Just Like the Lines On Your Face, You Don’t Want to See Things Age Prematurely Do You?
A hardwood gym floor’s condition has a significant effect on a gym’s usability. This type of flooring has specific maintenance requirements to protect it against abrasion and deterioration.
Proper gym flooring maintenance will ultimately prolong the lifespan of the surface and promote optimal functionality.
In this article, we’ll look at the most effective gym flooring maintenance methods.
Daily Cleaning
Your first line of defense hardwood floor deterioration is proper daily cleaning. Every night, dirt particles in the air settle on the floor.
When people walk over the floor, the dust particles scratch the surface, which typically results in premature deterioration and an increased need for routine re-coating.
The most effective way to remove dust and dirt is with daily dry mopping and tacking, even if nobody uses the floor for a day or two. A gym floor also has a higher than average cleaning requirement if the building or HVAC system is old.
You can quickly determine the need for routine cleaning by looking at shelves, lighting, and other fixtures. If there is a thick build-up of dust on these surfaces, you have to prioritize daily cleaning.
Use Walk-off Mats
Trapping dirt before it can land on the floor surface is another effective gym flooring maintenance method.
For example, some facilities ask clients not to wear shoes when they go on the floor. A more effective way to keep dust off the gym floor is the use of walk-off mats.
Over time, however, dust can accumulate on walk-off mats, which then turns into an additional source of dirt on the floor.
Together with your gym floor, you should also vacuum the walk-off carpets to increase their dirt-trapping ability. The best locations for walk-off mats are at the entrance and between the door and the gym floor.
Apply a pH-Neutral Floor Cleaner
In addition to dirt and dust, grime and caked-on residue also stick to a gym’s hardwood floor. Unlike dust, it is not possible to remove greasy substances with a thorough sweeping.
The best way to get rid of grime is to lightly saturate a microfiber cloth with a pH-neutral cleaner and using it to wipe the floor.
Don’t Use a Mop and Bucket
Many people mistakenly believe that they can clean a hardwood floor by soaking it with water and cleaning it with a mop. There are several reasons why you shouldn’t use a mop to clean your gym’s hardwood floor.
First, using a mop and bucket increases the risk of water damage to your floor. If water flows down the floor cracks, the wood can become saturated and malformed.
Secondly, a mop can cross-contaminate your floor with chemicals or dirt that it picked up elsewhere.
For example, you don’t want traces of the alkaline cleaner you used in the hallway to get on your floor. Such residue can give your hardwood floor a milky appearance that is difficult to remove.
Annual Re-coating
Most professional sports surface manufacturers recommend that you recoat your hardwood floor once per year. A professional re-coating will protect your floor and extend its lifespan significantly.
