Moisture Intrusion &
Water Damage
Maple sports floors are extremely affected by both moisture intrusion and water damage. Gym floors that experience these issues result in significant setbacks, and extensive repair is often needed. Ensure you inspect your floor often to catch problems before they ruin your entire gym!
Humidity Control
Most cases of water damage, or moisture infiltration, are due to humidity. Monitoring building humidity is crucial to maintaining a maple sports gym floor.
Humidity variability in excess of 15 degrees can often cause serious problems, such as buckling or cracking. Too much humidity in the room and the maple wood will expand. This causes the gym floor to push out until it buckles. Not enough humidity in the room and the gym floor will tighten and crack.
Prevent Gym Floor Buckling
More times than not, maple sports floors buckle due to lack of moisture control. Most floors expand and buckle because the installer did not take to account the change in humidity. On the other hand, your gym floor could have too many gaps in it because it was installed at too high of a moisture content. Hitting the right moisture content is an integral part of installing your sports floor, and Gym Floor Inspectors can guarantee the job is done correctly. We can also inspect a floor to prove where a floor has buckled or expanded due to installer error, which in many cases it is!
Water Damage
Variables
- Roof leaks.
- Burst pipes.
- Leaking drains.
- Water fountain spills.
- Unsealed outside thresholds.
- Water spills.
- Outside influences.
- Water leaking through points of entry.
- Water infiltration under outside Gym doors.
Gym Floor Inspectors Can Help
Gym Floor Inspectors can identify water intrusion on maple sport gym floors, helping you identify issues before they are major. Gym Floor Inspectors can also document your case of water damage and keep a record of all of our findings in cases of litigation. Gym Floor Inspectors are the only unbiased, completely third party inspector in the industry.
How Quickly Should a Gym Floor Be Inspected After a Water Leak or Flood?
A hardwood gym floor should be professionally evaluated as soon as possible after significant water intrusion. Waiting for the maple to visibly buckle or cup can allow moisture-related problems beneath the surface to progress unnoticed.
Water can reach a gym flooring system through roof leaks, burst pipes, leaking drains, water fountains, spills, exterior thresholds, and other points of entry. Once moisture travels beneath the finished surface, it may affect the maple as well as the subfloor, sleepers, and moisture-control components below.
Some damage may not become obvious immediately. Wood responds to changes in moisture content, meaning movement and distortion can continue after the original leak or flooding event has ended.
An independent inspection can help document the extent of the damage, identify where moisture has traveled, and determine which portions of the flooring system have been affected. This information can help facility managers understand whether drying and localized repairs may be appropriate or whether more extensive restoration should be considered.
Why Should Gym Floors Be Checked After Severe Weather?
Schools and athletic facilities in Florida can experience heavy rain, tropical storms, hurricanes, and periods of high humidity that create challenging conditions for maple sports flooring. Even when water is cleaned up quickly, moisture can travel beneath the visible surface through doorways, roof leaks, drains, plumbing failures, and other entry points.
We provide independent gym floor inspections to help determine how water intrusion has affected the flooring system. Our evaluation can help identify where moisture entered, how far the problem extends, and whether the maple flooring, subfloor, or other components have been affected.
This is especially important after major weather events because wood flooring can continue responding to moisture after the visible water is gone. Buckling, movement, gaps, or other changes may develop later. Having the floor professionally evaluated provides facility managers with objective information they can use when determining the appropriate next steps for repair, restoration, insurance documentation, or continued monitoring.
