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Action Floor Systems delivers superior surfaces for facilities of all uses and sizes. From athletic camps to collegiate tournaments, quality flooring means a quality performance and more.

For one city in Southeast Missouri, a first-class sports venue with quality hardwood athletic flooring is bringing together an entire community and driving tourism to help the region thrive economically.

The Problem

Located between Memphis, Tennessee, and St. Louis, Missouri, Cape Girardeau serves as a hub for industries in entertainment, medical, retail, and higher education, however, with no facility in the area large enough to host multi-event tournaments or regional competitions, the city was lacking the features and amenities needed to attract visitors. The city looked to develop a premier athletic facility that would accommodate tournaments and events of all sizes and help drive tourism.

“We wanted a facility that could provide for a multitude of sporting events, including volleyball, basketball, futsal, cheerleading, dance, pickleball, and archery,” Julia Thompson, Cape Girardeau parks and recreation director, said.

Utilizing a special restaurant tax earmarked for capital projects that drive tourism, the city’s parks and recreation department conceptualized the Cape Girardeau SportsPlex, a state-of-the art sports complex and the first of its kind in the region.

The Process

The city of Cape Girardeau contracted Penzel Construction, a design/build contractor based out of Jackson, Missouri. Penzel Construction collaborated with sports complex consulting company, Pinnacle Indoor Sports, who subcontracted athletic flooring company, All Sports Enterprises, Inc. (ASE) to complete installation of the facility’s indoor hardwood sports floor. For more than 10 years, ASE has been utilizing hardwood and synthetic sports floor systems from Action Floors in public and private recreational facilities.

ASE chose to use Action AnchorFlex, an anchored resilient hardwood maple sports flooring system, due to the system’s certification by the European Standard (EN). To become EN certified, a floor must meet various performance standards, including durability and shock absorption.

“The city of Cape Girardeau wanted the ability to bring in high-end sports tournaments,” Joe Ferry, President of ASE, said. “It was important that the athletic surface was a stable, high-quality sports surface that could host top-notch basketball summer camps, leagues, and destination tournaments.”

Ron Fenhaus, vice president of sales at Action Floors, knew the size of the facility required a durable sports system designed for competitions of all levels.

“Given the multiple purposes the surface would accommodate, we knew the facility needed a highly resilient floor system that would deliver great performance and strength,” Fenhaus said. “Because the SportsPlex was a new construction project, we recommended Action AnchorFlex because it is an optimal performance-based surface for athletes of all ages.”

Measuring at 84 feet long by 50 feet wide, each of the SportsPlex’s six hardwood courts meet high school court regulations.

Planning and design began roughly 18 months prior to the project’s groundbreaking, which occurred in December 2015. The installation of the facility’s hardwood flooring was one of the final elements to be completed.

The anticipated size of the SportsPlex facility measured at 225 feet long x 256 feet wide. Due to project’s size, the hardwood surface was installed in three separate sections to minimize expansion and contraction. Expansion gaps were covered using aluminum thresholds.

Upon installation, ASE was faced with a challenge. The moisture content in the concrete, also known as the relative humidity (RH), was above the recommended manufacturer’s specifications.

“In order to install the finished flooring, the concrete must be flat and fall within a certain range of dryness,” Ferry said. “While the concrete inside the SportsPlex facility was nice and flat, we found the moisture level was too high when the RH test was conducted.”

After waiting a couple of weeks, ASE performed a calcium chloride test, also known as a surface test, to see if moisture was escaping the concrete. The surface test concluded the moisture remained trapped in the concrete. To protect the floor from potential moisture damage, ASE installed a 15 millimeter Stego^® Wrap vapor barrier to ensure extra player comfort and safety while keeping moisture from escaping the concrete substrate.

Fortunately, an increase in relative humidity was the only challenge ASE encountered. Ferry attributes the success of the project to the organized timeline and coordination on site.

“Coordination is important with a project of any size,” Ferry said. “Construction projects involve scheduling time to install lighting, heating, sprinkler systems, etc. If each job isn’t scheduled correctly, we end up overlapping with other teams, which can get messy. Action Floors was great at getting the materials on site, on time, and packaged correctly, so that we could get to work with no interruptions.”

The Results

The project concluded with the installation of 57,600 square feet of AnchorFlex northern hardwood maple flooring assembled in mid-March of 2017. The Cape Girardeau SportsPlex celebrated its grand opening on May 6. This state-of-the-art facility is helping the city of Cape Girardeau and the Southeast Missouri region provide athletic excellence to community members and visitors from a five-state region, including Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Arkansas, and Tennessee.

“I would personally like to thank everyone at Action Floors for working closely with us to assure the on-time delivery of the Cape Girardeau SportsPlex wood flooring materials,” Ferry said. “Delivering over 57,000 square feet of quality materials within a very tight construction window is no easy task, and Action Floors’ allowed us to provide our customers with a finished project that is second to none.”

To learn more about this project or for more information about Action Floors products, contact us today!