Active Flooring Systems

Dec 02 2024

Extending the Life of Wood Flooring

Walking the Environmental Talk

Calling yourself an “Ecologically responsible flooring company” and actually living out that claim, are two, totally different things. To be an ecologically responsible flooring company, you need to provide innovative products that protect the environment.

What is Long Life ™ Flooring?

Horner Sports Flooring’s Long Life™ or L2 flooring option is just one product that proves our commitment to the environment. Long Life flooring provides the wear depth of 1 inch thick flooring (33/32”) in a ¾” (25/32”) flooring. So it not only provides an extended life floor, it does so using 25% less wood. This is accomplished by moving the tongue and groove lower in the profile and reducing them in size slightly. This can be done because modern milling techniques allow for more precise cutting and shaping. With more and more lumber mills providing less rough cut lumber over 1 inch, the availability and cost of raw material for 33/23” flooring is increasingly scarce and expensive. But with L2 you don’t’ need to spend up to get all the benefits of 33/32” flooring. The graphic below show how this is possible:

What are the Benefits of Long Life ™ Flooring?

With Long Life ™, you get an additional 3-4 sandings over the life of your floor. Under normal maintenance schedules, this can be 15-20 years, or more, of additional life. These benefits are available on nearly every Horner system that uses 25/32” flooring. That list includes nearly all systems. So if you are looking at replacing an old floor or are flooring a new facility, ask your architect to specify L2 – Long Life ™ wood flooring from Horner Sports Flooring and reap the benefits long into the future. In addition, you will be doing your part to use our natural resources responsibly.

Frequently asked Questions:

Q: Does using a smaller tongue and groove compromise the strength of the floor?
A: No. If Long Life™ flooring is properly installed and the environment maintained, it will perform like a 25/32″ floor with the life of a 33/32” floor.

Q: Are there special nailing requirements or special tools needed to install this flooring?
A: No. Standard methods and materials may be used.

Q: Are there any additional environmental credits available if I install this flooring?
A: None at this time. However, we strongly recommend submitting for a LEED Innovation & Design Process Credit, as this floor embodies the credit’s stated goal to recognize new technologies for their innovative building features and sustainable building techniques, not currently addressed by existing LEED Credits

Q: Can I mix Long Life flooring with standard 25/32” flooring?
A: Long Life ™ flooring cannot be mixed with standard tongue and groove flooring. That means it is not suited for repairs or patching standard wood floors.

If you have any questions about Horner Sports Flooring’s Long Life (TM) flooring option, contact us today.

Nov 11 2024

Horner Sports Flooring Celebrates 50 Years of ProKing® Portable Basketball Floors

50 years of ProKing® Portable Basketball Floors

Basketball Floor for Chicago Bulls at United Center

Basketball Floor for Raptors at Scotiabank Arena

Basketball Floor at Clipper Staples Center

USA Basketball Showcase Floor by Horner Sports Flooring - Abu Dhabi

Wide image showing the 2016 All-Star basketball court and air canada centre scoreboard used to highlight floors on the decision maker page.

Wide image from above showing LA clippers basketball court, staples center arena, and scoreboard used to highlight floors on the decision maker page.

image of the basketball court at the Madrid BBVA used to highlight floors on the decision maker page

Wide image looking down on the basketball hall of fame basketball court used to highlight floors on the decision maker page.

Horner Sports Flooring is proud to announce the 50th anniversary of its iconic ProKing® portable basketball floor. For half a century, ProKing® has been the benchmark for portable hardwood sports flooring systems, providing athletes and spectators with a durable, reliable, and performance-enhancing playing surface.

Introduced in 1974, ProKing® revolutionized the way portable basketball floors were designed and manufactured. Its innovative features, including lightweight, interlocking panels and easy, installation, requiring no tools or loose parts, set a new standard for portable floors. ProKing became a game-changer for colleges, professional sports organizations and especially venue managers. ProKing’s unique design allows for the shortest conversion time in the sports industry, meaning a basketball game can be played on the same day as another event, such as hockey. ProKing® floors have been used in countless tournaments, championships, and televised games, consistently delivering exceptional performance and durability.

The ProKing® portable basketball floor played an instrumental role in the growth of basketball as a world wide sport. Having the ability to pack a full size, professional level court into shipping containers, ship it to a country anywhere in the world and put on a demonstration game was huge. The court made its way to several countries as the floor of choice for The Summer Olympic Games. It was often deployed to military bases and was occasionally setup outside for games. As American products go, the ProKing® floor has lead a storied life.

At home, in the United States, The ProKing® portable basketball floor was underfoot for nearly every superstar that has played the game in the last 5 decades. It was the floor in use for most of the iconic moments in the sport. If there was a memorable event that happened in basketball, there is a very good chance it happened on a ProKing® floor.

“We are thrilled to celebrate the 50th anniversary of ProKing®,” said Doug Hamar, President and CEO of Horner Sports Flooring. “This milestone is a testament to the quality, innovation, reliability and the industry’s acceptance of our products. ProKing® has been a cornerstone of our business for decades, and we are committed to continuing to provide our customers with the best possible flooring solutions.”

