Special Who has products for sports floor lines?

LINES FOR SPORTS FLOORS –THAT’S HIGH TRAFFIC!

SPORTS FLOORS HAVE TO UNDERGO JUST ABOUT EVERY IMAGINABLE SORT OF AGGRESSION

Photo – Pallmann

At first sight, in the eyes of a layperson, a sports floor looks just like a parquet or wooden floor on a bigger surface and scale. Nevertheless, behind just about all sports floors lies an ingenious system which ensures that the sports floor is ‘suitable’ to comply with a number of sporting and technical requirements. We’re talking about shock absorption capacity properties which are essential to both the sporting performance and health of the athlete. And so, a sports floor is a system and you can say the same about the finish. In other words, don’t just call a sports floor finish a sports lacquer.

Sophisticated finish system A sports floor finish comprises various operations, various products, and, especially, a sequence or procedure determined in advance by the maker of those products. At the end of the cycle, we end up with nothing more than, yes, a lacquered floor. Obviously, this floor has several specific properties. The official European standard EN 14904:2006 sets demands for the structure of the floor, but also the finish. These floors are subjected to more than just high traffic; athletes jump on them, slide on them with rubber soles, and such like. Even the required slip resistance is obtained through the floor finish. As we’ve said, various producers have developed a finish system specifically for sports floors. Most systems are a compound of a primer, a special lacquer, line paint, and a maintenance product specially developed for that purpose. Differences in procedure can occur between existing systems. For instance, with one producer the line paint is applied at the end, whilst with another producer this is done between two coats of lacquer.

The primer Sports floors always have large surfaces. And so, most systems start with a primer to give the floor the same regular colour everywhere and guarantee good adhesion for the lines and the final finish.

The finish Lacquer on sports floors has to undergo severe stress. A good sports floor finish has a strong adhesion and correct slip resistance. Together with the primer, a film is formed which is only lightly porous. This has a soothing effect on the floor because it makes the floor less sensitive to changes in the air humidity in the sports hall. A sports lacquer has to be strong not only because of the huge stress to which the floor is subjected, but also because of the natural movements of the wood mass.

The lines Sports floor lines are applied using fast-drying paint. This is usually a dual-component lacquer which is available in a good number of RAL colours so that it is perfectly possible to adapt to requirements laid down by the sports federations of the respective sports. The lines

are applied between the two finish coats (i.e. primer, finish, lines, and finish). Intermediate sanding is usually not necessary, but some producers do recommend it.

What about renovation? With a full renovation of sports floors we basically start from scratch. Although there are known cases where new coats of lacquer and paint have been applied to the existing coats, the only professional way to renovate a sports floor, just as with all lacquered parquet, is to sandpaper the floor completely pale. In fact, the entire start procedure is repeated.

Maintenance products There is no denying that a sports floor needs maintenance. Professional maintenance extends the floor’s lifespan. Generally, makers present two products. The first product is meant for cleaning lacquered wooden floors frequently. This is usually a concentrated (sometimes alkaline) detergent. A more powerful variant is deployed for cleaning sports floors occasionally. This powerful variant is usually tailored specifically to removing stronger contaminations, body fats from the athletes, and shoe marks and black marks from rubber soles.

What’s on the market ?

Blanchon

Blanchon believes it is important that sports floor lines are marked out after the second coat of lacquer, and not between the two coats. For a number of years now, Blanchon has presented a dual-component polyurethane paint which can be applied to parquet lacquers perfectly well. This applies to both waterborne dual-component parquet lacquers such as Sport® Blanchon and to traditional dual-component PU lacquers such as Poly Solid® Blanchon. Both of those lacquers have a certificate of suitability for sports floors. The lines can be applied to those finishes with the paint ‘Peinture Thixo Tracés Sport®’, a traditional and fast-drying polyurethane lacquer. This paint is supplied in two dosed kits (lacquer and hardener) which have to be mixed when they are used. The lines are applied in one coat. The Sports Parquet Lacquer (‘vitrificateurs parquet Sport®’) is also a waterborne dual-component PU lacquer. Both lacquers have a certificate of suitability for sports floors. Finally, Sports Surfaces Paint (‘Peinture Sports Surfaces®’) is a waterborne mono-component lacquer which is extremely easy to apply and has outstanding coverage capacity.

Chimiver ECOSTAR LINE COLORS is a pigmented single-component polyurethane water-based paint for the line marking of sportive wooden floors. The paint can be used also to complete court borders and zones. ECOSTAR LINE COLORS has high coverage, adhesions, leveling and no sanding is required before overcoating. ECOSTAR LINE COLORS is available in several bright colors all possible to blend with each other to achieve an array of custumized colors. It is recommended and certified by the International Basketball Federation (FIBA Approved Equipment). ECOSTAR LINE COLORS has to be applied on wooden floor previously treated with SPORT LINE range of products (follow all the informations reported on the ECOSTAR 2K SPORT, see relative technical data sheet). ECOSTAR LINE COLORS has to be applied on previously varnished floors with ECOSTAR 2K SPORT: a two-component water-based polyurethane lacquer for sportive wooden floors. ECOSTAR 2K SPORT has been formulated in order to meet the highest anti slip standard requirements for sport wooden floors. ECOSTAR 2K SPORT is in conformity with European standards for sportive wooden floors meeting EN14904 standard's requirements, DIN 18032-2 for slip resistance and it's classified as EN 13501-1. Hardness, distension, chemical and mechanical resistances put ECOSTAR 2K SPORT on top of range's quality. It is recommended and certified by the International Basketball Federation (FIBA Approved Equipment).

Pallmann

To mark lines on wooden sports floors Pallmann offers the waterbased 2-component Sport-Color 2K according to DIN 18032. Sport-Color 2K is fast drying, has a high filling capacity, very good resistance to mechanical and chemical stress and corresponds to the Technical Rule 617. Available colours are yellow, orange, red, blue, light blue, green, white and black. Sport-Color 2K is applied one to two times by using the Pallmann Application Roller Color. After applying the yard lines, the adhesive tape has to be removed immediately, latest 6 hours. Sport-Color 2K can be recoated after about 3 hours, within 24 hours max. with the suitable topcoat Pall-X Sport 2K.

Plastor

Plastor offers a range of products designed for sports halls and developed by professionals to give you solutions to make all your projects a success. This range comprises the high-quality PU35 floor paint with anti-flaking capacity for large surfaces, a marking paint, PUR-T Sport parquet varnish which complies with the anti-slip requirements of the standard EN 14904 (indoor floors), and a parquet cleaner for regular cleaning. The Plastor marking paint is a product specially developed for marking sports hall lines on the ground. The thixotropic texture ensures attractive lines with no drops under the adhesive strips. The French Basketball Federation recommends Plastor products for floor and marking paints, floor varnishes, and maintenance products for sports halls.