Mercer, WI, February 15--Growing demand for shiny new maple floors for indoor sports venues is keeping a Northwest Wisconsin wood products company on top of its game.
The latest order for Mercer-based Action Floor Systems was to provide a hardwood court for a unique $45 million recreation center at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. The complex was created from an open-air swimming and diving venue used in the 1996 Summer Olympics.
The facility was immediately obsolete since much of its space was designed for thousands of spectator seats, most of which were removed after the Olympics. So the school created 47,800 square feet of new recreation center space by adding a floor 65 feet above the pool.
This project was conceived to preserve two key elements — the Olympic pool and the roof 109 feet above it. First, 7,000 cubic yards of concrete and 60 miles of cable were used to support a 175-foot span. Then a high-performance ActionThrust I hardwood sports floor system — four semi-trailer loads — was delivered from Wisconsin and installed.
"(Georgia Tech) really wanted a softer, more cushioned floor because part of it was for three aerobic rooms for things like martial arts and dance, and they also wanted resilience for the six multi-purpose basketball courts," said Walt Fuller of Engelwood, FL-based Pro Sport Floors, Inc., which installed the floor.
The ActionThrust 1 system at the Georgia Tech site consists of two layers of plywood sub flooring with 3/4-in. natural rubber pads affixed to the bottom, and maple flooring attached to the top. The system is specifically designed to provide shock absorption, ball rebound and peripheral control.
Action Floor Systems has installed such floors at University of Wisconsin campuses in La Crosse and Milwaukee, University of Virginia, University of Oklahoma, The Sports Club in Irvine, CA and at the Reebok Sports Center in London.
Closer to home, Action Floor Systems has supplied its Action Cush I maple floors for the Fond du Lac Ojibwe School (10,144 sq. ft.), Churchill Elementary School (5,490 sq. ft.) and Washington Elementary School (7,614 sq. ft.), all in Cloquet.
A booming construction market for new schools and churches, field house upgrades, racquetball and squash court installations will keep Action Floor Systems on its toes in 2005, company officials said.
"Our (market) for hard maple athletic flooring is from a small aerobic area to a large arena which is 26,000-to-27,000 square feet. The typical professional arena (court only) uses 6,500 square feet," said Gary Stephenson, Action Floor’s chief executive.
With more than 150 employees, the company produced 16 million board feet of hard maple lumber and 7.75 million feet of hardwood flooring last year, mostly for institutional use. In addition to maple, they produce cherry, beech, birch and ash floors for residential and commercial use.
Stephenson wouldn’t disclose the company’s 2004 revenues.
Stephenson took over a company in 1989 that had not concentrated on basketball courts.
"When the family got into it in 1900, it was hardwood flooring production for general use," said Stephenson. "(Maple) flooring for residential use declined in the 1930s and 1940s when demand for oak flooring grew. Six generations later, the demand for maple is mostly for sports and office flooring."
The flooring industry’s focus is on the abundant maple from northern Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
Action Floor Systems is the sole Wisconsin producer of such flooring.
Its principal competition is in Michigan: Robbins, Inc., in Ishpeming; Connor/AGA Sports Flooring Corp. in Amasami; and Horner Flooring Co., Dollar Bay. Until recently, there was a fifth player in Premier Specialty Flooring of East Setauket, NY.
Three years ago, Action Floor Systems began offering synthetic flooring.
