Why Do I Need to Cover A Gym Floor?

Why Do I Need A Gym Floor Cover?

Because most gym spaces are used for multiple different activities, it is difficult to limit the amount of damage done over time to a finished hardwood floor. Improper footwear and moving equipment back and forth to convert the use of the space can cause the floor to wear down faster than when used exclusively for athletes wearing tennis shoes or the like. Not only does this affect the look of the floor, but after a certain point, it also damages the effectiveness of the floor and will repeatedly require costly maintenance.

How Do Gym Floor Covers Help?

Gym floor cover tiles and vinyl gym floor coverings are highly beneficial. These products are meant to protect the surface of a gymnasium floor from any the harm that can come with it. They provide additional external shock absorption with their padding and increase the lifespan of the floor underneath it by protecting it from spills, dragging furniture and equipment, and improper footwear. They are even more slip-resistant than hardwood floors and can limit the risk of slip-and-fall accidents should the floor become wet. Because the floor coverings are light, portable, and built to withstand the causes mentioned above of damage, they are far easier to wash and provide maintenance to at the end of any event, reducing both effort and time spent doing such things. Because of this, they are also a cost and time-efficient investment.

How Do GymGuard Gym Floor Covers Work?

GymGuard vinyl floor covering comes in 10-foot wide rolls of durable, waterproof, fire retardant, anti-bacterial, and anti-fungal vinyl fabric, usually around 100ft in length. They are mounted on a rack that provides ease of deployment via a set of rollers and, when stored, are highly resistant to mildew. Each strip of vinyl gym floor covering can be quickly and efficiently rolled out across a gym floor, taped down, and overlapped by about six inches by the next strip until the entire floor is completely covered and taped down. When loading the mats back onto the rollers, it is only a matter of reversing the process until it is all mounted back on the rack. The material comes in 4 different weights–18, 22, 27, and 32oz–and the recommended thickness is based solely on how often it will be used. For instance, if the planned use is meant daily, you will most likely want the largest weight available.

How to Measure For Gym Floor Covers

Not all gym floors are perfectly rectangular, and sometimes there are permanent or semi-permanent obstacles such as bleachers and columns. Because of this, and typically, the entire floor is not always in use, you will want to determine what area of the gymnasium you wish to cover up with vinyl floor covers before your purchase. Any area that the vinyl will not cover can be protected by several five-foot wide runners, which can cover nooks and crannies easier than the vinyl gym floor covering strips. Even if you wish for the covering to extend over the entire length of the floor, it is recommended that you purchase strips that are 5ft shorter and cover up the remaining section with runners so that it is easier to unload and reload the mats on the rack. When faced with obstacles, you must also consider what should and should not be covered by the vinyl. For instance, if your gymnasium has retractable bleachers, you may want to cover the entire underside or only cover the area surrounding them, which must be counted into your measurements. For more permanent obstacles such as columns, it is recommended that you follow the same guidelines as though it is a section of the wall and use runners to cover the area around the column. Once you have measured out the surface area of where you wish your vinyl gym floor coverings and five-foot wide runners to go, you must then decide how many rolls of which you will need. Remember in your calculations that each mat is 10ft wide, and it is recommended that you overlap each strip by about 6 inches to ensure no areas are free of cover. It is also best for each strip to run lengthwise down the gym floor to minimize the number of strips used. This ensures that you need the least amount of storage racks possible and that the effort to load and unload is reduced as much as possible. Each Gym Guard vinyl floor covering can be as long as 130-140ft in length, so it is not entirely likely that they will not be long enough for your needs.

How to Use Tape to Attach Gym Floor Mats

Make sure that when you purchase your gym floor cover tape, you do not substitute it for another type of tape. Gym floor cover tape is meant to effectively tape down seams and later be removed without leaving behind a sticky residue, as most other tapes will often do. This residue will then attract more dust, dirt, and debris and ruin its appealing look fast. Other types are more challenging to remove than gym floor cover tape, and the residue it leaves behind is even harder to scrub away, especially without sacrificing the quality of the vinyl fabric. Because of this, you will want to stick to gym floor cover tape. When applying, you may want to consider what areas will be used the most and where tripping hazards would be more likely. If the event includes using chairs and tables, the seams may not need to be taped down in areas where the legs of this furniture would weigh it down on their own. Be sure, if nothing else, to tape down regions of heavy traffic that may have protruding seams. If spills are likely to happen in some areas, make sure to tape the seams around there.

Gym floors are expensive investments, and in times of alternate use, coverings of some kind are essential to preserving their quality and appeal. GymGuard vinyl gym floor covers are cost-effective investments that cut down the time and effort needed to prepare, clean, and break down a reliable layer of protection against general damage. If you have any additional questions, contact our support team at sales@baseballfencestore.com or call (888) 378-1017.