Aug 09 2024

Gym Flooring

Gymnasiums

Historically gym flooring has been wood. Not just any wood, but hard maple or sugar maple, species: Acer saccharum. This wood has a Janka hardness of almost 1400 making one of the hardest, most dent resistant woods available.

Communities across the country see the high school gymnasium as the place where most sporting events happen. It is also a place to vote, or gather for graduation. In short it is the community’s social hub, so its important to choose the right flooring for this space.

Why Wood Gym Flooring?

Wood flooring systems for gymnasiums provide designers with an almost unlimited number of options to customize the floor and meet the exact needs of the customer. Wood floors today always include an under structure. Because of this, dozens of performance metrics can be tuned for the specific use and specific users. For instance: The floor’s resiliency can be adjusted for 180 pound collegiate athletes or 65 pound grade schoolers. Doing this provides a floor that is both safer and more enjoyable to play on. In addition, the floor can be made to handle roll-out bleachers on the perimeter, and still be optimized in the play area.

This under structure inherent with wood floors also means that wood floors can include options like volleyball post anchors, power plugs and other enhancements.

Talk to your planner about wood floors for your gym. Then have them contact us for information on how Horner Sports Flooring can make sure that your new gym flooring meets all your requirements and expectations.

Synthetic Gym Flooring

Polyurethane and Rubber Gym Flooring

a woman playing badminton on red polyurethane gym flooring. — Cushion Court, a Padded Polyurethane Floor System

There a number of synthetic floor systems used in gymnasiums, but the most common one is poured polyurethane. These systems are a more budget friendly system and in some cases provide a superior surface. For instance, polyurethane floors are great for Pickleball, as shown above. Another great use for polyurethane systems is badminton and tennis courts.

A popular design, known as a hybrid, uses both wood and rubber or polyurethane in the same space to derive the benefits of both. Here is a space that uses Horner’s Olymp-X flooting for the tack and maple for the basketball courts.

Contact Horner Sports Flooring to get your gym flooring project on track.

Aug 08 2024

Basketball Floor

Why is a Basketball Floor Wood?

Early construction practices in this country used wood for just about everything. Unlike today, wood floors were ubiquitous. School class rooms had wood floors, not tile or vinyl. In fact, every floor surface in a school was wood, with one exception, restrooms were normally ceramic tile. Gymnasiums had wood flooring as well.

Early in the 20th century, schools began to use tile (sometimes asbestos tile) for classrooms, restrooms and other areas like the cafeteria. However, the gymnasium floor continued to be wood. It is likely tile was tried in gyms, and found to be unacceptable for all the reasons wood is used. Wood is forgiving when someone falls and creates less fatigue. The finish on a wood floor provides superior traction or grip to the players and wood provides a clear surface where game lines can be easily seen.

The Wood Basketball Floor

Legacy Systems - James Naismith iconic photo holding peach basket and soccer ball. — James Naismith iconic photo

Basketball was invented in 1891 by Dr. James Naismith to keep students at his school active and possibly to keep football players in shape during the winter months. It was mostly played indoors in school gyms, as it is today. Because these gymnasiums had wood floors, floors for basketball continue to be wood flooring.

As the game of basketball developed into a national pastime, equipment for the game evolved. The ball became purpose made, the “hoops”, even shoes were designed and engineered specifically for the game. The floor was no exception.

Evolution of the Basketball Floor

These floors have become engineering marvels. National and international governing bodies have strict performance guidelines and testing agencies to ensure the floors meet or exceed their standards for top tier levels of competition. Flooring manufacturers have risen to the challenge and today produce the safest, highest performing basketball floors ever made. Today, companies like Horner Sports Flooring, have developed multi-stag resilient floors, high performance portable floors, and low profile floors that meet or exceed DIN, PUR, FIBA and other standards.

Basketball Floor Development Continues

Horner Sports Flooring continues to perfect the basketball floor. With advancements in active resiliency, low gloss finish, and progressive locking, Horner stands at the forefront of basketball floor development.

Contact Horner Sports Flooring

Jul 30 2024

Who made the 2024 USA Basketball Showcase Floors?

USA Basketball Showcase Draws Large Crowds

The USA Basketball Showcase Tournament drew huge crowds ahead of the Paris Olympics in late July.

USA Basketball is the governing body for basketball in the US, much like FIBA is in Europe. The Showcase offered National Teams, from different countries, an opportunity to play each other ahead of the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris.

The O2 and Etihad venues and ProKing® Basketball Floors

The games took place at The O2 in London and The Etihad in Abu Dhabi. Both locations competed on a Horner Sports Flooring, world class, ProKing® floor.

ProKings Shipped Internationally

Horner Sports Flooring’s ProKing portable basketball courts are easily trucked domestically and fit neatly into shipping containers for international shipping. ProKing floors are used and shipped around the world for professional teams, collegiate teams and special events. Its rugged design and time tested, proven ability to get the job done has made ProKing the go-to portable floor for events, contests and competition, domestically and internationally.