What Makes Rubber The Best Ice Arena Floor Covering?
Related Product: Blade Rolled Rubber Colors 9 mm x 4 Ft. Wide Per SF
What Makes the Best Ice Rink Flooring?
When choosing your ice rink arena flooring, look for the following qualities.Strength
The floor covering you choose needs to be strong enough to stand up to ice skate blades, but it also needs to give those blades traction as skaters walk around. Rubber flooring strikes the perfect balance. It’s cut-resistant and strong enough to avoid any damage from skates but also has just enough flex to let skaters walk without slipping.
Trip-Free Surface
The flooring you choose also needs to be designed to prevent tripping. Many ice arenas use 4x6 foot rubber mats, but choosing a flooring mat that’s too thin or poorly manufactured can result in the corners curling up, creating dangerous tripping hazards.
Instead, choose flooring systems made of thick, heavy rubber, or choose systems that interlock together to prevent tripping hazards.
Waterproof
Look for a waterproof flooring product. Your hockey rink or skating rink flooring will be exposed to significant moisture, so make sure the flooring you choose is suitable for that environment.
Installation
Consider the type of installation a rubber floor product requires. Some interlocking mats can be dry laid, while a glue-down installation is often recommended for rubber rolls.
Ease of Cleaning
Consider the maintenance needs of the flooring, too. Look for a system that’s easy to clean, which will save you time and money on maintenance. Many rubber floors can simply be damp mopped and require no special care.
Durability
Finally, make sure that you’re choosing a durable product for your facility. Many rubber products are backed by multi-year warranties, making them a long-lasting investment in your skating rink.
Thickness
When you’re shopping for hockey rink rubber flooring, it’s always best to look for products that are at least ⅜” thick. This thickness is essential in areas where figure skates will be worn, since these thicker products will be better able to withstand blade traffic than thinner products can.
Rolled Rubber for Ice Arenas
One of the biggest advantages of using rubber rolls as an indoor ice arena floor covering is how quickly customers can cover a huge area with the rolls.A standard sized hockey rink can have roughly 15,000 to 20,000 square feet of ice, meaning there is a significant circumference area in which you would need skate-resistant, nonslip flooring for both spectators and athletes. Using hundreds of rubber tiles to try to cover this space can take a long time and require a lot of manpower.
Rolls that measure 4 feet in width and 50 or 100 feet in length will complete the job in a hurry. The Monroe Youth Hockey Association in Wisconsin chose rubber rolls for its arena for this reason.
Using rolls of rubber to cover the spectator area has a few other advantages, too.
- Versus tiles or mats, rolls of rubber will have fewer seams in the final layout, reducing tripping hazards.
- Multiple thickness options are available, helping you match your needs perfectly.
- You can order specific lengths of rubber rolls, limiting your wasted material.
- Rubber rolls have a more economical cost per square foot than puzzle style tiles or straight edge mats.
Blade Rolled Rubber
The Blade Rolled Rubber product is a popular choice as an ice arena floor covering. With 9 millimeters of thickness, it is a durable choice for skaters walking on the rubber while wearing their blades between the locker room and the ice. This product was designed specifically to withstand ice skates in ice arenas and locker rooms.
Rubber Flooring Roll Geneva
To save a bit of money, the Rubber Flooring Rolls 3/8 Inch Black Geneva product is a little thinner. With 0.375 inches in thickness, it works nicely to roll over a walking surface to provide a slip-resistant surface when the arena is being used for meetings, receptions, and more.
Rubber Mats for Ice Skates
When you need a bit more thickness in your ice arena floor covering, straight-edge mats are a smart choice. These are available in thickness measurements up to 3/4 inches, so they provide a maximum amount of separation between the skates and what will likely be a concrete floor below.Some arena managers will choose to use these mats in the bench areas for hockey, where the thick mats can stand up to a lot of foot and skate traffic without showing wear and tear. The thickness of the rubber gives coaches wearing dress shoes or sneakers some thermal protection against the chill of the cold concrete as well.
Straight Edge Rubber Mat 4x6 Feet
Quality thick rectangular mats will not curl at the edges, greatly reducing the possibility of tripping. The Straight Edge Rubber Mat 4x6 Feet is a great option for this use case. It has a textured surface on the top of the mat, which ensures those walking on the rubber in regular shoes will have a good footing.
Blade-Resistant Rubber Tiles
For a secure installation, where lighter weight sections are desired, but you don’t want the mats to pull apart when placed under the stress of heavy equipment rolling across the surface, interlocking tiles are a smart choice as an ice arena floor covering.Domination Rubber Tiles
Interlocking mats can be laid out quickly, and they can be pulled up and stored just as quickly. The Domination Rubber Interlocking Tiles product works nicely in bench areas or as a path or hallway to the locker room. These rubber tiles are resistant to spikes and blades for winter recreation facilities. Domination Rubber Tiles are also available in square tiles without interlocking edges that require a glue down installation.
Recycled Tire Rubber Floor Tile
Another option is the Recycled Tire Rubber Floor Tile. They are very heavy-duty, so you can use them for years in your ice arena. They’re made entirely from recycled rubber tires for environmentally friendly benefits, and while they’re rugged, they’re also aesthetically pleasing. The tiles can be used in areas with cleats and spikes, and they help to maximize traction, even when they're wet. They would be a great choice for the ice arena surrounding areas, entryways, and more since they can be used indoors and outdoors.
Alternative to Rubber: Carpet Tiles
Fit Weave Heavy Duty Carpet Tiles
For an alternative to rubber flooring, Fit Weave Heavy Duty Carpet Tiles are up for the challenge. These carpet tiles are made from durable polypropylene carpet fibers that are stain and moisture resistant with a waterproof backing. Available in neutral colors like gray, charcoal, blue, and beige, these carpet tiles can provide a more comfortable flooring for ice arenas, locker rooms, and gyms.
The Fit Weave Carpet Tiles are a great choice for common areas of ice arenas and can be used in entrance areas and hallways.
Ice Rink Flooring Testimonials
Many professionals have purchased flooring from Greatmats. Don’t take our word for it - hear what they have to say about the quality of Greatmats products in their rinks and skate shops.St. Croix Sports
Sean Coffey of Hudson, Wisconsin, started St. Croix Sports, a sporting goods store, in 2014. The store sharpens up to 100 pairs of skates a day, but the concrete floor of his store wasn’t conducive to skate traffic.
Coffey installed Greatmats ⅜ inch Regrind Confetti Rubber Flooring Rolls in his store. He appreciated that the mats could just be unrolled and dry laid, and that they were easy to clean.
His customers appreciated that the floor was skate-friendly.
Monroe Youth Hockey Association
Monroe Youth Hockey Association President, Joel Fonseca, opted to use Greamtats products when it was time to replace the flooring in the Association’s hockey rink. The previous flooring consisted of cow mats that shifted and bunched up.
Fonseca ordered ⅜ inch thick rolled rubber flooring from Greatmats, and observed that the flooring laid down well. The facility handled their own installation, gluing all 6,000 square feet of the mats down, and Fonseca felt that the floor “turned out great.”