Fitting Gym Flooring
Top quality gym flooring is vital for any commercial gym. It can also really lift a home gym to make it feel like a place where you'd really like to spend some time. However, getting very good flooring is only part of the set up, it needs to be installed correctly.
There are two main stylistic ways to lay your floor.
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Stack bond aka all in a row, perfectly lined up
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Half bond aka brick affect.
The stack bond is the most straight forward and easy to install, half bond provides a really nice visual affect, but takes a little longer to install with more cuts required.
If you would like to arrange the Recharge team to install your gym flooring, please just let us know. We are happy to quote on UK wide installation but costs will vary by location and job size.
Before you get started.
We offer a gym fitting service, however, if you have the time and the basic tools, you can fit it yourself. We hope that the following advice is helpful and ensures you install your gym flooring in an efficient way.
What you’ll need;
A meter ruler, a builders pencil, a sharp Stanley knife (and potentially a spare if it’s a big space).
Where to start:
Firstly make sure you order the right amount of tiles, look at your m2 (length in meters x width in meters) then add 10% to allow for wastage and cuts.
Top Tips
Tip 1:
You can lay floor tiles side by side, but for a better aesthetic, we’d recommend a brick effect. So start by laying a meter tile, then alongside it, lay a 0.5m tile, followed by a meter tile, and a 0.5m tile (this looks much more professional).
Tip 2:
Align your 1m x 1m tiles with the main doorway, you then lay the rest of the tiles off this key anchor point (this ensure a really nice flow).
Tip 3:
Get a mug of water, yes this is sweaty hard work, but the mug of water is actually for your blade! Between each cut, wet the blade, it keeps any cuts much smoother and easier for you.
Tip 4:
Make sure you have the room fully ready before you start, if you have skirting boards, please make sure they are painted! Make sure the floors are hoovered and swept, dust is going to be your enemy. Ensure you lay tiles onto a smooth surface.
Tip 5:
Cut on the top side of the gym matt, this sounds counter intuitive but if you cut along the underside, it’s harder to ensure a straight edge on the public facing top. We always score gently with the hard meter ruler in situ, then again, and again until the score line is deep enough to remove the ruler, as you get closer to cutting through, gently bend the matt exposing the cut line to make it easier for you.
Tip 6:
Order extra. If your space measures 50SQM, add an extra 5-10% depending on how complicated the space is. You'll always need to make cuts, and the more cuts you make, the more wastage there will be. Adding an extra 5-10% might cost a little more, but it'll save you money and time in the long run.
Tip 7:
If you’re using 20mm or 30mm, you don’t really need any adhesive, this is an unnecessary expense and use of time. Floor tiles are heavy, certainly 1 x 1m tiles that are 20mm and above thickness. They weigh 16kg each for 20mm, and 24kg for 30mm tiles. The tiles are also made of grippy rubber, so realistically they aren’t really going to be moving! Now depending on the type of gym you have, you may still choose to add adhesive, for heavy use commercial gyms, maybe this is something to consider as an extra safeguarding measure. Although maybe 1000+ member commercial units tend to lean more towards our 30mm speckled flooring which comes with connector clips and thus removing the need for adhesive. We would always recommend adhesive if you are adding edging however.
Tip 8:
This sounds obvious but it's worth mentioning. If you are setting up a new gym, make sure your gym flooring is the first thing you purchase! We have seen on many an occasion, that gym flooring is bought and installed after equipment is purchased and installed, it creates lots of additional labour moving around the various pieces of equipment. A clear and clean space will save you lots of energy.
