As one of the most durable wood species in existence, maple is most often used to construct a hardwood gym floor. When it’s properly maintained, a hardwood sports floor can last for decades. Take this gym floor below that we recently sanded, repainted, and sealed, for example. You wouldn’t know just by looking at it but this floor is over 50 years old.
While maple sports floors may be durable and long-lasting, they are prone to certain forms of damage. Identification, prevention, and knowledge about these sports floor nemeses are critical to maintaining the health and beauty of your gym. Here’s what you need to know about how to prevent damage to hardwood gym floors.
What’s the most common type of damage to gym floors?
Water damage to gym floors is what we see most often wreaking havoc on sports facilities in the tri-state New Jersey area. Floods, broken pipes, and water ingress from busted window seals happen frequently when sports facilities aren’t adequately maintained. High humidity that’s not kept in-check can also harm the wood floor. Failing to have a sports floor sanded and refinished can also damage the wood beneath paint and finishing coats.
Can you reverse damage to a hardwood sports floor?
If identified and caught early enough, it is possible to reverse certain types of damage to a sports floor. In more serious cases, you may need to have some parts of the floor replaced. Rarely will you need an entirely new gym floor installed, although it is a possibility if the damage is severe enough. Below, we’ll look at the most common types of sports floor damage and how to prevent them from happening.
Cupping Damage in Sports Floors
Cupping occurs when the edges of the maple boards in a sports floor rise above the centers. Moisture causes cupping when there are higher levels of it on the bottom of the board as opposed to the ambient humidity levels in the air above it. If cupping isn’t addressed, the floor will begin to look wavy and rippled. Over time, the top edges of the boards will compress the cellular structure of the maple and the board can collapse, resulting in permanent damage.
Plumbing issues are often to blame for this. But sometimes, frequent and aggressive wet mopping can cause cupping in gym floors. Your first step is to identify what’s causing the boards to cup, and eliminate it. Once appropriate humidity levels are achieved, the boards will return to their normal appearance. In severe instances, you may need to replace cupped floor boards.
Damage from Crowning Floor Boards
Crowning in sports floors is the opposite of cupping. Instead of the edges of the boards rising, the middle of the board will bulge instead, while the edges remain lower. Moisture imbalances are to blame for crowning gym floors. Crowning usually occurs because of how maintenance crews and sports facility managers respond to moisture damage.
For example, sports floors that start cupping will sometimes get sanded down after moisture issues are addressed, but long before the moisture in the boards have a chance to dry out. If a cupped gym floor is sanded before it dries, the bulging edges will be initially flattened. But eventually, the moisture in the floorboards dissipate.
When this occurs, you’re left with a crowning floor where the edges are much lower than the center. The key to preventing this most common cause of crowning floors is to wait until the boards thoroughly dry before you attempt to fix any permanent damage. In most cases, simply waiting for the floor to dry after you fix the cause of the moisture will prevent crowning.
Buckling Gym Floors
Buckling is one of the most severe forms of damage to hardwood sports floors. More times than not, flooding from broken pipes or a natural disaster causes buckling if the wood floor is left underwater for a significant period. With buckling, the wood planks become so severely warped from moisture retention and expansion that the floor appears wavy and hilly.
Maintaining the plumbing system can prevent pipes from breaking and flooding the facility. Unfortunately though, you can’t control Mother Nature. Spot repairs may be able to fix a gym floor buckled from minor water damage. But for severe damage where the entire floor is warped, the only way to fix it is to completely replace the gym floor or resurface it.
Damage from Dirt, Dust, and Debris
Dust from old HVAC systems along with dirt and debris from people’s shoes can damage wood floors if not promptly cleaned. Dust and dirt are tiny particles with rough edges. When they get tracked across the sports floor, they will wear away at the finishing coat like sandpaper. An unclean, scratched up gym floor can also increase the chances of slips and falls.
Depending on the amount of foot traffic your gym sees, you’ll need to dry mop it at least once per day. Any mud or dirt that’s tracked into the facility will need to be cleaned promptly. Adequate, regular cleaning will go a long way toward preventing damage to the floor and increasing its lifespan.
Preventing Sports Floor Damage: A Final Takeaway
It’s one thing to adequately maintain a sports floor with regular cleaning, sanding, and recoating. But one way to prevent other forms of damage is to maintain the HVAC and plumbing systems too. Ensuring that the windows and roof are in good working order will prevent leaks from occurring and will also protect the hardwood sports floor from moisture damage.
If your sports floor is a victim of water damage, we can help. At J&J Gym Floors, we’ve seen our fair share of buckling, cupping, and crowning gym floors. Call us today at (973) 801-7219 for a free quote for damage repair.