10 Tips on Gym Flooring by a Gym Designer
How to choose the right gym flooring:
an eco gym design perspective
Gym flooring PRICES WITHin a gym design budget
an example of a rather fine Zandur sustainable cork gym flooring solution paired with a calming
First up, pricing. For some it may come as a surprise that gym flooring can be not just as expensive as it is but also one of the most important decisions in the gym design process, after equipment selection but without doubt above decor, although as this article hopes to show, all three are in fact closely connected.
In terms of tangible numbers then, how much is enough for a gym flooring budget? We recommend allowing GB£60 per m2 -GB£80 per m2, in order to tick as many of the boxes outlined below there are no shortcuts and the upper price point is hard to get around.
Many gyms will make some sacrifices, for example in sustainability terms, in order to economize with gym flooring closer to £50 per m2, which gets you a rock solid 20mm thick rubber tile. Colour options will be extremely limited however.
2. ACOUSTICS & INSULATION WITH A GYM FLOOR
Depending on the chosen heating, cooling and ventilation system for a gym, there may be temperature considerations to factor into a gym flooring choice. For example, underfloor heating systems in cooler parts of the UK or Scandinavia may come with certain requirements around what can be laid directly on top of them. It is worth checking with the supplier if an underlay beneath the gym flooring is recommended on this basis. As long as the gym flooring has modest to good heat conductivity, there shouldn’t be an issue here.
Why might an underlay be useful? Let’s take an example from an urban environment such as a gym located on the first floor of an office building with ground-floor retail below and offices above. Heavy loads dropped onto a thin 5mm laminate flooring tile laid directly onto the inherited flooring is likely to send the sound of clanging metal pretty efficiently in all directions, causing noise pollution that can come back to bite the gym owner.
Better to drop in an acoustic underlay made of dense fabric off-cuts, ideally at least 2-3cm thick. Yes it is a modest extra expense but you won’t regret it. Gym users will thank you for the added comfort underfoot as well.
If you opt for a denser, hard surface such as wood or bamboo flooring, clearly there will need to be some areas of the gym such as around the squat racks where a more heavy-duty rubber tile will be necessary, this in turn has an impact on the overall aesthetics of the space too.
Cork has natural insulating properties as well that gives it an innate advantage in this sense, even without an underlay.
3. THE ROLE OF FLOORING COMFORT IN GYM DESIGN & FITNESS
We are fans of natural materials such as solid wood floorboards, whether salvaged from old train tracks for example, or sourced from sustainable forests within the region. They provide a natural solution that does not give off harmful airborne toxins and they look great but they are unlikely to encourage much interaction with the floor.
If the training concept behind the gym involves an element of natural fitness, functional training or movement based exercises then one way to encourage that is to install a flooring tile with a softer non-slip feel such as eco rubber that is not going to prevent a gym user from attempting a forward roll say, or a cat crawl on all fours. When did gyms stop becoming about agility and movement anyway?
The connection between flooring choice and the type of movements a gym user will feel comfortable performing in the gym may appear a subtle point,or of scant importance but in fact it has a significant psychological impact. Softer flooring solutions encourage more freedom of movement, enough said.
4. GYM FLOORING AND INDOOR AIR QUALITY
Until early 2020 very few people were talking about indoor air quality in gyms but Covid changed that and we are unlikely to forget what we have learnt. In a way this is a good thing. More awareness of harmful VOCs in our furniture and flooring means more support for natural materials such as bamboo, cork and rubber, sustainably sourced please.
Clearly we want to stay away from installing anything with harmful toxins such as formaldehyde but we also need to control what is brought in from outside, especially in dense urban environments such as a city centre. Wearing the same shoes on the streets as you train in is going to have immediate consequences on the indoor air quality inside the gym, there is simple no escaping that.
We now recommend additional attention be paid to the HVAC filters in a gym to ensure they are high grade, preferably MERV 13 or above, unless there is the option for natural ventilation in an indoor-outdoor space. Failing that though, we need the mechanical engineer on the project to be one step ahead with the ventilation rates to ensure a steady changeover of the indoor air throughout the day, even with our preferred option of eco-cork / rubber flooring tiles on the gym floor!
In terms of specifics, we want a gym floor that contains no PVC, phthalates or halogens and we really must insist on it being Red List chemical free. Other references might include a material that exceeds California IAQ (CHPS) indoor air quality standards (the gold standard for such things in many respects).
