The field house flooring at Naperville Central was replaced as part of District 203’s $30 million capital improvement plan. The floor was replaced after folds and ripples began to make for a poor athletic surface.

There were three projects that contributed to the original floor. 

“The first system that went in was an innovation that nobody had used in this area before, and it created a poor surface for athletics,” said Pat Dolan, District 203 director of buildings and grounds, said. “It looked almost like the bottom of a shoe, a thick honeycomb surface that was filled in with horrible urethane rubber.”

A few years later, a second project to improve the surface for athletes took place.

“That is where the significant problems started,” Dolan said. “Again, it was using something that was kind of a new technology and a new type of application. It was misapplied. There were some missing chemicals that weren’t used.”

A third layer was installed in 2017, but the three layers resulted in a poor athletic surface that moved, which was unacceptable, Dolan said.

The three layers resulted in a difficult removal process.

“Part of the problem with the system was that it still never cured fully all the way down to the original concrete,” Dolan said. “There were a few times I’d walked in to check on progress, and I would lose my shoes. It was so sticky… it was very much like as I said [in the board meeting] about 8,500 square feet of bubblegum.”

This new project was a success, Dolan said.

“I think it complements the Redhawk red very well. So I am not exaggerating when I say I think this is actually a very beautiful gym, one of the most beautiful gyms that we’ve been [to],” Dolan said. “I’m over the moon, it’s a wonderful system, very high performance, it’s gonna be great for basketball, it’s probably good for volleyball.”

The new floor has been received well.

“I like the new flooring,” Kramer said. “The only thing I wish is that the basketball lines were thicker.”