We have been asked many times, “what does a new Maple Gymnasium Floor cost?”

A very unique gym in Wyoming. 

As with any construction project, that question leads to several other questions, before an accurate answer can be given. 

1. What kind of a facility is this floor going into?

1. New construction
2. Remodel
3. School
4. University
5. YMCA
6. Civic center
7. Church

In each of these cases a different floor system may be required. 

So, for the sake of the question…. “how much does a gym floor cost?” Let’s make some assumptions. 

Let’s say that the gym floor we need to price out is going into a public High School. The school has an existing Maple Gymnasium floor. However, the existing floor is more than 40 years old and has recently been damaged when the roof leaked during an extreme rainstorm. The school has made the decision to replace the floor.

OK, great. So now we have additional questions: 

1. Does this existing gymnasium floor have a concrete slab under it?
2. How deep is the slab depression in the gymnasium?
3. Does this school play Varsity sports on this floor?
4. Besides sports teams, who else will be using this floor?
5. Is the school district interested in Logo’s lettering and graphics on the floor?
6. How big is this floor? Length X Width
7. Does the gym floor have bleachers on it?

So, we are going to head out to the school to take a look at this project. After a close look at the existing gym floor and facility, and a conversation with our contact at the school, we have some answers. 

1. Yes, it has a concrete slab under the gym floor. 
2. 2 ¼”” from the top of the existing Maple gym floor to the concrete. 
3. Yes, girls’ volleyball and boys & girls’ basketball. 
4. Community basketball & community pickleball, Physical education classes, special school functions like assemblies, band and choir concerts. 
5. Yes, the school would like a center logo, end zone lettering, stained 3-point arches, a large border around the main basketball court plus game lines for cross basketball, cross volleyball, and 4 pickleball courts.  
6. This floor measures 100 X 110 11,000 square feet. 
7. Yes, it has 12 row bleacher banks along both side walls. 

This is a pretty standard high school gymnasium floor layout. It has main basketball and main volleyball courts. It also features 2 cross basketball and 2 cross volleyball courts  and some pickleball courts. 

After carefully considering the needs of our customer, we decide to recommend 2 possible floor systems to them: 

1. A Robbins Air Channel Star. This is a stringer floor system with a layer of plywood. It is a Din Certified, well proven, heavy duty floor system. This system has a 2 ½” height with 25/32nds Maple flooring. 

2. A Robbins Eclipse SB. This is an anchored panelized system. This system is also Din Certified and PUR compliant. This system has a 2” system height. Additional information about the technical aspects of the Eclipse Gym Floor system is available on this video. 

We are now ready to work on our bid. We have several line items on to list out on our bid. We would address them as follows: 

1. Tear up, remove, and dispose of the old water damaged gym floor. This will require the floor to be cut into manageably sized pieces, removed from the gymnasium, and stacked into a construction dumpster. 
2. The cost of the new floor system, installation, sanding, sealing, staining, painting, and finishing. 
3. Moving and resetting the bleachers, and possible adjustment to the basketball hoops. 
4. Installation of base cove, threshold, volleyball caps, and electrical covers. 
5. Yes, the school would like a center logo, end zone lettering, stained 3-point arches, a large border around the main basketball court plus game lines for cross basketball, cross volleyball, and 4 pickleball courts.  

We will take these five-line items and put a price on each one. ** Please note ** This article was written in the 4^th quarter of 2022. We are currently experiencing a 40-year high inflation rate and extreme volatility in the construction materials market. This information may be outdated nearly as soon as it is published!

1. Tearing up and removing a gym floor can be a pretty simple job. If the existing floor system is a “floating floor” then it’s just a matter of cutting it into sections and moving it out of the building and into a dumpster. IF it is some sort of older anchored system, then the process will be MUCH more difficult. This video goes into some of the challenges of removing a gym floor system. https://youtu.be/NQdM3ZOYVu4

We often get asked about salvaging gym floors and repurposing the material. While this is hypothetically possible, remember this is a 40-year-old floor that has been water damaged. Between its 40 years of hard use and the water damage, the salvage value is usually not much. 

We charge between $1.50 and $2.00 per square foot to remove and dispose of an old gymnasium floor. Price fluctuates based on the cost of dumpsters and the difficulty of the floor removal. $1.75 X 11,000 square feet = $19,250.00

2. Cost of the floor system: 

To explain the cost of a gym floor system itself, let’s talk about little background information. We have seen extreme volatility in lumber pricing over the past 3 years. Plywood for example  By April of 2021 plywood cost had shot up more than 200% above normal across the United States. This jump was not only unforeseen, but unprecedented in every way imaginable. Prices have come down from the 2021 highs, but inflationary pressures will continue to exert upward pressure on raw material prices. 

Most gym floors have plywood as part of the sub floor system. 

Now let’s talk about Sourcewell: 

Sourcewell serves government, education & nonprofit organizations with a cooperative purchasing program that manages solicitation requirements & offers a network of awarded contracts. Save time and money by combining the buying power of more than 50,000 government, education, and nonprofit organizations. …

Robbins has a contact to provide gymnasium floors under a Sourcewell program. This contract meets bid requirements for most government, education, and nonprofit organizations that are Sourcewell members. 

Robbins has an agreed upon maximum price for many of their products, this is available to Sourcewell members. The maximum pricing for a Robbins Air Channel Star is $15.88 per sq ft. The maximum pricing for a Robbins Eclipse SB is $19.73 This pricing includes the system materials, installation, labor, sanding, finishing, and 2” game lines. 

Robbins Air Channel Star $15.88 X 11,000 sq ft = $174,680.00

Robbins Eclipse SB $19.73 X 11,000 = $217,030.00

3. We do NOT move bleachers or adjust basketball goals. However, we have been involved with enough of these projects, that we can make an educated estimate of costs. We believe that to move and reset 2 banks of bleachers. Then to make small adjustments to (6) basketball goals our customer could expect to pay $20,000.00 to $25,000.00 for this work. 

The bleachers will need to be moved, so that the old floor can be removed and the new one installed under them.

4. Install black rubber base cove, (6) Brass volleyball caps, aluminum diamond plate threshold at doorways. $9750.00

5. Apply the following graphics package on this floor: Center logo, end zone lettering, stained 3-point arches, a large border around the main basketball court plus game lines for cross basketball, cross volleyball, and 4 pickleball courts.  Total cost of the graphics package: $17,620.00

We do our best to make any design our customers come up with, come to life on a gym floor. 

There are GOING to be more factors to consider that could affect the price up or down. If an Architect or General Contractor is overseeing the project, it will cost more. If the concrete slab under the existing gym floor needs work, it will cost more. If the bleachers need additional work, it will cost more. If the school district decides that they do not need all the graphics on the floor, it will cost less, and so on. 
However, using the scenario, we laid out here, a customer could expect this gym floor replacement to cost between $240 – $290,000.00. That is $22.00 to $26.00 per square foot.