Many suppliers are now joining the dots between their products and green building systems like LEED or healthy building systems like WELL by illustrating where their products score points in each of the respective score cards. every manufacturer with a conscience and an eye on the future should be doing this!
5. sustainability & gym flooring
We would highlight cork and eco-rubber as top choices for sustainability, either as separate solutions or indeed in a cork-rubber blend as in our favourite Zandur tiles that combine both in one innovative solution. We could also highlight bamboo flooring and solid wood planks but when we take into consideration all of the points mentioned in this article, cork and eco-rubber stand out as our first choices.
For a full Life Cycle Assessment approach to choosing a gym floor we now consider not just where the raw materials come from but also where they will go at the end of their life, in a decade from now say. some suppliers now offer take-back recycling programs that provides additional peace of mind for the gym owner. A small detail perhaps but details count in this game. Avoid adding to landfill waste that future generations will have to tackle eventually; instead select a fully recyclable material for your gym floor.
for more on sustainable gym flooring see our article here.
6. GYM FLOOR DURABILITY & IMPACT
Durability is a key factor as most gyms are going to have metal weights being moved around, often by gym users who have just exerted maximum effort in their last rep. Things happen. Dumbbells and barbells frequently get dropped so we need a solution that is especially hard-wearing in the strength zone in particular. And there should always a strength zone of some description!
For stretching areas, functional training zones (for sandbags, ropes, etc.) and cardio zones a lighter material of 5-10mm can come into play but strength areas require a solid 20-30mm rubber tile system that is basically bombproof. Anything less is going to cause you headaches in the long run.
The one caveat to that is strength machine areas as opposed to free weights and barbells as the machines remove all risk from the equation, nothing is hitting the floor unexpectedly in this training zone.
The current trend in boutique fitness and of course our own natural fitness style of training however is away from rows of strength machines, opening up a wider discussion around flooring durability and impact - to protect against the inevitable.
7. THE AESTHETICS OF GYM FLOORING
Have you ever noticed that most gym floors look the same? CrossFit boxes and budget gyms around the world almost universally feature solid black or black speckled rubber tiles. Why? They are cheap (read, Made in China), readily available, extremely functional, mostly recycled and… nobody ever complained about the flooring. Literally, ever!
If we move into the realms of boutique standard and even more so with premium fitness facilities such as members clubs however, a number of different options emerge, not least natural cork in a variety of woody browns.
High-end rubber tile solutions from the likes of Pavigym come in a wide range of colours ensuring complete aesthetic integration into each specific site, another one of our preferred options.
Gym locations with limited natural light for example may do well to opt for a brighter colour with some pop rather than the standard dark black. We are fans of a terracotta colour in certain facilities as well as a Zandur leafy green for natural fitness training areas. After a certain price point the choice becomes vast, giving the gym designer plenty of room for creativity.
8. HYGIENE & GYM FLOORING - A NEW FRONTIER
Manufacturers are now producing detailed cleaning guides to ensure that hygiene standards can be higher than ever without putting the flooring tiles at risk, in part this is thanks to the material’s resistance to chemicals or disinfectants. Equally porosity is key here as we do not want sweat or oth4r liquids to penetrate the surface of the flooring tile.
A high quality virgin rubber tile will ensure that no odours linger around at the end of the day, the surface can be wiped clean and sanitized professionally, and also will not absorb any spillages of water bottles, protein shakes and the like.
Already the terms micro-bacterial and anti-fungal are appearing with increasing regularity in marketing materials but with good reason so be sure to select a gym flooring tile that performs well in both aspects.
9. installing your gym floor
It may sound obvious but being able to not only install your own floor tiles but also remove them, move them around or replace them at a future date gives you that extra bit of flexibility should circumstances change in the future, or your gym needs evolve.
Typically a good option is an interlocking tile system with connector plates on the underside of the tiles. A pack of 4 x 50cm2 tiles would therefore give you 1m2 of flooring that can be lined up with the next square metre and so on.
Ramped edges and corner sections ensure there are no health and safety risks with sharp differences in height between zones, for example between the entrance and the main gym training area.
10. Fire Classification for gym flooring
Last but not least, if it needed saying, your gym flooring tiles should meet all relevant fire and smoke standards. For Biofit we are usually working with European and North American standards. Option for cheaper Chinese solutions in particular can expose a gym owner to risk in this sense so it is always worth checking twice before proceeding with a purchase.
For more information about our gym design services see here or contact us via email here