A Comprehensive Guide To Sports Floor Maintenance

The flooring in any athletic facility is one of the most important parts. As any athlete knows, The quality of the floor that they are playing on can make all the difference in terms of performance and ability to play both in the short term and in the long term. Maintenance is the most important part of preserving the appearance, performance, and safety of the floors. It’s common for floors to need regular maintenance. Because everything wears down with use. Whether it is damage to the finish or damage to the flooring itself, it is common for repairs and for upgrades to be needed over the usable life of any floor.

Importance of Sports Floor Maintenance

Preserve Appearance

One of the most important aspects of sports flooring maintenance is to preserve the appearance. Oftentimes, these courts are the showcase of the athletic facility – and whether they are or not, every sports floor needs to look it’s best. Every facility wants to look the best that it can, and maintaining the facilities flooring is incredibly important toward achieving that.

Ensure Longevity

The best reason to maintain your floor surface has to do with extending the longevity of your floor. Floors are often one of the biggest investments in any athletic facility and making sure that they are maintained will make sure that the floors would last as long as possible. By properly maintaining the floor, you can avoid costly repairs and replacements that are often due to incorrect or poor maintenance. If floors are properly maintained, you can extend the life of your athletic floor by years or decades, depending on the types of materials used.

Enhance Safety

Asking athletic flooring surface, safety of the players is paramount. In order to make sure that the floor is performing the way that it was designed and intended, regular maintenance is required throughout the life of the floor. Floors that are properly maintained are more likely to retain their original performance characteristics than floors that are in poor condition. The safety of any gym floor Is dependent on its performance, the way it was designed. The only way to make sure that the floor is performing as it was designed is to ensure that the manufacturer’s maintenance guidelines are followed.

Common Issues with Sports Floors

Scratches, Scuffs, and Dents

It is for wood floors to see scratches, scuffs or dents over time and through use. Whether these are from heavy foot traffic or equipment use or through damage, there are methods to fix each one of them. Not only do they diminish the appearance of the floor itself, but they also can impact the performance of the floor. It is important to have these things evaluated as soon as possible to avoid further damage to the appearance or any further degradation of the flooring system’s performance.

Moisture Damage and Warping

Wood flooring’s worst enemy is moisture. Moisture in the form of humidity or water damage Can cause anywhere from minor to catastrophic damage and or failure of any flooring system. It is important to mitigate any sources of moisture or water as soon as possible and consult with the flooring professional to see if any damage has occurred. Moisture can lead to structural issues and safety hazards in the way that it affects adversely the performance of the floor. Even with other types of flooring, it is important to have a flooring professional evaluate if any water damage or moisture infiltration has damaged or impacted the ability of the floor to perform as intended.

Prompt Identification and Addressing

Identifying the problem and addressing it quickly are absolutely crucial when dealing with any flooring maintenance issues. The longer something is left unattended, the more damage it will do over time. A proper remedy can normally be identified and implemented quickly if a flooring professional is contacted. It is highly recommended that you do so as soon as a problem is noticed so that it does not get worse and does not cause any safety or performance issues of the floor.

Athletic Flooring Maintenance Tips & Best Practices

1. Daily Cleaning Routine

It is important to remove dirt and debris every day from the floor that is being used, whether it is wood or of any other type. Dirt and debris that is left on the floor overnight is often ground into the floor the next day through use. For a wood gym floor, that means that the finish is being worn away faster than it would with normal use. Other types of flooring have similar protective barriers that are easily worn down through dirt and debris being left on the floor. That is why it is important to dry, mop, sweep or vacuum to remove dirt and debris from every athletic surface every day.

2. Regular Inspection Schedule

It is important to have maintenance staff do regular inspections of your athletic floors as well as your athletic facilities overall. It is important to check for signs of wear, damage or moisture infiltration and to make sure that any issues that are observed are addressed promptly. Regular inspections that are documented are a great way to make sure that you are taking proper care of your investment. It will also serve as a great source of records if and when the need for replacement should arise.

