By switching to Bona’s abrasion products, the prep process went from wet to dry, and from time-consuming to time-efficient.

For a busy gym floor, downtime can be a massive inconvenience. Elk Grove Unified School District (EGUSD), the fifth-largest school district in California, like so many districts across the nation, was seeking a solution to minimize downtime and get the community back in its facilities faster. Located in southern Sacramento County, EGUSD covers 320 square miles, includes 67 schools and 26 hardwood gym floors. The floors are constantly busy with nonstop traffic in the form of basketball, volleyball, sport tournaments and other extracurricular activities. According to Ruben Valim, area supervisor at EUGSD, it was consequently a major issue for the schools to give up the gym floors during the annual recoats. Prior to 2017, recoating all 26 floors had been a six to nine-week procedure.

With the intention of streamlining the process, EGUSD switched to Bona’s recoat system following recommendations from Sac-Val Janitorial Supply. It proved to be a very successful change. Before switching to Bona the process was arduous. EGUSD would wet prep the floors ahead of sealing and finishing. They would apply prep cleaner to the floors before going over them with buffers and maroon pads. The following day, they would apply the first coat. By switching to Bona’s abrasion products, the prep process went from wet to dry, and from time-consuming to time-efficient. Tony Almeida, custodial services manager at EGUSD, called Bona’s MultiDisc and Diamond abrasives a “revolutionary combination.” He went on to state the following about the change of systems:

“We were able to cut our prep time in half (huge labor savings) and take what was once a 6-9-week process down to 3 weeks and 3 days (26 gym floors) … By incorporating this new method, we were able to support our GREEN cleaning standard by not only savings in labor but also [by] not ordering prep cleaner, [meaning] no VOC’s … and of course we did not have to introduce water to the floor.”

To finish the floors, EGUSD used Bona’s premium and highly durable waterborne hardwood gym floor finish, Bona SuperCourt® HD.  The finish is, according to Ruben Valim, holding up very well overall, even though a variety of maintenance systems are used for the different floors. Bona offers a complete system of GREENGUARD certified products for gym floor recoat and daily maintenance.

Heavy gym floor downtime is now something of the past for EGUSD. The community has more access to school gymnasiums with the added peace of mind that the products used are environmentally mindful and backed by nearly 100 years of Bona expertise and knowledge. It’s a win all around.

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