Sep. 01, 2025
Perfecting your workout routine can be tricky. After all, finding the right balance between cardio, strength training and fun activities like basketball can be confusing. Throw in calisthenics and yoga and creating a routine that helps you meet your fitness goals is even more troublesome.
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The good news is that creating the gym of your dreams doesn’t have to be painful. In fact, you’re halfway home once you’ve found the right flooring material for your space. After all, most gyms are all about freedom of movement and healthy activity, so you don’t have tons of décor to pick out!
Use this guide to learn more about gym flooring for your space. We’ve got gym hardwood flooring , rubber styles and more so you can finally have that gym you’ve always wanted.
Designing a gym for a high school, college or group exercise space means taking unique needs into consideration. Here are some of the things you need to consider when choosing flooring for your gym:
• What activities will take place in your gym? Are you designing a gym for basketball or you creating an all-purpose gym for your community? Knowing your needs before you begin is essential.
• How will the flooring material impact your intended exercises? A gym designed for high-impact circuit training may require different flooring than one set up for a senior’s exercise group, for example.
• Utilize colors, patterns and textures in your flooring to create an inviting workout space. Mixing and matching different wood tones and types is one easy way to do this while creating solid, consistent flooring underfoot.
Having access to a home gym means that you can exercise on your schedule without commuting to a shared gym space. You’ll also have the ability to easily exercise and do fun physical activities with your family.
Below, you’ll find some of the best home gym materials on the market including natural and engineered hardwood. They’ll all make excellent home gym floors when installed correctly.
Rubber is a popular home gym flooring material around the world. Here are some of the benefits of installing a rubber floor in your home gym:
• Rubber is comfortable. A natural shock absorber, rubber can reduce the impact on your joints and bones while you’re exercising.
• Rubber is relatively cost-effective.
• You can do a wide range of workouts on rubber. Soft yet resilient, rubber is a great choice if you’re building a home gym with lots of different activities in mind.
Another popular gym flooring material, foam is a great choice for spaces where portability is important. Here are some of the benefits of foam flooring:
• Foam flooring is ultra-portable and can be re-arranged. You may also be able to take it with you if you’re moving down the road, making foam a smart pick for those spare bedroom home gym setups.
• Foam can be installed in combination with other flooring materials like natural wood or engineered wood. This gives your home gym a unique look and a few different workout spaces.
• It is waterproof and shock absorbent, making it a great material for high-intensity exercise.
The cost of natural hardwood can be high in a gym space. While it may be essential for a collegiate-level basketball court, natural wood isn’t always required for a community gym or home environment. In fact, you can still get the look with a reduced cost by choosing engineered wood or laminate .
These materials are strong and supportive while also offering a few other benefits. Most designs are waterproof and won’t warp if the humidity changes, which may be important for spaces where you don’t utilize air conditioning.
Looking for the best gym design money can buy? In many cases, this is natural hardwood. For many gyms, maple is king due to long-term durability and a certain style standard. For basketball flooring, maple has long been the go-to material.
Wood is also an ideal material if you’re looking to create a gym that’s visually appealing. Mixing and matching different wood tones is easy, giving you lots of visual depth.
Got more questions about choosing durable gym flooring? Here are some FAQs we get all the time at BuildDirect:
Q: What kind of wood is used for gym floors?
A: Maple is the most common hardwood flooring material used in gyms. In home environments and community gyms, engineered wood is a very popular choice because of its reduced cost.
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Q: How much does a wood gym floor cost?
A: This varies greatly depending on the size of the gym space and the end user’s goals. On average, wood flooring can cost between $10 and $20 per square foot.
Q: How do you protect hardwood floors from gym equipment?
A: Rich hardwood floors are designed to be durable, but heavy exercise equipment can take its toll. Protect your hardwood floors with heavy-duty mats to prevent denting. This is particularly important if you’re placing large, heavy exercise machines in your space.
Q: What is the best wood effect flooring?
A: While this varies greatly on your needs, engineered wood is strong, durable and designed to last. It also looks like natural wood. Laminate designed to look like wood is an excellent choice for multi-purpose gyms as well.
Q: Does a hardwood floor provide safety and resiliency?
A: While it’s true that hardwood floors are indeed hard, they do have some give and they are much softer than common outdoor materials like cement. Think of a basketball court with players regularly falling down without being injured. Hardwood provides a safe, resilient surface for many activities.
Shop BuildDirect today to see all of our fitness flooring materials online. Our beautiful, easy to maintain styles will ensure that you have a space to exercise at home for years to come.
Not sure which flooring material is right for you? Reach out to one of our trained representatives today to learn more about wood, wood look laminate flooring and special materials like rubber and foam. They can help you learn more about the different flooring materials suitable for gym floors. We can even provide you with free samples so you can see your options in person at home.
There are pros and cons to both options in terms of cost, installation, maintenance, uses and customization, and aesthetics; some of the similarities between the two might surprise you. If you want to make the wisest decision about what type of flooring your facility needs, it is important to know the details about both types.
The first question that most people have about athletic flooring is the cost, and that includes both the initial cost and the long-term cost. The purchase and installation of flooring is a sizeable investment when materials and installation costs are accounted for; however, there is also the cost of continuing maintenance and upkeep. An initial investment in a modular tile floor is a fraction of the cost of traditional wood flooring and requires less time to install. In addition, the maintenance of modular tile is significantly less than that of traditional hardwood flooring. A modular floor can easily last up to 30 years with proper care and maintenance. Hardwood flooring, on the other hand, can last as long as the gym itself if it is cared for properly with an average life of 38 years. However, for hardwood flooring to last that long, it needs to be routinely refinished -- we’ll get to this later.
