You've invested in some premium sports flooring to give your athletes the best and safest facilities for their chosen sports. But whether it's PVC flooring for indoor sports like ping-pong or synthetic turf used for an outdoor soccer pitch, your flooring will require maintenance to retain its quality.
Explore seven sports floor maintenance tips to protect your investment and enjoy it for as long as possible.
The first step in maintaining your sports flooring is to identify what type of flooring you have. The material your flooring is made from will determine how you should care for it, including what equipment and cleaning techniques you use. Failure to use the appropriate techniques can result in inefficient maintenance or even damage. For example, applying your gym floor maintenance practices to your synthetic turf can be both wasteful and damaging due to their contrasting natures.
The most common types of sports flooring include:
Outdoor sports flooring generally needs less maintenance than indoor flooring, but you still need to ensure an adequate level of care.
While sweeping may seem like a trivial task, it makes a big difference in the long run. By removing the dust and dirt that can accumulate on your sports flooring each day, you prevent it from hardening. When this happens, your flooring can become more slippery and retain a permanently dirty appearance.
Sweep your sports flooring with a soft-bristle brush to prevent marking.
Your sports flooring will inevitably face wear and tear, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't protect it when it's practical to do so. You can do this with:
Water can quickly damage most indoor sports flooring if it's left too long. From warping and cosmetic issues to mold and larger-scale structural damage, the extent to which water affects your flooring can vary. Outdoor flooring is typically more resistant to water damage, but it's still recommended to remove excessive standing water as often as possible.
To minimize the damage caused, mop up any spills quickly — beyond damaging your floor, these can also be a slip hazard. Mops, absorbent cloths and wet vacuums are all equipment you should have on-site to care for your flooring. If your floor has been exposed to flooding, you should also use fans and dehumidifiers to speed up the drying process.
Water doesn't have to sit on your sports flooring to cause damage. Excessive humidity levels can pose similar dangers to standing water. Even low humidity levels can cause cracking, particularly in wooden sports flooring. That's why it's important to monitor and manage humidity levels in your facilities.
As a general rule, you should aim to maintain a humidity of between 35% and 50%, but always check the manufacturer's guidelines as each flooring type is different.
If you notice any damage to your sports flooring, it's important to repair it as quickly as possible. Whether cracks, tears, mold, warping or any other kind of damage, leaving it unchecked could cause it to deteriorate further.
Inspect your sports flooring regularly so you can fix any damage promptly.
Creating a maintenance schedule is a simple yet effective way to ensure your sports flooring receives the care it needs. This schedule should include:
Maintaining your sports floor can feel like a daunting task, with smaller daily tasks adding up and the occasional large maintenance tasks costing you money. However, it's important to remember that your sports flooring is an investment you have to protect, and regular cleaning is a small price to pay. By sticking to your maintenance schedule, you can:
Several mistakes can occur when caring for your sports flooring. Some common ones to note include:
Maintaining your sports flooring is crucial for retaining its quality. But to truly enjoy your sports flooring, it's important that your flooring is of the highest quality from the very beginning.
At MONDO, we've been creating premium sports flooring for over 75 years. Our reputation for excellence is well-deserved, which is why our Mondotrack EI sports flooring was selected as the 2024 Olympic Games' official athletics track.
To learn more about how your facilities can enjoy some of the best-performing and most durable sports flooring in the world, get in touch with us today.