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j_ung
Feb 28, 2010, 7:33 PM
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Anybody have opinions on which gyms have the best floor padding? I'm especially interested in hearing from people who have experience in multiple gyms and can make some comparisons. I suspect dedicated bouldering gyms, especially newer facilities, will have the best, but who knows?
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johnwesely
Feb 28, 2010, 7:53 PM
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I used to climb at a gym that had a layer of tires, covered with plywood, and then covered with a bunch of layers of carpet padding. It is a pretty decent system.
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ax
Feb 28, 2010, 7:58 PM
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Our gym started with pea gravel...
nice 'cept for shallow spots.. and dusty as all hell.
Then upgraded to shredded tires... fine if you don't mind black boogers.
And finally upgraded to open cell / closed cell blue gymnastics flooring... cleanest and cozyest .. and also not cheap.
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maldaly
Feb 28, 2010, 8:45 PM
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j_ung,
The best floor ever was at the original Vertical World in Seattle. It was about 8" of polished river stones, each about the size of the end of you thumb. You could hit those from 20' and they'd just displace or "splash" out of the way. Softest landings ever. They were easy to clean, were big enough so they didn't get in your shoes and didn't retain dust. Don't know why everybody doesn't use them.
Mal
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j_ung
Feb 28, 2010, 9:26 PM
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maldaly wrote: j_ung, The best floor ever was at the original Vertical World in Seattle. It was about 8" of polished river stones, each about the size of the end of you thumb. You could hit those from 20' and they'd just displace or "splash" out of the way. Softest landings ever. They were easy to clean, were big enough so they didn't get in your shoes and didn't retain dust. Don't know why everybody doesn't use them. Mal
Really? I wouldn't have guessed that, Mal. I worked at the original Sportrock back in the day, which had pea gravel. I thought that was the worst crap ever. Sure, it was soft, but not VERY soft, and it sure was filthy. But you're saying slightly larger stones does the trick, eh? What happens to all the chalk?
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j_ung
Feb 28, 2010, 9:27 PM
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ax wrote: Our gym started with pea gravel... nice 'cept for shallow spots.. and dusty as all hell. Then upgraded to shredded tires... fine if you don't mind black boogers. And finally upgraded to open cell / closed cell blue gymnastics flooring... cleanest and cozyest .. and also not cheap.
How thick? Do you know about how much you guys paid per square foot?
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maldaly
Feb 28, 2010, 10:34 PM
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the polished river stones are completely different than pea-gravel which is always some sort of crushed debris. The polished stones slide against each other rather than interlock like the pea gravel does. It's amazing. Give Rich Johnstone up at Vertical World a call. Don't know why they aren't using it any more but he can give you the details.
You going to be at RRR?
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ax
Feb 28, 2010, 11:43 PM
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j_ung wrote: ax wrote: Our gym started with pea gravel... nice 'cept for shallow spots.. and dusty as all hell. Then upgraded to shredded tires... fine if you don't mind black boogers. And finally upgraded to open cell / closed cell blue gymnastics flooring... cleanest and cozyest .. and also not cheap. How thick? Do you know about how much you guys paid per square foot?
ok maybe it wasn't pea gravel but instead polished river stones. But they were the size of peas and looked like gravel.
Don't remember how much $ but i'm sure the price is different now .. that was about 10 years ago.
The problem with it was all the chalk dust and spills collected in the stones and everything just got dustier and dustier. No easy way to clean it out.
But again ... it wasn't bad to fall on.
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j_ung
Mar 1, 2010, 12:00 AM
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ax wrote: j_ung wrote: ax wrote: Our gym started with pea gravel... nice 'cept for shallow spots.. and dusty as all hell. Then upgraded to shredded tires... fine if you don't mind black boogers. And finally upgraded to open cell / closed cell blue gymnastics flooring... cleanest and cozyest .. and also not cheap. How thick? Do you know about how much you guys paid per square foot? ok maybe it wasn't pea gravel but instead polished river stones. But they were the size of peas and looked like gravel. Don't remember how much $ but i'm sure the price is different now .. that was about 10 years ago. The problem with it was all the chalk dust and spills collected in the stones and everything just got dustier and dustier. No easy way to clean it out. But again ... it wasn't bad to fall on.
Thanks fellas.
Mal, nope, I'm afraid we won't be at RRR. I won't bore you with reasons. See you here in May?
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rschap
Mar 1, 2010, 4:54 AM
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The gym I used to work at had the cut outs from sandals with a single layer of carpet. Every once in a while you had to pull back the carpet and relevel the floor but it was nice enough to land on and cheep from what I understand.
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jbro_135
Mar 1, 2010, 8:11 PM
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the bouldering area at my gym has blue gym mats covering the floor and a bunch of big crash pads lying around for added padding
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