Wood sports and performance flooring systems can last decades – usually around 40-60 years! But, as with any product, gym, stage, and aerobic studio floors do require care and maintenance on a daily, weekly, and annual level.
Daily Wood Floor Maintenance
Sweep the floor daily with a properly treated dust mop. This will help keep your floor free from dust, grit, and other abrasive particles. Check for any sports or spills daily, and clean them up immediately. Wipe up spills and water the floor immediately with a thoroughly wrong non-abrasive cloth. Also, use approved floor cleaner. The team at Sports Floors, Inc. can help you choose the best cleaning products and materials for your wood floors. You should never use household cleaning solutions on your sports and performance wood floors. They can harm the surface of your floor, while also making them sticky, slippery, and unsafe.
Weekly Wood Floor Maintenance
Wood floors need to be chemically cleaned weekly to maintain their appearance and slip-resistance. An autoscrubber and/or mop-bucket with a neutral cleaner is perfect if you want a water-based cleaning method. If you prefer a waterless method, a tacking cleaner is available.
Annual Maintenance
One of the most important types of annual maintenance is the Screen & Recoat. This process is essential for both the lifespan of your floor and the safety of your floor. Sports Floors, Inc. performs over 300 screen & recoats, so you can be confident in the experience we bring to your project.
A screen and recoat consist of roughing up the top layer of finish on the floor with a light abrasive screening disk. This allows the new coat of finish to adhere to the existing finish coats to prevent cracking or peeling. he floor is tacked with a rag until it is clean and a coat of finish is applied to the floor. Then all you have to do is allow the finish to dry (usually 48 hours with one coat). We recommend using one coat of an extra thick finish called 450 finish. We can do the work on Friday afternoon, and by Monday your finish is dry enough to play on!
This isn’t the only kind of annual maintenance that we offer. The team at Sports Floors, Inc. can also sand, patch, repair, paint and stain your wood floor to keep it functioning at it’s best year after year. If we find problems during routine maintenance we’ll work with you to make sure the problem gets solved quickly and easily, so your Mid-South facility can keep working for you.
Humidity Control
Make sure the ventilation system in your facility is in good working order and isn’t in danger of shutting off for a long period of time. And of course, don’t intentionally turn it off. This is incredibly important in a climate as humid as the Mid-South. Wood is naturally porous and can absorb and release moisture. If the humidity in your facility rises, your wood floor will absorb that moisture, causing it to expand. If the humidity falls, your wood floor will release moisture, causing it to shrink. The heating/ventilating/air conditioning systems must be functioning properly and set to maintain an indoor relative humidity of 35-50%.
Mid-South Wood Floor Care and Maintenance Programs
Sports Floors, Inc. offers a three-year Gym Floor Maintenance Program at a discounted price. This program is mutually beneficial to both us and our customers. During the contracted years, we will also touch up paint, replace broken boards, and repair fallen wall bases free of charge when we screen and recoat the floor.
The Lifetime Warranty Program offered by Sports Floors, Inc. is available for new wood floors that we have installed. If Sports Floors, Inc. is permitted to continuously maintain the floor by screening & recoating it with one coat of 450 finish every consecutive year, the original warranty will be extended for that following year up to 40 years from the original warranty date.
Contact us today to create a plan that will keep your wood floor looking amazing for decades to come.