When people budget for their home or garage gym, the first things on their list are almost always workout equipment. But what about your gym space itself? You’ll need to do a few things to ready your space to be a home gym in the first place. One of the most common is installing flooring.
Like the other rooms in your home, your gym will need flooring specific to your activities. Just like putting carpet in your bathroom isn’t a great idea, leaving the wrong type of flooring in your gym can also cause problems.
So, in addition to those dumbbells and a bench, you’ll need to make room in your budget for flooring.
Key Takeaways:
- All home gyms need appropriate flooring.
- Costs can range from $3 to $30 per square foot.
- Buying the wrong flooring is a waste of your money.
- Rubber puzzle-piece flooring works best in home gyms.
- Rubber flooring costs range from $7 to $10 per square foot.
- Save money by self-installing.
How Much Does Home Gym Flooring Cost?
Rubber flooring for a home gym costs between $7 and $10 per square foot when self-installed. That puts the cost of flooring a standard 10’x10′ garage gym at $700-$1000. Budget options can be found for as little as $4 per square foot, while premium floors can cost as much as $25-$30 per square foot.
I’m not a big fan of budget flooring options, but they are certainly better than nothing. And while some of the premium options are tempting (custom colors, graphics, and logos all look amazing in a home gym!), most people will want to spend their money on equipment rather than a fancy floor.
That leaves you with a price range of $7-$10 per square foot. For a lot of people, that’s a reasonably significant unexpected expense. Expensive or not, having the appropriate flooring in your gym is important.
So instead of skipping it or going with dangerous low-cost options (more on that later), look at other ways to save while still getting all the benefits that the correct flooring provides. Let’s start by reviewing your different flooring options and their costs. Then I’ll cover how you can save some coin too!
UPDATE Nov 2023: I’ve found an amazing source for low-cost rubber gym flooring. It’ll save you a ton of money while still getting the same flooring I recommend in this article. Inventory changes pretty regularly, but head over to Freedom Fitness’s flooring page to see what’s available today. They usually have a tremendous selection and their pricing is well below what you’ll find anywhere else! And make sure to use our exclusive coupon code, “GC1” for 5% off of your order!
3 Reasons You Should Install Rubber Flooring in Your Gym
The number one reason people don’t spend their money on something is that they don’t see the value. And it’s really easy to skip installing flooring in your gym if you aren’t aware of why you need it.
After all, a floor is a floor is a floor, right? Can’t we all train effectively on carpet or cement? You know, the flooring that is already there? The stuff that’s free?!?!?
As with many things in this world, there’s a big difference between can and should. You can jump out of a plane without a parachute… But you probably shouldn’t!
Protect Your Floor
Depending on the type of gym you build, you are about to place over 1000 lbs of weight on your gym floor. Not only that, but you’ll be dragging and dropping many of those heavy items directly on the ground at your feet!
If you currently have hardwood, laminate, tile, or carpet, that floor will get trashed in no time. Not only will it get ruined, but it will also become warped and uneven over time, which presents a safety issue.
If you are in a garage or basement with cement floors, you can still cause damage to your floor. Not as much as the other materials I referenced, but it can happen all the same.
The cost to repair or replace your existing floor will often be as much or more expensive than simply installing the correct flooring in the first place. It only makes sense to start off on the right foot and install rubber flooring up front.
The proper thickness rubber flooring (see my complete guide to gym flooring here for specific guidelines) will protect the floor underneath from damage. It will also resist damage itself. The nice thing about rubber flooring is that it will last a lifetime if you buy the right kind.
Protect Your Gear
Gym equipment is expensive. In fact, it can be shocking just how much some of it can cost. For example, a good set of adjustable dumbbells currently costs over $700!
There will come a time when you drop those dumbbells. Well-made adjustables can be dropped safely on rubber flooring. Not so much when it comes to concrete!
Adjustable dumbbells dropped on concrete will not only damage the concrete, but you may also need to replace the dumbbells. Replacing a set of $700 dumbbells because they were dropped to concrete will hurt much more than investing that $800 in flooring up front!
Remember, we aren’t just talking about dumbbells, either. This goes for weight plates, barbells, kettlebells, and anything else that may hit the floor mid-workout (including you!).
Prevent Injuries
If you’ve ever had a factory, warehouse, or retail job where you stood around on a hard (often concrete) floor all day, you know the pain and soreness that comes with that.
It’s such a big deal that people often buy special shoes and even mats to stand on. They soon find themselves with ankle, knee, and hip pain if they don’t. Wait too long, and those aches become injuries requiring medical attention.
The same goes for concrete and tile flooring in a home gym. Except here, the chance of injury is even greater. At least in a factory or warehouse, it’s only your body weight causing the pain. Add to that the hundreds of lbs you lift or carry, and you just sped up your injury potential big time.
You’ll also want to consider how often you might be down on the ground training—kneeling on concrete hurts! Kneeling on rubber gym flooring does not.
The Three Main Types of Rubber Flooring For Your Home Gym
You’ll find three primary options when shopping for home gym flooring. In my opinion, only one of those options is suitable. But that said, I see all three used extensively, and I want to touch on each of them so you can make an educated decision.
EVA puzzle pieces
When you Google “home gym flooring,” the first things that show up are EVA foam tiles. These are also sometimes called EVA rubber tiles, but make no mistake, EVA is always foam and always the wrong thing for a home gym.