Flooring for a gym or fitness centre. Which one to choose?

Floors in gyms, fitness centres and even home workout rooms take a beating day after day. Whether you own a gym or simply enjoy spending your free time in your own home workout space, you have surely already wondered which flooring to choose for your equipment and machines.

There are several options. From classic sprung wooden parquet, used mainly in gymnasiums, through rubber floors, all the way to concrete combined with carpet or another floor covering. But have you heard of PVC tiles yet?

Fast DIY installation on almost any existing surface

Let's start at the very beginning, with one major advantage of this floor tile system: DIY floor installation. Once again, it doesn't matter whether you own a larger or smaller fitness centre or are “just” a home enthusiast. Installing it yourself will be welcomed by anyone who thinks not only in terms of function, but also economy.

Fortelock PVC flooring can be installed on almost any surface. The basic requirement is a hard and as level as possible existing surface. If your existing covering is concrete, you simply sweep it, or vacuum it if needed, and you can start laying the tiles. Based on our customers' reviews, we can confirm that truly anyone can handle the installation, which lets you avoid extra costs in the form of labour and services from flooring companies.

Fortelock works on an interlocking tile system – each tile is fitted with connectors along its edges that fit together perfectly. They form a firm joint, and all you need to connect them is a rubber mallet. In this case, one person is able to lay up to 20 m2 of flooring in one hour.

Easy maintenance and immediate usability

Perhaps questions such as: “How will it be cleaned?” or “How long do we have to wait before we can use the floor?” are running through your mind. The good news is that PVC flooring is ready to use immediately after laying and no special equipment or products are needed for its maintenance. If you have had carpet in your gym until now, you will be able to say goodbye to its demanding cleaning and dustiness. To keep your gym clean, a vacuum cleaner is all you need with Fortelock. Spilled drinks or body sweat are easily dealt with using an ordinary cleaning product and a mop.

High durability – dropped weights will no longer be a problem

It has surely happened to you too: your clients' carelessness, or sometimes even laziness, in failing to return used equipment to the racks or place it on the ground has more than once caused it to fall. Over time, the impact of a dumbbell or a piece of equipment can cause major problems for a concrete floor. In the better case it just cracks, in the worse case it starts to crumble or even sink. At that point there is nothing left to do but level the floor, which is demanding not only in terms of the work involved, but also financially and time-wise – the premises have to be closed for a while.

Fortelock, also suitable for heavy industry, handles such impacts with ease. It is made to withstand even the strain of forklift trucks with loads of up to 1,500 kg. What's more, it doesn't just serve as protection for your original subfloor, but also provides both sound and thermal insulation. In the event that one of the tiles were to get damaged after all, you don't have to deal with a costly repair of your concrete floor – you simply replace one piece with another.

It won't slip under you

During exercise, for example when doing squats or lunges, stability and firm ground underfoot are important. Fortelock PVC tiles also feature anti-slip properties, so you won't find yourself slipping while performing similarly demanding exercises. What's more, you can choose the flooring in up to 4 patterns, each of which meets the strict criteria of European standards.

Colour variety and mobility

Another advantage that every owner of a sports facility will surely appreciate is the option to choose a combination of up to 12 colours. With PVC tiles measuring 51×51 cm (including the connectors), you can easily separate the individual zones of your fitness centre. Thanks to this layout, your visitors will immediately know where the area reserved for cardio is, where heavy weights are used, and so on. You can also lay the tiles under individual machines, and if you decide to move them elsewhere over time, you simply take them apart. Fortelock floor systems are portable, and assembling and subsequently dismantling them has no effect on the strength of the connectors.

Warranty of up to 12 years

Perhaps you have already come across, or have your own experience with, tiles made of rubber. They look very much like Fortelock and can easily be mistaken for one another. However, don't be fooled. Among other things, they also have one major drawback. Most of them are too soft and over time, and due to temperature fluctuations, they begin to change shape. With Fortelock flooring you don't have to worry about this. In this respect too it meets the demanding requirements of European standards, and we stand behind their quality with a warranty of up to 12 years.

If our flooring has caught your interest, or you have not yet seen it with your own eyes, we will be happy to send you a sample measuring 8×8 cm. You will thus be able to form your own opinion about the quality and toughness of the material from which Fortelock is made.

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