Crews have spent days rough sanding the floor to remove paint and finish as well as the "cupping" of the boards. Painting and finish will be applied over the Easter break.
8 years after the School installed the current gym floor, Bishop Ireton and the athletic booster club are working on the second phase of the modernization of the facility. Last year, the partnership produced air conditioning for the gymnasium after more than 45 years of hot, humid summer weather and dry, colder winter weather. Those climate swings caused swelling and contracting on the floor that led to “cupping” of the maplewood boards. Combined with the near constant use of the gym, the wear and tear on the floor sped the need for its 10-year refinishing.
“We will sand the floor down to bare wood.” said athletic director Bill Simmons. “Then we repaint the lines and refinish the entire floor. Hopefully we will be completed about a week before the School’s annual auction, scheduled for April 21st. “The humidity would cause swelling of the wood in the spring and summer, then the drier winter air caused them to contract. We seem to schedule the gym 24/7, so we really need to stay on top of the maintenance. This current effort is a once in ten years evolution. We will replace the windows, get a fresh coat of paint, and eventually replace the bleachers as part of the long range plan for the gym.”
The first part of the project involved sanding the floor down to the bare wood. Soon repainting of the lines on the floor will occur, finally the finish will be reapplied. The entire process takes nearly 30 days. Finding that sort of time is nearly impossible, according to Simmons, so using the Easter break was a key component of the timing. Summer camps, crowded maintenance schedules for floor companies, then the onset of fall sports in August made a summer project impractical. The unseasonably warm, dry spring has softened the impact on the physical education department, a major user, but also the group bearing the brunt of the displacement by the work.
This phase of the program was funded jointly by the School and the athletic booster club. “They are so important to our ability to do many things in athletics, I can’t thank them enough or over emphasize the importance of their contributions.” said Simmons. Weyer Floor Service of Odenten, Maryland, the original installer of the floor is the contracted service provider for the Ireton project.
Processing your request, Please wait....
