Ordinary School, Extraordinary Floors
Jimenez Elementary Finds Floors that can do it All with Tarkett
We take for granted how remarkable the average elementary school facility really is.
Take Jimenez Elementary School for example. Part of the Santa Maria Bonita School District in California, the school has around 900 students. Its building is a place where children learn, eat, play, study, practice, compete, and gather everyday. To coordinate all of these activities under one roof and insure that each school day goes by without problems takes skilled planning and careful materials selection. The truly amazing part is that most daily activities typically occur in only one room−the gym.
For Jimenez Elementary, the gymnasium doubles as a cafeteria. Its day starts in the early morning with around 250 children eating breakfast. “Pocket” tables and chairs fold out from the wall for each meal. Breakfast is followed by a lunch service for the entire student body of 900. In between, there are physical education classes, assemblies, basketball games, meetings, and after school programs. This brings the average number of people on the gym floor to about 1,500 per day—and they’re not just passing through. They are running laps, spilling chocolate milk, jumping for rebounds, dropping plates of spaghetti, or playing a rival school for a spot in the playoffs.
As if that daily routine weren’t enough, occasionally special events test the limits of a gym floor in unexpected ways. For instance, Jimenez Elementary once hosted a program that teaches children about wildlife firsthand. They could see and touch animals ranging from racoons to kangaroos. You can probably guess where this event took place—in the gym with no protective floor covering. To accomplish all the daily challenges, along with the occasional petting zoo, the average school needs the flooring equivalent of a superhero. Not only does a gym floor need to perform well as a safe and comfortable sports surface, it must also resist stains, clean easily, and keep its appearance under difficult circumstances.
Like many school districts across North America, it wasn’t easy for the Santa Maria Bonita School District to find an indoor sports surface that could perform all these functions. The simple fact is that not many floors can handle everything at once. Hardwoods have good sports performance, but they certainly shouldn’t be used as a cafeteria. On the other hand, your vinyl kitchen floor at home may resist stains and clean easily after a spill, but could you imagine playing competitive basketball on it? Carpet doesn’t work for either application. What can a school do to meet the strenuous demands of modern educational environments?
Fortunately for the Santa Maria Bonita School District and Jimenez Elementary School, there was a floor available that could meet their needs without compromising any individual function. That floor is still in use, handling a daily routine that would see most other flooring replaced in only a few years.
The Solution for Jimenez Elementary
Omnisports™ Multi-Use Sports Flooring and EcoPure™ Linoleum
To face its relentless daily routine, Jimenez Elementary School chose Omnisports™ 6.5 mm for its gymnasium and EcoPure™ linoleum for its classrooms.
In the most utilized space on campus, Omnisports™ has proven to be the sports surface that the school needed to meet its everyday demands. The floor facilitates the transition between meals and athletics by being stain resistant and easy to clean. At the same time, it provides Class 2 shock absorption and meets all the sports performance requirements outlined in ASTM F2772. Its wood grain pattern and nonlinear embossing help keep the court looking brand new without aggressive cleaning. With the recommended maintenance, Omnisports™ can make the busiest floor in the school look like it was installed yesterday.
When it comes to annual upkeep, Omnisports™ can save time, money, and effort compared to other floors. Unlike hardwood courts that need to be sanded and refinished, or VCT that needs to be stripped and waxed every year, Omnisports™ needs no refinishing whatsoever. Its factory-applied TopClean XP surface treatment is the only thing necessary to protect it for the life of the floor.
“When it comes to deep cleaning, [Omnisports™] saves you time because you don’t have to do the stripping and the waxing. I would recommend it. Its easy to clean and maintain.”
— Abraham Diaz, School Custodian
In addition to using Omnisports™ as its gymnasium floor, Jimenez Elementary also selected Tarkett’s EcoPure™ linoleum for its classrooms. Like Omnisports™, EcoPure’s factory-applied XF2 surface finish means that stripping and waxing are a thing of the past. EcoPure™ is also an abrasion resistant floor, making it ideal for high-use educational environments. In that way, EcoPure™ is an equal match to an Omnisports™ gym floor in terms of durability and multipurpose functionality.
EcoPure™ is also a highly sustainable flooring solution. It is made with natural materials such as wood powder, linseed oil, cork, rosin, and jute. Its natural components and Tarkett Sports’ environmental manufacturing practices make EcoPure™ 4.6 mm a Cradle to Cradle Basic certified floor. For Jimenez Elementary School, that means the flooring is taking care of the next generation in more ways than one.
With Omnisports™ in the gym and EcoPure™ in the classrooms, Jimenez Elementary School is prepared for almost anything, including the occasional petting zoo. These Tarkett floors are critical features of a school with high expectations of its facility. However, Jimenez Elementary is not unique in that regard. Schools all over the country place similar demands on their athletic flooring. Those with a Tarkett Sports floor like Omnisports™ or EcoPure™ appreciate just how invaluable a true multi-use sports surface can be.
Tarkett Sports • 175 N Industrial Boulevard • Calhoun, Georgia 30701 • 888-364-6541 • tarkettsportsindoor.com
