Whether you are specifying a sports floor, selecting a floor or influencing the decision on which floor is chosen, knowing a little something about floor systems and sports flooring terms is key. To that end we have put together a quick list of sports flooring terms to help you talk with knowledge to your sports flooring professional.

Sports Flooring Terms You Should Know:

Sports Flooring Terms for Floor System Types:

What is floor deflection?

Floor deflection is the measurement of how much a floor “moves” under a certain amount of force. See an excellent, albeit somewhat technical treatment of this subject here: https://asetservices.com/sports-surface-testing-204-area-deflection-requirements-indoor-surfaces/

• Force Reduction
• Ball Rebound
• Vertical Deformation
• Area Deflection

For manufacturers, these are critical elements. The ideals are set by the governing bodies (see below). It is extremely difficult to achieve all these specs at once and specifiers and decision makers need to evaluate their needs carefully in this area. Additionally it can be very difficult to maintain the specs through the installation and day to day use of the floor.

What is a resilient floor?

All Horner sports floors are resilient. This simply means they all have some shock absorbing quality. Numerous studies have shown that having a resilient floor helps protect bones, and joints from excessive shock. Athletes drive their bodies hard and equipment like good shoes and proper flooring are fundamental to their health and well being.

What is a fixed floor?

Horner offers a series of fixed, resilient floors. These floors are anchored to the subfloor in such a way as to allow the floor to still move in the y axis (up and down) while being limited in their movement along the z or x axis. Various methods of anchoring are used to achieve this result. You can see these methods in the detail drawings of each Fixed Resilient Horner Sports Floor in our Fixed Resilient section. The benefits of a fixed resilient floor are many:

1. Can handle heavier loads like heavy bleachers, seating and goal towers verses a floating system.

2. Highly consistent ball bounce and feel for players.

3. Slightly longer life cycle.

Use Cases:

1. Multi use locations such a field houses that may host non sporting events requiring the support of heavy loads.

2. Large expansive installations where accommodating a floor’s expansion is not practical or sound engineering.

3. Installations where life cycle is a primary concern

4. Installations where temperature and humidity are well controlled

What is a floating floor?

Many of Horner’s fixed floor systems are available as floating systems. A floating system has the benefit of being mostly unrestrained. This allows the floor to move as needed to adjust to expansion caused by higher and lower humidity. This expansion is accommodated along the perimeter with special trim pieces. Without anchors to restrain its movements, floating systems also exhibit greater resiliency. Any anchor used in a system will necessarily limit movement in the y axis to some degree. Here are a few benefits a floating floor offers:

1. Ability to better handle larger swings in temperature and humidity.

2. More resilient for greater safety and comfort.

3. Less expensive installation costs.

4. Can be installed on lower grade subfloors.

Use Cases:

1. Standard gymnasiums where access is controlled and heavy loads are not possible or allowed.

2. Installations where a lower profile floor is needed.

3. Installation where the previous floor was a fixed (anchored) floor and the slab may be compromised.

What is a low profile floor?

If a building is engineered with the knowledge that a wood floor system will be installed, the slab where the floor will go is depressed, or sunk. This is to accommodate the thickness of the system and is know as “slab depression”. Note that to do this properly on new builds and avoid needing shims, the floor system and its required slab depression should be identified BEFORE the location is engineered and drawn up. In remodels of some installations the installed floor needs to be relatively “thin”. This may be the case to accommodate a minimal slab depression or other existing structural issues. Low profile floors offered by Horner Sports Flooring will have the designation “LP” in their name. Check the design drawing carefully for the system’s height from subfloor to floor surface.

Sports Flooring Terms for Ceritifications

What are governing bodies?

Governing bodies are organizations that maintain the standards for a geographic area. They will likely have testing facilities to test a floor system to see if it meets their standards and specifications. A system that meets these specifications is generally “approved by …”. Meeting these standards and having a floor tested can be an expensive process. In addition, maintaining the standards consistently through the manufacturing process can also add additional expense to a floor system. This is why the more organizations a floor system is approved by, the more expensive it is, generally speaking. If a Horner flooring system is approved by a governing body, it will be identified in the system’s product data sheet. Not being approved by a governing body should in no way be taken as suggesting the system is substandard. It simply means it has not been taken through the process.

What is FSC certified?

FSC – Forest Stewardship Council certified guarantees the wood used to make your floor was responsibly harvested in a sustainable way. Please note that if a floor is not FSC certified, it does not mean the opposite. Horner takes all reasonable efforts to obtain ALL it’s raw materials from responsible sources.

Sports Flooring Terms for Portable Floors

What is a portable floor?

ProKing® Horner Sports Flooring’s world class portable floor allows facilities to have a professional level basketball floor that can be put down and taken up as the event dictates. The choice of several NBA, WNBA and tier one colleges, ProKing® provides one of the fastest installation times and the lightest panels of any competitor. But the main reason so many teams have chosen ProKing® is how it plays. When so much is on the line, they have chosen the most time tested and most approved portable available.