Mission Ranch Apartments

When wood gets wet, it swells.  In the case of a gym floor, wet swollen wood is usually a total loss.  This often requires complete removal and replacement.  The overall timeframe can be 2 to 3 months, depending upon product availability.  Of course, others factors include making sure that the concrete floor slab is fully dried and that the replacement wood has fully acclimated before it is installed.

Before approving the installation of Sport Court® gym flooring, the insurance company requested a quote for hardwood.  A Texas based dealer for Connor Sports, provided a cost estimate.  The price to install hardwood was roughly 35% higher than Sport Court® gym flooring.  And, installing hardwood created additional risk for the insurance carrier.  As buildings age, there is a greater likelihood of more water leaks.  Putting in a gym floor that is easily damaged by water, just isn’t logical.  And, it didn’t make any sense from a risk tolerance stand point.  With the lower cost and lower risk, the Sport Court® gym flooring was quickly approved.

We tackled the job of removing the old floor.  This is not something we normally do.  However, we viewed it as a learning experience.  And, Mission Ranch Apartments preferred to have everything done under a single contract.  Having a remediation company cut out the wood floor, would have meant additional paperwork and accounting for Mission Ranch.

Removal was a two day project.  When possible, we cut the floor into large slabs that could be carried or rolled out.  One of our crew took several slabs to potentially recycle into large table tops.  And, we found a few other folks who also took a few pieces.  But, most of the old floor was stacked in a dumpster.

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With the old hardwood floor out of the way, and the water dried up, reconstruction could begin.  Mission Ranch maintenance staff worked to upgrade light fixtures.  They also added a free coat of paint to the ceiling and upper part of the walls, above the Formica cladding.  All of this was done while awaiting delivery of the new gym floor.

We installed the rubber underlayment and PVC baseboards on May 27th.  The Sport Court® flooring was delivered late in the afternoon on May 28th.  Though most of the workday had already passed, we stuck around to install the majority of the flooring.  We returned the following day to install the volleyball sleeves.  We also had to cut the flooring pieces that fit along the walls.

To increase the gym’s functionality, we added volleyball post floor sleeves.  This is done as the floor is being installed, usually just before stripes are painted.  Though the gym is smaller than a standard volleyball court, it’s a great size for pickleball and badminton.  And, residents can still enjoy a game of volleyball, even if it’s not full size.

The net system we provided is a Libero 7200 multi-sport system from Gared Sports.  It has a nearly infinite number of net height options, as the net is able to move between 39 inches and 8 feet high.  While not in use, the posts are securely stored in a wall mount bracket, that we anchored in one corner of the gym.

We had the net shortened to fit the smaller court size with the posts being only 22 feet apart.

The old hardwood floor had a total thickness of around 2-1/2 inches.  The new Sport Court® gym floor was considerably thinner.  The concrete floor slab had been recessed at the time of construction, to accommodate for the thickness of the hardwood.  Now, we either needed to fill in a couple inches of concrete throughout the gym, or create an entry ramp.  Mission Ranch chose the ramp option.  This would save time and money.

After installing the Sport Court® gym flooring, we formed a ramp of fiber reinforced concrete.  A coloring agent was added to give the concrete an brownish tan appearance.  Though it looked much more orange while it was wet.  Once the concrete cured, the final pieces of flooring were precisely cut to fit around the ramp.

The gym at Mission Ranch Apartments had previously been striped only for Basketball.  But, with the popularity of pickleball on the rise, we designed the floor for basketball as well as pickleball.  Of course, badminton and volleyball can also be played.  And, the gym should work for racquet ball too.  Although there were no stripes specifically added for racquetball and the gym is a bit oversized.

Mission Ranch Apartments felt that it made sense to make other upgrades.  So, in addition to the gym floor, we replaced the old worn grey wall pads with new navy pads.  We also replaced the basketball rim with a collegiate breakaway rim, and replaced the backboard pads.

The net system we provided is a Libero 7200 multi-sport system from Gared Sports.  It has a nearly infinite number of net height options, as the net is able to move between 39 inches and 8 feet high.  While not in use, the posts are securely stored in a wall mount bracket, that we anchored in one corner of the gym.

As mentioned above, other upgrades such as painting and lighting were handled by the Mission Ranch maintenance staff.

This project came with several hiccups that slowed the reconstruction process.  These were mostly related to freight issues.  For instance, T Force Freight (formerly UPS Freight) completely lost the basketball rim, backboard pads, and wall mount storage bracket for the volleyball system.  They also damaged several of the wall pads during shipping.  When Gared Sports reshipped some of the items using regular UPS ground delivery, the driver marked a box as “Undeliverable” because it lacked an apartment number.  Of course, the package was to be delivered to the apartment office, not to an apartment unit.  These types of freight and delivery issues seem to be all too common in 2021.

Through all of these delays, Mission Ranch Manager, Cindy Baker, remained patient and helpful.  Indeed, Cindy was a pleasure to work with throughout the rebuild.

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If you’d like to learn more about Mission Ranch Apartments, please visit their website or their Facebook page.

To learn more about Sport Court® gym flooring or to get our expert assistance laying out your gym, please contact South Texas Sport Court.