Use Cases

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.

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.

Jul 29 2024

Who Made the 2025 NBA Summer League Floor?

Another Year at Summer League

For more than a decade, Horner Sports Flooring has been the supplier of the NBA Summer League floors. Held at the Thomas and Mack Center and Cox Pavilion in Las Vegas, each year, Summer League has become the primier summer basketball event. This year is no different.

As in the past, this year’s NBA Summer League floors have the clean, classic styling fans love to see. The large, red, white and blue 2025 NBA Summer League logo dominates center court, as it has for years. The floor is bordered in red with white text, as usual. Play area graphics have been limited to a darkened area inside the three point line, with the key reverting back to natural. The play area is beautifully devoid of sponsor ads and other distractions.

Make no mistake, Horner Sports Flooring has the ability to lay down cutting edge graphics, but as we can see here, sometimes, the discipline to keep it simple can really pay off.

2025 NBA Summer League uses ProKing®

Below the understated graphics is a world class, Horner Sports Flooring, ProKing® portable basketball floor. The ProKing® basketball floor is used by professional and collegiate teams nation and world wide. The ProKing® floor boasts the lightest panels in the business and the fastest load in/load out times available. These ProKing floors are trucked from the Horner factory/mill, game ready. Within 2 hrs. of arrival, the floor can be ready for competition.

If you have questions about Horner Sports Flooring or ProKing portable basketball courts, contact us below.

Contact

Apr 17 2024

What Should You Consider When Choosing Gym Flooring?

Primary Consideration

When considering what type of hardwood, maple flooring to use in a new or renovated gymnasium, the athletes playing on the floor are the primary consideration. All other considerations come after safety, from professional athlete to 1st grade gym class.

Breaking Down a Safe Floor

Physical Factors

To ensure a safe sports floor, you should consider a floor that:

Follows PUR standards, set by the Maple Flooring Manufacturers Association (MFMA).
PUR standards focus on:
- Shock absorption
- Vertical deflection
- Area of deflection
- Ball bounce
- Surface friction
Surface Friction: Provides the proper traction for the intended use, like basketball games and other athletic activities, for the life of the floor.
Shock Absorption: For running, jumping and falling, to reduce the risk of injury.
Vertical and Area Deflection: Ensures there is a consistent response, by the floor to the athlete’s input.

A PUR certified floor is a safe sports floor.

Economical Consideration

After safety, you will want to consider the economical factors of your new floor.

Make sure you couple a reasonable initial investment with added life cycle/cost benefits.
Minimize your financial risk by getting a floor with a track record for longevity and documented history of success in similar applications.
Request your floor is manufactured by a reputable company that stands behind their product.
Demand your new floor is installed by factory-trained, accredited professionals to ensure maximum warranty coverage.
Confirm the floor is easy to maintain relative to competitive floors.
Recognize that even an economical floor from Horner Sports Flooring is a safe floor.

Demanding a Horner Sports Floor will cover all these considerations and more. Horner Sports Flooring is a founding member of the MFMA and was established in 1891 – the same year basketball was invented. .

Consider Synthetic

Horner Sports Flooring has a long history in hardwood flooring, but we also have a product line of synthetic systems. All of our systems are specialized for virtually every sports activity and engineered for the very best in athlete safety, athletic performance, structural integrity, trouble-free maintenance, and long-lasting appeal.

There are some applications where wood flooring is not recommended, weight training rooms for instance. We encourage those looking into athletic, hardwood flooring to evaluate all the uses that their flooring will be experiencing:

High moisture area
High impact area
High traffic area

Now determine if a wood or synthetic floor is best suited to your application.

Final Considerations

Hardwood flooring has the aesthetics and performance that is associated with traditional court competition. The downside to purchasing hardwood flooring is the cost and maintenance. Plus, there are some applications that wood is just not suited for. While hardwood flooring is ideal for the athletes playing on it, a multiple use gymnasium or multi-purpose room may warrant consideration of synthetic flooring. The most common example of this is a field house that uses wood sports flooring for the courts and a synthetic surface for the track that surrounds the courts. Known as a “Combi” floor, Horner has several proven wood-synthetic floor pairings.

We hope the above discussion has helped you better plan your meeting with your flooring professional. While the above represents some of the most important considerations you should make, there are a few more:

Consider these:

Sport-specific, multiple sports, or multi-purpose?
Top level competition or recreational activities?
Number of participants and spectators
Number of hours/day and days/year the facility will be used?
Special equipment use (bleachers, sound stages, lifts, portable backstops, etc.)?
Desired life expectancy of floor?
Budgetary considerations – initial cost versus total cost of ownership?

It may seem daunting trying to decide on a new floor for your new or renovated gymnasium, but there are always friendly people here at Horner Sports Flooring to assist you, regardless of your current level of flooring knowledge.

Give us a call if you have questions.

Professional Sports Flooring

Professional Sports Flooring for Competition and Practice

There is a lot at stake when we start considering the professional sports flooring where your team will be playing and practicing. The health of your athletes is paramount. You need a floor you can count on game after game and practice after practice. You also want your floor to look great. Your floor is the most visible display of your brand. We will get it right. This is your home court.

ProKing® Portable Professional Floor

Product Data Sheet

Professional Sports Flooring for Practice Facilities

Zenith - A Computer Designed Multi-Load System