When resurfacing a gym, it’s important to consider noise and vibration because these factors directly affect a member’s experience.
No one wants to be deafened or have their bones rattled by a dropped weight. Excess vibration and noise put people off and interrupts their workouts, taking them out of their zone and disrupting their time at the gym.
How to make your gym a more pleasant place
No one likes a noisy or disruptive gym. Members are requested to be considerate of others and not drop weights, but we all know that gyms are a primal place. Lifting and working out is the aim of the game, and at any cost.
Gym flooring plays a crucial role in helping members have a good workout because it provides sure footing. However, another aspect of flooring is its ability to absorb noise and vibration and make everyone’s experience better.
Rubber flooring
There is a wide range of gym flooring surfaces available, but rubber flooring is by far the best when it comes to noise and vibration insulation.
30mm to 40mm rubber floor tiles are the standard in gyms because they provide good protection to the substrate and are cost-effective. But they are also excellent insulators and play a crucial role in making a gym more pleasant.
When you pair 30mm or 40mm rubber floor tiles with a high-performance rubber underlay, these effects are amplified. The underlay is a compressive surface, allowing the rubber tile to compress into it, rather than the concrete or floorboard substrate. The result is significantly reduced sound and vibration from dropped weights.
Amplifying sound absorption
It’s important for gym floors to be made up of a few layers for maximum sound and vibration absorption. The most basic layering system is substrate > underlay > flooring, but some gym owners choose an additional mid-layer. The extra mid-layer is a foam that acts as a sound absorber and the results are very effective.
It’s also important to note that many rubber flooring systems now are already composed of a few layers, like a medium and high-density rubber.
If you want to significantly reduce noise and vibration in your gym, we recommend the thickest rubber floor tiles possible plus a high-performance underlay. This system will offer excellent noise and vibration-reducing qualities. A mid-layer can also be used, such as foam or soft rubber, to provide additional impact protection.