Mathusek Re-Installs Wood Sport Flooring After Flooding Destroys Howell Middle School Gym

March 2015 – Officials at Howell Middle School South in Howell Township, NJ discovered a pipe had burst and flooded their gymnasium over the weekend. Mathusek had installed the wood sport flooring fifteen years prior.

The pipe burst in an adjacent hallway and spilled thousands of gallons of water onto the maple gym floor. Howell’s maintenance crew vacuumed up the standing water as soon as it was discovered but humps and buckling in the floor signaled further damage. A professional team needed to be called. Howell school officials turned to Mathusek to assess the damage.

Within a few hours, the experts at Mathusek were on-site and taking moisture readings across the floor. The news wasn’t good. The concrete patching underneath the floor had also been damaged by the water and the wood sport flooring was not adhering any longer. Both the top layer of concrete and the wood would need to be replaced.

“When we opened up the floor it was a big surprise,” said Mark Mathusek, production supervisor.

“The concrete damage was severe.” But there was some positive news as well. “Self-leveling concrete could be poured so the slab did not have to be replaced.” The virtue of self-leveling concrete is that it bonds to existing concrete slabs, making it much more likely that damage done to the floor will not compromise the slab itself. This is recommended as preventative measures as well as best practices.

“We walked Howell through the best way to resolve all the problems and to mitigate any that could crop up in the future,” Mathusek further explained.

By mid-June, the repairs commenced. Mathusek performed all demolition work and hired concrete contractors to cap the slab with Ardex self-leveling concrete, which dries in just 5 days. Conventional concrete can take much longer to cure.

Once the slab had dried, laser technology was used to take grid readings every 5 feet to ensure the slab met standards. Mathusek then took the following steps to install an Action Flex Floating Wood Floor System:

Install 1 layer 6mm polyethylene
Install 1 layer 1/4″ multi-cellular foam
Install 2 layers 1/2″ hardwood performance sub floor
Install 1 layer 25/32″ x 2-1/4″ MFMA-approved northern hardwood maple flooring
Sand with coarse, medium and fine sandpaper
Apply 2 coats MFMA approved gym sealer
Screen – this grades the top of the finish to help the next coat adhere better
Clean
Lay out game lines and paint the Husky school mascot
Buff down line paint
Clean
Apply 2 additional coats of MFMA oil modified gym finish
Install wax-and-coat base along perimeter
Install aluminum saddles at each of the doorways

With their new, more resilient flooring installed, the staff at Howell can rest assured that their gymnasium is equipped with a sound base and quality wood sport floor installation that will last for years to come.