There are numerous challenges to be faced anytime flooring is being installed, whether it is modular flooring or traditional wood flooring. For example, traditional hardwood flooring has specific temperature and humidity conditions that must be maintained, so you must ensure that your facility’s HVAC system can accommodate those requirements. Modular flooring can be installed in areas that have moisture problems as the material used and installation techniques are not impacted by moisture. When it comes to installation time, traditional wood flooring can take weeks to install properly. Modular flooring, on the other hand, can be installed in days because of the simplicity of its design. And here’s something else you might not know about modular flooring: not unlike gym floor covers for traditional wood flooring (which we will discuss later on), modular flooring can be taken up and put away without any special tools. In essence, you can pack up the modular tiles and move them to another location. This is ideal for situations where space is rented or leased.
Traditional gym floors require quite a bit of care. For example, they not only need to be kept clean regularly but sanded to the bare wood and refinished about every two years. Care should be taken in the choice of cleaners to ensure that the finish is not damaged. Wooden gym floors must be wet cleaned and scrubbed on a regular basis because, over time, a slick film of salt and protein will build up due to sweat from the athletes. As for dust, the use of microfiber dust mops is often recommended. To enhance the appearance of these floors, regular polishing is needed unless the flooring has a matte finish.
Modular flooring also requires a regular routine of dust mopping and scrubbing to maintain its appearance similar to that of hardwood flooring, but never needs to be stripped and refinished.
To protect any gym floor from damage during non-athletic use, a gym floor cover is a must. It will significantly reduce wear and tear but requires its own maintenance, too. Gym floor covers need to be cleaned after each use. They can often be simply brushed off and spot-cleaned, but mild detergents can also be used as long as the cover is allowed to dry thoroughly before it is stored.
There are many uses for traditional wood flooring. While it is an excellent floor material for sports such as basketball, racquetball, and others, its appropriateness for non-sport purposes comes into question. For example, wood flooring can easily be marked or damaged by non-athletic shoe soles, which means that its use for non-sports activities (commencements, concerts, dances) would involve significant maintenance afterwards. It also offers poor acoustics, leads to major safety hazards if liquids are spilled on it, and is subject to scratching and gouging. However, those issues can all be mitigated through the wise use of a gym floor cover like those available from CoverSports.
Modular flooring, on the other hand, is known for its flexibility in terms of what it can be used for, including pickleball, floorball, handball, futsal, inline hockey, and indoor tennis. Another key factor in favor of modular flooring over traditional wood flooring in terms of use is the customization that is possible. The reaction of the flooring (e.g., how cushioned it is) can be adjusted through the use of a sheet rubber underlayment with various thicknesses depending on the amount of cushion desired. This type of customization is not available with traditional wood flooring.
And keep in mind that modular flooring isn’t just for indoor courts, either. Take, for example, Mateflex III with its rugged design that can handle temperature changes without distortion and allow rainwater to flow through so that slip hazards are minimized.
There is no denying that traditional hardwood gym floors are beautiful when they have been well maintained and cared for. While there are many different shades and finishes that the hardwood floors come in and logos and lettering can be hand-painted on, the options and ease of customization are no match for modular tiles. Multiple colored tiles can easily be used in a single installation, and this color penetrates all the way through each unit which means it can never wear off. Game lines and logos are painted on the surface after installation. For traditional flooring, this level of customization is only easily attainable through printed gym floor covers, and only for use in non-athletic events.
Modular tiles can even be designed to look like ice or wood. For example, for the look of a more traditional wooden plank gym floor, perhaps for basketball or aerobics, the ProGym Plank is the answer with its wood-like appearance and durable clear wear layer. If the classic look of a gym floor is not the highest priority, there are products like ProGym, which can be used for everything from basketball and volleyball courts to recreation rooms. For areas with heavy equipment, such as weight rooms, you can still have an aesthetically pleasing floor that resists damage from dropped weights and the bases of exercise equipment with something like the rubber SportFloor ProXL.
Hardwood plank flooring (usually maple) has been used for gyms for as long as most of us can remember. It naturally provides good shock absorption (which is important in preventing injuries) and provides excellent elastic response for sports like basketball and volleyball. Sanding and refinishing is required, but some prefer to see that process as an opportunity to update the look of the gym. In addition, traditional wood flooring is a more environmentally friendly option in the eyes of many because it is biodegradable and comes from a renewable source. In addition, wood is naturally resistant to wear and can last for many years with proper care -- especially when used with quality gym floor covers. Wood flooring does cost more than modular flooring and is limited in what types of activities can take place upon it unless proper floor covers are used.
Modular flooring does not have to be permanent, making it an excellent option for use in temporary facilities. It is not difficult to install and costs less than equivalent wooden flooring. Modular flooring is easy to care for and never requires refinishing. It can be highly customized in terms of color and appearance (even mimicking the look of ice or wood) as well as performance. It can also be used for a wide variety of purposes, not all of which have to be sports related.
Deciding which type of flooring is most appropriate for a sports facility can be a tough decision. Tradition leans to hardwood maple flooring with its familiar appearance, durability, and performance. However, modern technology has made possible modular flooring that can, if needed, mimic the appearance of classic wood flooring while providing customizable performance and flexibility in terms of what it can be used for and what sports it supports. Other considerations include maintenance and upkeep, which is considerably less for modular flooring, and expected lifetime, which is very long for traditional flooring. Just remember that if you do opt for any sport floor, you will need a gym floor cover if you expect it to remain attractive and damage-free.
Are you interested in learning more about wood grain sports flooring? Contact us today to secure an expert consultation!
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