sports flooring.
Even though the road to basketball glory may be paved in shining maple, it’s important to protect that flooring. That's where gym floor covers come in. Protective gym floor covers are available in two styles: roll out sheet vinyl and large carpet tiles. Both of these floor covering options are simple to install and easy to use. Either protective flooring surface will do a great job of safeguarding your hardwood gym floor. Vinyl covers are typically much faster to install while carpet tiles will offer more comfort for your gymnasium event.
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Vinyl Gym Floor Protection Rolls
Vinyl floor covers come in long rolls, which are typically stored on large racks, and are rolled out to cover the floor for activities other than sporting events like dances, registrations, banquets, plays and commencements. Gym floors receive heavy foot traffic, as well as the stains, scuffs, and impacts that come from their use as a multi purpose flooring. Greatmats.com, a specialty flooring retailer, carries several types of vinyl floor covering materials, and the racks needed to store the materiel. Their vinyl mesh fabric is fire retardant, ADA and OSHA compliant, and waterproof, rot and mildew resistant. As an added feature, the flooring material is both antimicrobial and anti-fungal.
The ultra durable three ply PVC vinyl sheeting is available in multiple thickness, which is measured by the weight of the vinyl per square yard. For PVC vinyl sheeting, thicknesses range from 18 ozs to 32 ozs per square yard. The number of uses per year equates to the recommended weight that you choose. For use six times a year or less, choose the 18 oz. If the covering needs to be used 6-12 times per year, Greatmats recommends the 22 oz. weight. Twenty-seven oz is preferred for usage of more than once a month. For more frequent events, opt for the heaviest 32 oz. weight.
Greatmats has nine colors available, plus three which have tan on the reverse side. You might even get your school's colors. On some weights, a raised pattern that enhances the non-slip factor of the flooring is available.
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The material is easy handling, and the seams are strong and lay smooth and flat. Seams are typically taped down, and the product is stored rolled up on racks. The product comes in 10-foot widths, and it is recommended to add six to 12 inches for overlapping each section. The rolls will arrive custom cut for the space they will be installed in. Cleaning is simple, just sweep before storing.
Gym Floor Protection Carpet Tiles
Another option are durable and attractive carpet tiles. Greatmats stocks a 6mm thick carpet tile in a 3.28 by 6.56 foot size, which weighs less than 14 pounds a piece. These carpet tiles are used by schools, universities, and community centers to cover gym floors. This product is also used as a protective flooring for convention halls and sport/recreational facilities.
Carpet tiles lie flat on top of the wood gym flooring and there are no unsightly wrinkles or ripples to cause potential tripping hazards. Customers often report enjoying the added acoustic dampening that the carpet tiles provide to a room.
They are easy to install and remove by one person even for large areas and don't require tape or lots of special accessories. Carpet tiles provide a more finished and clean look when used as protective gym flooring when compared to other gym flooring protection options. They give a space a clean and finished look.
Tiles are available in gray and blue and can be stored on rolling carts for easy mobility and storage of the tiles - up to 75 carpet tiles per cart. Greatmats also offers the carts for these tiles.
Whether carpet tiles or vinyl rolls are the right choice, any facility will save time and money when its gym floor is properly protected. You will gain usable space, without damaging the quality flooring your athletes, coaches and fans expect.
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