Painting sport lines on a gym floor is something you’ll have to do if you want to work in the sports floor refinishing and installing arena. It’s probably one of the most difficult aspects of working with sports floors because there are a lot of ways in which things can go wrong; the process requires precision. Painting sport lines is more of a science than anything else.
But as long as you follow this hard-and-fast guide, you’ll be well on your way to creating a beautiful gym floor. Once your floor is sanded and abraded, follow these steps:
#1: First, tack the entire floor with a damp terry towel in order to remove dust, dirt, and particles left over from the sanding process. Properly tacking the entire floor will help to ensure the best possible adhesion when it comes time to paint, stain, and finish the floor. This is a vital step in the process, so make sure to use the right products and do a thorough job.
A gym line tape machine makes the process easy and accurate.
#2: Next, tape your lines with a gym line taping machine — click here to view our selection. A tool like this really makes it easy to achieve straight, accurate, beautiful lines.
#3: Then, paint your lines with brushes and rollers using a reliable floor paint. A good paint to use is Bona SuperSport Paint, which is water-based and provides a quick dry time. Make sure to stay within the lines you’ve set for yourself with the tape you set in step 2.
#4: To abrade or not to abrade? If you’re using all paint, you will need to abrade with a buffer in between coats of paint to ensure good adhesion. But if you’re mixing stain and paint together, it’s a different story. If you add more than 2 ounces of paint per quart of stain, you do not need to buffer, since the mixture is still mostly stain. Any mixture containing more than 2 ounces of paint per quart of stain requires abrading after application.
#5: After abrading in between coats of paint, always make sure to tack the floor again before applying the next coat. This removes any dust and particle buildup created by the buffer.
#6: Once you’re done painting your lines, allow an ample waiting period to allow the paint to cure (check the paint manufacturer’s instructions for specifics). You can then begin finishing the floor with a durable sport floor finish.
#7: Follow proper procedures when continuing on, such as allowing ample drying time between each coat of finish and the next. If you’re unsure, always check the manufacturer’s instructions for the products you’re using.
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When you follow proper procedures and take your time, your sport floor lines will come out beautiful and will give you results that you can be truly proud of.
Don’t have enough floors to paint? Check out our tips for winning sports floor contracts.
That’s interesting that you can get a line taping machine to help make lines in a gym when you are adding them for sports, like a basketball court. My husband wants to paint a basketball court in our backyard since we have a lot of room and that way he and my son can play out there. I’ll have to search to see if I can find a line taping machine that can work for outside so we can mark an accurate basketball court.
Hello. Do you use Bona paint also for plastic surfaces? I paint gymlines every now and then (even if we mostly make parkingspaces etc), but I am a bit insecure to use Bona on plastic. I asked Bona in Sweden about this, but they could not me any straight answer. 99 % of the gymfloors made today are made by plastic mats, at least here in Finland and Sweden.
Any thought about that?
Hi Per,
Unfortunately the best resource for answering this would be Bona Kemi. If you gave them very specific data as to the type of plastic you would like to coat they may have a better answer. I would also contact the plastic floor manufacturer.