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Advertising supplement provided MFMA

Continuing Education Use the following learning objectives to focus your study while reading this month’s ARCHITECTURAL RECORD / AIA Continuing Education article. Learning Objective: After reading this article, you will be able to: 1. Describe the various characteristics that make maple flooring an ideal multipurpose surface. 2. Describe what is important to consider when writing a specification for a multipurpose floor. 3. Describe what things you should NEVER do to a multipurpose maple floor..

Maple flooring has been the ideal choice for sports and athletic facilities for over a century due to its strength, durability and beauty. It is also an excellent choice for multipurpose facilities that host more than sporting events. Maple’s versatility and aesthetic qualities make it a wise choice for elementary schools, middle and high schools, college recreation facilities, YMCAs, family centers, churches, aerobic and dance rooms and military bases. Correctly specified, installed and maintained, maple floors can provide a dependable flooring surface for more than 60 years, despite varied uses.

This section will help architects understand, identify and take advantage of the multipurpose opportunities that northern hard maple flooring offers. Upon completion of this section, you will be able to identify details necessary to write a specification for a multipurpose floor.

Northern hard maple is an organic product consisting of patterns of fibers and air pockets that give it a natural shock-absorbing quality. These characteristics, combined with specially designed and engineered subfloor systems, deliver performance and safety ideally suited for a variety of sporting and non-sporting activities. Because multipurpose floors differ immensely from strictly sports floors, it is critical that architects identify the intended functions of the room and select the proper subfloor system. This is especially true for elementary and high school gyms.

“Gymnasiums are constantly being used for more than sports activities; they are used for community meetings, health fairs, bake sales and bazaars. A typical gymnasium will have a gym class throughout the day and then a community meeting in the evening. Northern hard maple flooring functions extremely well in that kind of multi-purpose environment,” says Daniel Heney, technical director of the Northbrook, IL-based MFMA. “Regardless of the activity, the floors are expected to maintain their aesthetic appearance, deliver dependable traction and be easily cleaned for the next event.”