New floor, improved safety at HLC

The Healthy Living Centre’s gymnasium floor was a thorn in the side of Bobcat Athletics since it opened in 2013.

To, among other reasons, avoid part of it becoming a splinter in an athlete’s body, it was stripped down to the concrete and redone last summer.

While Brandon University estimates it was sinking approximately $5,000 annually into replacing boards, athletic director Russ Paddock said the safety of those who use it was the primary motivation for the job.

Paddock mentioned an incident at Maples Collegiate in Winnipeg years ago — when an athlete dove and was pinned to an imperfect floor, and emergency personnel had to cut the floor out around her to transport her to an emergency room — as an example of what BU wanted to avoid.

He’s certainly hoping all the headaches the old floor caused are in the past.

“We had a lot of problems with the original floor. It was a combination of things, not trying to necessarily blame anybody for it,” Paddock said. “The humidity wasn’t controlled, so that was one thing … The floor from the beginning suffered from a lot of expansion and contraction from the winter to the summer.”

BU estimated the original floor cost $350,000 to install, while the new one was a little more than $600,000.

The major issue when the HLC opened was humidity. Experts say the ideal range for a hard maple floor — the standard for hardwood gyms — is 35 to 50 per cent.

It’s OK if it’s 25 to 40 or 45 to 60. However, the HLC ranged from seven to 70 between the dry winter and humid summer conditions.

That caused far too much expansion and contraction, leading to cracks and heaving, not just on the top layer but below as well.

The Bobcats also used heavy, portable basketball hoops, which had to be rolled across the floor to the equipment storage space on the east side of the gymnasium.

Those, as well as other machines, further damaged boards before BU switched to its current hoops, which are fastened to the rafters with electric lowering mechanisms.

The facility also installed humidifiers and is on its second version of them now. They are located on the walls above the track, and intermittently spray mist into the air to regulate moisture content.

The north court was resurfaced prior to BU hosting the U Sports women’s volleyball national championship in 2016, and the entire space was redone in 2021 during a COVID-19 lockdown.

BU kept trying to find solutions to improve longevity.

“In the end, there still ended up being boards cracking,” Paddock said.

“The floor itself, over the years, was compromised. That was a combination of the hardwood and the subfloor.” So it ultimately opted to redo the entire thing and sent out a request for proposal. BU selected Westpoint, an Ontario-based company, and its Connor VIP system.

It’s the same floor the Toronto Raptors had installed in their practice facility, the OVO Centre, in 2015.

“It’s becoming the norm in the NBA practice facilities now,” said Westpoint president Michael Caruso.

“The system was designed to be the most stringent for athletic play from the ankles up to the knees, to the hips, to the lower part of the spine.

“If you’re bouncing a ball from 10 feet away, you’re not going to feel a player 10 feet away from you on this style of floor.”

The system goes down to the subfloor, with a vapour barrier and pad system meant to reduce impact on bodies while maintaining the integrity of the surface.

One detail those who have set foot on both floors will quickly notice is that the new boards are much narrower. The previous ones were 2 1/4-by-3/4 inch boards, while the new ones are 1 1/2-by-3/4, eliminating some of the gapping that occurs with changes in humidity.

Caruso is confident BU will see better performance from his floor than it did with the previous one.

“I’m not here to bash whoever did it, nor do I care who did it, but … the floor was installed improperly,” Caruso said.

“We saw how they put their subfloor system together, they weren’t following the actual guideline and specification … Missing fasteners, missing the anchoring system to the concrete.

“Just not following guideline specifications on proper installation as to the manufacturer’s instructions.”

Now, just because it’s installed doesn’t mean it’s good to go without proper maintenance. Caruso said annual recoating is recommended and should be done with an oil-based treatment, like it was during the summer, which BU estimates will be about $35,000 to do the HLC and Henry Champ Gymnasium floors.

The Henry Champ floor was installed 50 years ago, and BU is hoping the new one lasts at least that long.

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