Maple sports flooring should last a facility at least 50 years, barring catastrophic events. This length of time justifies the seemingly expensive price tag of gym flooring. However, from the time you install maple flooring both wear-and-tear and age attack it. Many facility owners wonder if, and when, it comes time to replace sports flooring; can you repurpose the expensive maple? Can you use reclaimed gym flooring? Our answer: it depends!
Older Gym Flooring
Facilities hope maple sports will last for decades. To achieve this, maple flooring undergoes treatments that help keep it safe and performing correctly. Typically one wants to sand the floor down to bare wood every 7-10 years to resurface and provide a fresh look. This helps remove any paint, dents and scratches from the maple flooring. The result is a uniform like-new maple floor. Floor sanding keeps an even playing surface that is safe for athletes.
On the other hand, some gyms have aged naturally without sanding maintenance. These floors have a storied patina full of scratches and stains that add a beautiful texture. In fact if you want to take a neat snapshot of old Texas Gyms, take a look at Backroads Basketball's Texas Gym Tour. It's the floors that show age that gain the attention of wood reclamation projects. Unfortunately, not all sports floors are lucky enough to go undamaged through the years.
Damaged Maple Sports Flooring
Another reason for removing the wood flooring would be from damage. Most sports floor problems consist of extremely warped boards, cracked and splintering boards or dead spots in the flooring. Obviously any damaged hardwood affects the floor's playability and athlete safety.
Rip-out and replace this gym flooring. In other words you're removing this hardwood from your sports flooring for good reason and it wouldn't make sense to put the damaged wood back on your floor.
Note On Court Repairs
QHF Sports tests your entire floor to assess what we can salvage before starting repairs. In cases of extreme water damage, chances of salvaging the entire floor are slim. But, it is not unheard of. In this case QHF can replace only the damaged flooring.
After replacing maple flooring, the QHF team will then replace game-line markings and logos as they were. Please note that new flooring will never match the salvaged flooring perfectly. QHF Sports recommends to sand the both salvaged and new flooring together. This makes the floor look uniform when painted and finished. Otherwise there will be a noticeable difference.
Reclaimed Gym Flooring
We do not recommend reusing damaged or removed sports flooring again on your court. This doesn't mean one can't repurpose the wood. In the age of "going green" there are many uses for repurposed materials.
Maple hardwood sports flooring is expensive. Because of this, facility owners do not wish to waste an expensive investment like hardwood gym flooring. How can one salvage such an investment? How does one avoid throwing away such an expensive resource?
There are a number of creative ways people have repurposed old gym flooring. Just keep in mind that using repurposed materials always comes at a cost.
Popularity of Repurposed Gym Flooring
Repurposing older construction materials has gained popularity over the past 15 years. Old gym flooring repurposed for both residential and commercial use has grown alongside this trend. Just open your favorite social media feed or home-renovation blog and it won’t take long to recognize the familiar maple slats.
The most common sighting, people love to mix and match reclaimed gym flooring for use in renovations. Reshuffled game markings help create a contrasting pattern that textures both office spaces or kitchens.
Cost of Repurposed Gym Flooring
A quick Google search will bring up a mountain of reclaimed lumber outfits. Many of these operations will inventory old gym flooring. Optionally, they’ll sell old flooring by the square foot or in manageable 4-foot square sections, perhaps. Be warned though, reclaimed lumber has a mighty price tag and may not be immediately workable.
One reason many gym flooring companies are not in the business of selling old gym flooring is the cleaning. By cleaning the old gym flooring, we mean any adhesives that may be on the underside or hardware (nails) that may be in the ripped up flooring. This can become a tedious process.
Additionally, you get what you get when working with old gym flooring. Reclaimed wood flooring may include cosmetic marks or scratches amongst painted game lines. On the other hand, many people appreciate these character flaws. These ‘flaws’ are the reason one may wish to use old gym flooring in the first place.
Keeping Your Maple Gym Floor In Use
It is our mission is to ensure your maple flooring lasts a lifetime. After all, our gym floor maintenance services are designed to improve your flooring investment.
The QHF team has a few suggestions to make sure your floor endures:
- Set routine maintenance practices
- Sign on for annual refinishing
- Prepare to sand your floors every 7-10 years.
- Contact QHF at the first sign of problems.
Contact The Pros Today
Let QHF answer your flooring questions. Call us to discuss damaged or aging floors. We can help salvage your wits by helping with sports floor repairs or replacement.