High-Performance Flooring
Tue, December 21, 2010 at 14:29 | Jon Feld Manufacturers are now providing a perfect answer for virtually every need
Choosing flooring for your club doesn’t have to be a perplexing process.
The initial, key concern is, of course, the area in which the flooring will be placed. The demands placed upon it determine, in large part, the material that will work best, be easiest to maintain, and last the longest.
“Typically, an exercise area or group-exercise room will call for wood, high-end carpet (squares or broadloom), rubber, or performance vinyl,” notes Bruce Carter, the president of Optimal Design in Weston, Florida. “Wet areas obviously demand nonslip tile. Sport-specific training areas and tracks might employ indoor turf. Entryways and other high-traffic areas might use stained concrete, ceramic or porcelain tile, natural stone, luxury vinyl, carpet, or a combination of more durable materials.”
The most importance consideration, after functionality, is appearance. “The primary driving force in selecting a flooring product is always aesthetics,” suggests David Phillips, a designer with Fabiano Designs, in Montclair, New Jersey, “after which come cost, maintenance, health, and green issues.”
Application, look, cleaning requirements, durability, and other crucial factors are all addressed responsibly, seamlessly, in the final choice of appropriate flooring for a commercial environment. The reassuring fact that there’s now a perfect answer for virtually every need is the result of constant, ongoing, innovation, which, over the past few years, has produced a wealth of selections with a wide, nearly infinite, range of qualities and characteristics
Going with the grain
When it comes to wood, there are a number of new and intriguing alternatives to traditional treatments. “Just a few years ago, there were few choices for wood,” observes Steve Chase, the general manager of Fitness Flooring, a distribution company based in Indianapolis, Indiana. “Now bamboo, cork, and other varieties of woods are beginning to offer some unique looks, particularly in group-exercise and mind/body studios.”
Christell Kee, a principal and senior interior designer at the Ohlson Lavoie Collaborative, a design firm based in Denver, Colorado, concurs: “Renewable wood flooring, such as bamboo and cork, is being used more and more frequently, especially in the day spa and mind/body areas that we design.”
Bamboo, which is quickly becoming the most popular choice, is available in an inspiring assortment of colors and textures, from a blond that’s similar to beech, to a darker carbonized hue that mimics walnut. It can also be obtained in a variety of grain patterns, which provides a much different appearance than that afforded by traditional hardwood. “You can even specify a bamboo wood floor over the sort of cushioned wood floor system that you’d typically find in a gymnasium or group-exercise room,” notes Kee. “But,” she cautions, “not all bamboo floors are created equal.” For example, in applications such as the latter, it would make sense to specify a denser type of bamboo.
Synthetics step up
Wood may come in a finite number of forms, but that’s not true with synthetic flooring materials. Chemistry, engineering, and technology continue to work their wonders, serving up a seemingly endless series of sophisticated options. “Science is offering us synthetic products that, whether they’re rubber, vinyl, or laminate, look like wood or aged tile,” reports Cynthia Maxion, a principal at Maxion Design in La Mesa, California. “There’s also multilevel flooring construction that’s reinforced with fiberglass, providing better shock absorption, as well as new foam cushion backing that helps reduce fatigue.”
Vinyl, in particular, has come a long way. For example, woven vinyl flooring, such as that produced by Bolon and Chilewich, is being put to good use in a growing number of club areas. It provides a modern, clean look for spaces where, generally, you might expect to find carpet, and it’s easy to clean, durable, and quiet under foot. But, because it’s a newer flooring solution, prices remain fairly high, so it may not be right for a project with a modest budget.
Kee points out that luxury vinyl tile, or LVT, has also made great strides in terms of club applications. The new photo-imagery and embossing techniques that manufacturers use do an excellent job of evoking a wide spectrum of impressions, replicating asphalt, porcelain tile, stained concrete, patinaed metals, exotic woods, and other surfaces. LVT sizes and formats have also expanded. LTV now comes in a plank form that duplicates the shape of real wood. And the square pieces have grown to 24" x 24", or larger, in response to the trend toward larger-size tiles.
“To deliver a high-end appearance on a limited budget, we’ve specified LVT in a variety of club spaces—from the main circulation areas, to yoga and Pilates studios, to group-cycling rooms, to day spa areas,” says Kee. “With the downturn in the economy, everyone is searching for ways to save money, and LVT is relatively inexpensive when compared to porcelain tile or real wood floor installations. Installed pricing can range from about $4 to $6 per square foot, while a porcelain tile application would run $8 to $12, or more, per square foot.”
Carpet tile is also becoming increasingly popular, points out Phillips, because of its recycled content and the flexibility it provides in new construction and facility upgrades.
It’s about sustainability
Function and appearance may head up the list of flooring considerations, but sustainability is quickly moving to the fore. “From our perspective in the industry, sustainable design is clearly a driving trend,” says Jocelyn Dillman, the product manager of ECORE, a Lancaster, Pennsylvania-based flooring company. “In sustainable design, the durability of the product plays an important role; the more durable the product is, the longer it will last, which helps hold down material and maintenance costs over its given life cycle.”
Sustainability also addresses issues having to do with health, green environments, and, even, taxes. It deals, for instance, with health-related concerns such as whether flooring produces no, or low levels of, volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions. Dillman notes, for example, that ECORE’s Everlast sports surfacing is FloorScore-certified. That means that it’s met independent standards for low VOCs established by Scientific Certification Systems, an environmental certification and verification firm based in Emeryville, California.
Sustainability is also inextricably linked to greening, which introduces numerous considerations. “Product-cleaning requirements are one of the major concerns,” says Phillips. “Does the surface cleaning require the use of harsh chemicals? Will the flooring material break down over time and harbor bacteria?” Fortunately, he points out, “Companies are utilizing more advanced manufacturing technologies that are more sensitive to the environment, making better, more attractive, choices available.”
When it comes to green, one of the most impressive imprimaturs is that conferred by the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program (LEED), a building-certification program adminstered by the U.S. Green Building Council. LEED has rating systems for new and existing buildings that are designed to improve energy efficiency, indoor environmental quality, materials selection, sustainable site development, and water utilization.
One of the offshoots has been the development of LEED-certified flooring materials. “Capri Flooring, in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, is one of the companies that are now offering such a product,” says Maxion. “All of their products are LEED-certified, and they also have a very nice, natural look and soft wood-like colors. Just recently, they’ve come out with a cork-and rubber-flooring blend. Because cork is a wood product, it’s a renewable resource; it also has resiliency, great acoustical properties, and is very durable.”
Choosing green, Maxion notes, can also lead to LEED points and possible certification, which, in turn, can result in rebates and tax breaks.
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