Flooring is often overlooked as an essential part of a fitness club's 'kit'. German specialist BSW explains how the right flooring can dramatically improve the fitness experience

Fitness centres are increasingly found in larger building complexes, often located among offices, apartments, shops or medical practices. Impact sound from rhythmic step sequences, equipment being moved or weights and dumbbells being replaced hurriedly or even dropped can, in some cases, travel through the entire building structure, resulting in noise pollution for neighbours. Shock waves conducted into walls and ceilings can be emitted as sound in other parts of the building – frequently leading to disputes with neighbours or increasing noise levels in the fitness centre itself.

Impact sound insulation
Berleburger Schaumstoffwerk GmbH (BSW) is not only an expert in sports flooring, but also in the application of special sound and vibration insulation for commercial buildings. Besides the intended qualities of protecting the athletes and the screed floors, the extensive range of gym flooring also provides impact sound insulation. BSW’s everroll® floors consist of polyurethane or synthetic rubber; two innately elastic and sound insulating materials.

If the already significant impact sound values of everroll® gym flooring are not sufficient, BSW can, on request, design project-specific solutions for reducing impact sound in fitness centres. These single-layer products from BSW offer protection against vibrations and provide a training surface that is easy on joints.

They also have good to very good impact sound insulation properties, ensuring more acceptable noise levels in adjacent rooms. everroll® can also reduce impact sound or even eliminate it completely and diminish the echo in larger rooms. A special solution for fitness centre impact sound insulation is the point-elastic gym floor everroll® impact+.

Through its two-layer structure, it unites the most important properties. The floor consists of a Regupol® shock pad and an everroll® surface layer. The base layer provides the impact sound insulation and protection for screed or other floor structures, while the surface layer’s elasticity alleviates the strain on athletes’ joints during power training. In most cases, the impact sound reduction of over 21 dB makes additional insulation measures unnecessary.

Fitness operators benefit from the improved acoustics this special surface generates. Members' can hear music and understand exercise instructions through loudspeakers so much better when annoying background noise is reduced.

Adapted solutions
Besides the products in track segments, the elastic tiles, everroll® multitile, everroll® weightlayer and everroll® crosstile, also have good to very good impact sound insulation properties. By shielding the substructure from impact damage, they are particular suitable for dumbbell or free weights areas. The combination of excellent subfloor protection, high impact sound insulation and a good force reduction rating make these tiles a very popular choice.

Regupol® sound 12 is an elastic base layer ideally suited to area-elastic sports floors with wooden surfaces. In combination with load distribution boards and a range of parquet floors, this elastic layer is an excellent sports floor and provides outstanding impact sound insulation. Regupol® sound 12 also improves room acoustics, and puts anyone doing yoga or aerobic exercises on a stable footing, thanks to its ideal force reduction.