Gym Floor Covers
A Buyer’s Checklist

To help you make an intelligent decision in the purchase of a protective gym floor cover and handling system, here is a checklist of dos and don’ts. Remember, it helps to be informed.

Make sure that cover rollers do not bend on weight.
If you can bend an empty roller at the center, even slightly, it will sag when the cover is added. In turn, the roller will not rotate easily causing extra wear and tension on the system.

Make sure casters do not leave scuffs on hardwood floor.
Less costly systems often feature cheaper, generic casters that can leave marks on a gymnasium floor that are hard or impossible to remove. Worse, they could even leave impression marks in the floor surface. If the caster has less than 3/4-inch tread thickness, damage could occur.

Avoid systems with just four casters.
Racks that roll on just four casters have poor weight distribution, which makes it harder to maneuver around the gym and may increase the risk of indentations on the floor.

Check if system features an offset caster.
This reduces the effective load by more than 30 percent on any one individual slat and, instead, spreads the overall load more evenly on the floor.

Avoid pro-rated warranties.
While many companies promise long warranties, the true test is how long they’ve been specializing in gym floor covers. Companies that specifically manufacture and sell gym floor covers have the most at stake in producing quality systems and standing behind them. Make sure that the company will be in business long enough to honor any warranties provided.

Read the fine print when shopping online.
Also, remember it is very hard to make a decision based on a small photo. At a minimum, you receive a sample of the material being proposed and a list of references who can verify the quality of both the material and company. Better yet, inspect a system in person. You deserve the best for your facility and your students.

Beware of false advertising claims.
In order to properly protect your floor, gym floor covers need to be custom manufactured. Standard sizes will not adequately protect your floor. Beware of claims of discounts that seem too good to be true on overstocked items. How can you have overstock on custom manufactured items? Remember, insist on seeing samples and beware of false claims.

Check the manufacturing process.
There are three main processes available to manufacture gym floor covers. As with anything, the more expensive process results in a superior product with a longer lifespan and, therefore, lower annual costs over the life of the cover. Remember, a true knife-coated process is always superior to a three-ply product and will provide better protection for many more years. Think value and annualized cost, not selling price. The opportunity to buy a gym floor cover does not present itself very often to a facility, so make sure that you do it right the first time. You won’t have a second chance.

Source: Covermaster