Coaches New Spring Floor: Make or Buy?

[BillyWaller]

We are opening a new gym and looking at different options for spring floors. There seems to be a huge variance in price and construction so I am reaching out to see what everyone thinks is the best way to go. Any recommendations on thickness for bonded carpet foam and spring size/placement if we go ahead and build our own?

 

[JBS]

What type of athletes will be tumbling on the floor? Will you have lots of upper level athletes tumbling or is it more just for recreational athletes?

 

[BillyWaller]

Good questions

What type of athletes will be tumbling on the floor? Will you have lots of upper level athletes tumbling or is it more just for recreational athletes?

Good question, it will be a wide variety. mostly recreational, with a mix of freerunning and tricking athletes as well.

 

[JBS]

Ok... so here goes. I have built 3 floors from scratch... fixed many floors... and assembled floors at meets hundreds of times.

Unless you have a reason to build the floor yourself... don't. First watch this...



Read this page...

The American Gym

www.theamericangym.com

We ordered 7 palettes of baltic birch from Russia and built our own. I was looking for a very custom floor. We have around 3,000 sq. ft. of continuous birch velcro deck. This deck is covered with 2" foam (not carpet bonded... too hard) and 20 ounce level loop carpet. The floor was built with all used Palmer springs. I did not order new springs as I did not want them be so hard.

This floor right here is awesome...

The American Gym: Assembled Spring Floor -- 42' x 42', Assembled Spring Floors, ASF4242

www.theamericangym.com

Foam... I order all of my foam direct from this company...

Envirolite, LLC - Foam Fabrication, Specialty Foam Products

Envirolite, LLC is a global supplier of specialty foam products for a variety of industries including athletic, energy, flooring, industrial, marine, and medical.

www.envirolite.com

Reasons to build your own floor...

1. You have some employees that need extra hours and you want to spend all the money that you save towards labor on their paychecks.
2. You want to learn how.
3. You want to rent a forklift to take the 7 palettes of birch off the truck when it arrives (fun to drive).
4. You take pride in building everything in the gym.
5. You like to buy tools and you want to purchase an air compressor and staplers for the gym.
6. You're crazy.

Let me know what questions you have. If you want to build it... let me know... I can guide you. We have tons of parkour/freerunners stomping on ours and it is holding up great.

 

[JBS]

One more thing to add... NEVER screw a double layer floor together. The screws make the floor way too stiff and the athlete will struggle to get to the springs. Velcro is the way to go... it allows the wood layers to be connected... but not rigid.

The velcro needs to be stapled to the wood with about 50 - 100 staples in each piece with adhesive under it as well.

I recommend this brand of 4" velcro...

DuraGrip® Brand Sew On Hook and Loop Fasteners

DuraGrip Brand sew on hook and loop fastener rolls are available in widths from 3/8" - 6". 6" width may vary slightly due to manufacturing capabilities. Most widths are available in 25 different colors, including military colors. Meets AA55126c Type II, Class 1 Mil-Spec. Most orders ship same...

www.hookandloop.com

Also... if you are not going to order Baltic Birch to make your own floor... then don't even think about it either... your floor will be junk in a couple of years.

 

[JBS]

Why do I use level loop carpet?

It holds the hook side velcro.

You don't need to seam any of the carpet (which I also have all the tools for and have done many times). All you do is put velcro over the seems and... bam!

The carpet starts out a bit "scratchy"... but in a couple of months the athletes will be used to it just fine.

We use velcro strips to strap the carpet under the deck around the springs. This holds the carpet tight so it never moves.

 

[BillyWaller]

Why do I use level loop carpet?

It holds the hook side velcro.

You don't need to seam any of the carpet (which I also have all the tools for and have done many times). All you do is put velcro over the seems and... bam!

The carpet starts out a bit "scratchy"... but in a couple of months the athletes will be used to it just fine.

We use velcro strips to strap the carpet under the deck around the springs. This holds the carpet tight so it never moves.

Amazing, thank you so much for all of the good information. Sinking my teeth into this now and will probably be back with questions if we decide to build it ourselves

 

[BillyWaller]

Ok... so here goes. I have built 3 floors from scratch... fixed many floors... and assembled floors at meets hundreds of times.

Unless you have a reason to build the floor yourself... don't. First watch this...



Read this page...

The American Gym

www.theamericangym.com

We ordered 7 palettes of baltic birch from Russia and built our own. I was looking for a very custom floor. We have around 3,000 sq. ft. of continuous birch velcro deck. This deck is covered with 2" foam (not carpet bonded... too hard) and 20 ounce level loop carpet. The floor was built with all used Palmer springs. I did not order new springs as I did not want them be so hard.

This floor right here is awesome...

The American Gym: Assembled Spring Floor -- 42' x 42', Assembled Spring Floors, ASF4242

www.theamericangym.com

Foam... I order all of my foam direct from this company...

Envirolite, LLC - Foam Fabrication, Specialty Foam Products

Envirolite, LLC is a global supplier of specialty foam products for a variety of industries including athletic, energy, flooring, industrial, marine, and medical.

www.envirolite.com

Reasons to build your own floor...

1. You have some employees that need extra hours and you want to spend all the money that you save towards labor on their paychecks.
2. You want to learn how.
3. You want to rent a forklift to take the 7 palettes of birch off the truck when it arrives (fun to drive).
4. You take pride in building everything in the gym.
5. You like to buy tools and you want to purchase an air compressor and staplers for the gym.
6. You're crazy.

Let me know what questions you have. If you want to build it... let me know... I can guide you. We have tons of parkour/freerunners stomping on ours and it is holding up great.

Okay, so we are getting closer to figuring out what we are going to need. Our springfloor will be pieced together between trampolines and an air bag so the shape is quite unusual. Have you had any experience with smaller off cuts of pieces being used? I've attached a drawing of what it's going to look like and where we envision the pieces going.

 

[JBS]

Okay, so we are getting closer to figuring out what we are going to need. Our springfloor will be pieced together between trampolines and an air bag so the shape is quite unusual. Have you had any experience with smaller off cuts of pieces being used? I've attached a drawing of what it's going to look like and where we envision the pieces going.

Yes... our floor is a crazy shape to fit around everything.

Your plan looks fine to me as long as you consider the following...

1. Make sure all of the bottom boards (the ones with the spring attached) have at least 2 rows of springs on them so they won't tip over.
2. Make sure you overlap all the seams of the first layer with the second layer.
3. If you are using two layers of 9mm baltic birch... then the standard size of a sheet is 5'x5'.

Some people also like a double row of springs around the edge. I don't like the double row... we just do a single row.

 

[BillyWaller]

Yes... our floor is a crazy shape to fit around everything.

Your plan looks fine to me as long as you consider the following...

1. Make sure all of the bottom boards (the ones with the spring attached) have at least 2 rows of springs on them so they won't tip over.
2. Make sure you overlap all the seams of the first layer with the second layer.
3. If you are using two layers of 9mm baltic birch... then the standard size of a sheet is 5'x5'.

Some people also like a double row of springs around the edge. I don't like the double row... we just do a single row.

Good to know, thanks for that! We are in New Zealand, so I've been looking at importing options for the baltic birch, I was expecting a standard ply size so that's very useful knowing that it's 5'x5'.

 

[JBS]

Good to know, thanks for that! We are in New Zealand, so I've been looking at importing options for the baltic birch, I was expecting a standard ply size so that's very useful knowing that it's 5'x5'.

Yah... I'm US... so I'm used to all 4'x8'.

I'd love to visit New Zealand someday... my college roommate lives in Australia now.