3. Deep Cleaning Methods and Frequency

Most athletic flooring types have the ability to be deep cleaned. Hardwood gym floors are the exception, generally speaking. Wood floors generally need to be sanded in order to be fully restored. Other types of athletic flooring have deep cleaning processes, such as synthetic, rubber, or vinyl flooring. Flooring professionals will use specialized equipment or offer specialized cleaning solutions depending on the type of flooring that you have. In most cases, the facility is able to do these deep cleans themselves after proper training and with the use of the correct materials.

4. Protective Measures for High-Traffic Areas

One of the easiest ways to extend the life of your athletic floor is to make sure that high traffic areas have protective measures in place to prevent the buildup of dirt and debris. Walk off mats are incredibly important parts of any athletic facility. Every entrance to an athletic or performance area should be adorned with walk off mats. The better the walk off mats are, the more debris they remove. The more debris that is removed, the better your floor will perform over time. Protective measures can often make the difference between a floor that will last five to 10 years or 15 to 20 years. They are a small investment for the value of the investment they protect, And are therefore recommended in every situation.

5. Maintaining Proper Humidity Levels

Moisture is not just the worst enemy of wood flooring, it can also be the worst enemy of other types of athletic flooring. That is why it is so important to maintain proper humidity levels in the space throughout the life of the floor. Recognizing that some facilities do not have the ability to control relative humidity, it is still something that facility should be paying attention to. In most cases, problems with flooring are related to relative humidity and/or moisture infiltration. To the extent that proper humidity levels can be maintained All finished surfaces in the building, especially athletic flooring, will perform better and last longer.

6. Use of Protective Measures

Just as with walk off mats, it is important to consider the use of protective flooring when there are events going on in the athletic flooring space that. Unusual and high traffic in nature. If furniture is going to be used in the space, it’s important to make sure that the bottoms of the furniture have pads or glides to prevent scratches and dents. Similarly, if people are going to be formally dressed at an event to take place on the bulleted surface, it is important to make sure that the surface is protected from high heels. Damage frequently occurs from one time events such as graduations or fundraisers that significantly short in the life of the floor and in some cases impact performance. The use of temporary protective measures for unusual events is highly recommended.

Hiring Professional Services for Sports Floor Maintenance

Endurance’s team has been servicing the sports flooring world for decades. We have seen just about every instance of maintenance and repair issues of just about every type of athletic flooring in every type of facility. Understanding the complex nature of structural subfloors and the varying nature of athletic flooring finished floors, Endurance has the ability to handle any situation that might arise.

Endurance has access to the equipment, tools and techniques needed to make sure that every situation is addressed in the most professional manner and to the standards set by the manufacturer. Endurance always strives to achieve the highest quality workmanship to deliver the longest lasting results.

It is important that the people who are working to maintain your floor as well as the people who are performing any repair items have the proper experience. To the extent possible, every floor that is worked on should be brought back to original performance standards. While this is not always possible, it is important to work with professionals who know the difference so that they can get you to where you need to be, or at least inform you of where your facility falls short so that you can plan for upgrades in the future.

Endurance has performed a wide range of flooring repairs and maintenance. Whether it is floor refinishing or resurfacing or repair of scratches, dents or water damage, or independent assessments of structural repairs and upgrades, Endurance has worked with every type of facility for all of these types of needs and then some. We have the experienced team and the skilled workers, as well as relationships with the best manufacturers to make sure that each facility we work with is getting the exact type of service that they need.

Conclusion

Proper floor maintenance is one of the most important components of extending the appearance, performance, and safety of any athletic floor. It is important to have a regular schedule for maintenance and also a regular schedule for inspections. Having these two items in place will ensure that any issue is identified quickly and addressed as soon as possible, and will also make sure that regular maintenance guidelines are being followed. Athletic flooring is important for the athletes, coaches, spectators and everyone else who uses that floor – And maintaining that floor is crucial to living up to the expectations of all of those people. If you need assistance with developing a maintenance plan or an inspection plan, or have identified an issue, reach out to Endurance and we can help customize the right solution for your flooring need.