Four Secrets to Making a Gym Floor Last Longer

Your gym floor wasn’t cheap. In fact, it probably cost between $40,000 and over $100,000 for the materials and installation. Why would you let something so expensive get worn down quickly when you could take steps to preserve it?

You might feel reluctant to invest in gym floor maintenance and protective equipment, but remember that you could be buying yourself decades before you have to invest in a full replacement.

Today, we’re going to break down gym floor maintenance into four simple steps. We’ll cover the proper cleaning steps, gym floor covers, and more.

Read on for the four secrets to making your gym floor last longer and saving money in the long run.

1. Minimize Damage Early

As soon as your new gym floor is ready to use, it’s time to start taking precautions that will prevent damage. This can include your gym policies as well as the way that you maintain the overall gym environment. Let’s take a closer look at how damage mitigation works from the start.

Setting Your Gym Policies for Success

Spills are one of the first things to leave gym floors tarnished, especially if they aren’t cleaned up right away. Most gyms are used for a variety of purposes ranging from basketball games to ceremonies to dances. When the gym floor is uncovered, ask anyone who enters to keep food and drink in the stands and keep all beverages except water away from the gym floor.

Monitoring Temperature and Moisture Levels

Gym floors made of wood are prone to shrinking or expanding if the climate changes too much. Maintaining your gym’s HVAC system can keep temperatures from reaching extremes that will cause damage. You should also strive for humidity levels no higher than 55% because high moisture levels can cause wood to warp, a shift that can’t be fixed with simple recoating.

2. Adopt the Right Cleaning Methods

Keeping your gym floor clean can feel like an uphill battle, but it’s one of the most important things you can do. Make sure to meet with your janitorial staff about the proper cleaning methods, which we’ll outline below. Daily and weekly gym cleaning can keep your floor from getting scratched up and can protect the safety of anyone using your gym.

Dust Daily

Dust is one of the worst things that can take over your gym. Dry dusting a gym floor every day will prevent dust from reaching levels that can cause people to slip and fall in your gym. A soft dry duster will lift dust away from the floor without scratching up the floor’s finish.

Wet Mop Weekly

You should deep clean your gym floor every month, but you can cut down on the elbow grease by wet mopping once a week. Never use an abrasive mop pad on your gym floor, or you’ll scratch the floor’s finish. Instead, opt for microfiber wet mop pads that you can machine wash at least a few times a year.

Avoid the Wrong Cleaning Supplies

Always use floor cleaners that are designed for gym floors, not residential use. Residential cleaners tend to leave behind glossy streaks that can make the floor slippery underfoot and unpleasant to look at. Make sure that your janitorial staff does not cross-contaminate the gym floor cleaner by using a bucket or mop that has been used on other surfaces, which may require harsh chemicals that can damage your gym floor.

3. Use Protective Gym Floor Covers

When your gym floor isn’t being used for a sporting event, you can cover it with an attractive cover that aligns with your gym aesthetics and improves acoustics. Different types of mats and covers can keep your gym floors clean and scratch-free. Let’s take a closer look.

Gym Floor Covers for Events

Are you putting out rows of chairs for a graduation ceremony or assembly? Put down gym floor covers so that the seats stay in place and the chair legs (and formal footwear) don’t scratch up the floor. You can also buy custom floor covers like courtside runners, heavy-duty gym floor tiles, and more.

Door Mats and Shoe Scrapers

You can also prevent the great outdoors from being tracked into your gym by leaving mats in strategic places. Place mats designed to wipe shoes clean and hold onto grime outside of any gym entrances. You can also put shoe scrapers out on days when the weather has created a ton of mud and gunk.

4. Invest in Recoating

Recoating (aka refinishing) a gym floor will come with another big price tag. However, it’s much cheaper than investing in a whole new floor and it’s a crucial part of gym maintenance.

The good news is that you can often go ten years before you need to have your gym floor recoated. However, there are signs that you need to do so sooner rather than later. These signs include flaking or chipping, which indicate that the old coat needs sanding so that you can create a smooth new finish.

Use Enhance Mats to Protect Your Gym Floor

Your gym floor is huge in size and in cost. By taking the right steps, you can protect your gym floor so that it lasts for several decades. At Enhance Mats, we know how important it is to keep your gym floor covered—and we want to help you cover your gym floor in style.

From track armor to court runners to gym floor covers, we’ve got your back. Take a look at our products and contact us to request a free quote so that you can budget for your gym floor maintenance with ease.