That's the million-dollar question. The answer is very personal to you. We have some thoughts and this is our attempt to provide you with some unbiased information regarding which gym floor tiles you'd be best with, however, it will boil down to your own personal circumstance in terms of use case, budget, and personal taste.
Here is what we tend to advise our customers regarding gym flooring:
There are 3 big decisions when it comes to your choice of gym floor tile.
What thickness gym flooring?
What type of gym flooring?
How do I lay the gym floor tiles?
This is a very transparent (and oversimplified) view of what we’d recommend…
Now if any of the below doesn't make sense, or you'd like to talk it through, we are always happy to help, so just jump on the live chat and drop us a message. We do hundreds of gym flooring jobs every year, whether it's a huge 500sqm warehouse gym, or a tiny single garage, we've got experience and can provide recommendations regarding what gym floor tile is best for you.
What thickness to go for?
As a brand, we sell 20mm, 30mm, 40mm gym flooring.
20mm is our most popular seller, it’s the cheapest, most popular at-home and CrossFit/Hyrox boxes.
30mm is perfect for those who are happy to spend a bit more to have more protection, we sell a lot to big commercial gyms. Of the 30mm, we generally sell a lot more 30mm EPDM gym floor tiles.
40mm we only tend to recommend to ex-retail units (due to change in use application consideration) and those who need noise reduction e.g. 1st-floor properties).
What type?
We mainly sell the ever-popular SBR or EPDM gym floor tiles.
SBR is the value choice. Looks good, classic gym flooring, robust. Whilst we say this is the value choice, this doesn't mean it's for the home market. It's very popular with commercial gyms, in fact 4 in every 5 CrossFit Gyms or Hyrox gyms we do tend to go for the SBR.
EPDM is the luxury choice. Smoother finish, it is easier to clean, and the flecks look really smart. They come with free connector clips which connect the underside. These are more popular with our larger commercial gyms, largely due to the cleaning properties, however, we also sell a lot of these for high-end home gyms.
Info Deep Dive
Pros:
Cost: More affordable than EPDM tiles.
Durability: Good durability generally.
Shock absorption: Provides adequate shock absorption.
Cons:
Odour: If you don't have ventilation there can be an odur when they are first opened. It's not something we really suffer from, but this is a known bit of feedback re SBR.
Appearance: Limited colour options.
Cleaning: Harder to clean than EPDM.
Durability: Less durable than EPDM tiles in harsh conditions, of after excessive mop cleaning.
Pros:
Durability: Excellent durability, resistance to abrasion, UV rays, and ozone.
Appearance: Wide range of colours and styles. We stock black with white fleck, and black with grey fleck, but do often bespoke orders in different colours.
Odourless: Virtually odourless, reducing VOC emissions.
Safety: Good slip resistance and shock absorption.
Cleaning: Easy to clean
Cons:
Cost: Generally more expensive than SBR tiles.
Design: Some people just like keeping it simple, plain black all the way.
How to lay it?
Brick effect or straight tiles. It’s purely personal preference. We prefer the brick effect, it looks slicker (in our opinion), and is slightly easier to install to a high standard. Our SBR tiles can be cut with a Stanley knife and are just laid down (you can use glue spray), the EPDM tiles have connector clips to the underside which make it a little easier, you can also spray them down.
In Summary
The truth is, you have good options. All our gym flooring will work well in a home gym setting or within a commercial gym. It's all down to your personal circumstances. Lean on the team if you have any questions, we are always happy to help.
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