North Pointe Prep in Phoenix, AZ Basketball Court Facelift


North Pointe Prep is a public charter school in Phoenix, AZ. Arizona Hardwood Floor Supply has had the pleasure of working with North Pointe for 10+ years.

Basketball court before facelift
In December of 2019, the Facility Manager, Rose Vargas, and Athletic Director Rick Shuman contacted us to add a facelift to their basketball court. They were envisioning something that would make a statement when visiting teams arrived, such as adding color to make it aggressive and yet inviting. 
 
The gym is a floating panel system ¾” natural rubber pad with two layers of ½” CDX plywood. In all, it covers about 9,000 square feet.

North Pointe Volleyball Court Before the facelift
Compared to the traditional Maple gym floors, North Pointe’s gym floor has a ¾” x 3 ¼” maple plank in place of the standard 2 ¼” plank.

Making the Magic Happen

As with all of our projects, we start with sanding; however, this particular project has a slight twist.

We sanded the existing floor down to bare wood. We started with a heavy course grit to grit to get rid of the old finish; once we were down to the bare wood, we inspected the floor for potentially damaged boards that needed to be replaced. We ended up removing and replacing approximately eight boards in total.
 
After we replaced the boards, we continued sanding to fine grit, edged, screened, vacuumed, and cleaned the floor to prepare for the first coat of the staining process.

Clean slate and ready for the pre-stain process
The staining process took two applications due to the two colors we would be applying. The colors would end up touching each other at the perimeter.
 
The first color was a custom brown stain that would create a frame around the central basketball court.
 
The second color was a black stain that we created by mixing the Bona Black paint with Bona Natural stain. Combined, they create the border of the central basketball court as well as the “FALCONS “ lettering on the court.

Applying stain to gym floor
We used the black paint mixed with the natural stain to help create a more uniform appearance without a marbling effect on the maple plank. The mix allows the grain to show through the stain.

Lock in the Color & Seal the Natural Wood Grain

The next process of completing the basketball court was to seal the floor to lock in the color and seal the remaining portion of the floor, the natural wood grain.
 
Court endline letters stained
After allowing the sealer to cure overnight, we applied the layout for the basketball and volleyball court, which included the paint lines, updating the logo. We finished it off with two final coats of the Bona OMU 350 Sports® Poly.
 
The result, ecstatic clients!

Arizona Hardwood Flooring Athletic Flooring Installation & Refinishing

Arizona Hardwood is no stranger to sports flooring installations and refinishing. We have had the honor of installing many gymnasium floors that include but are not limited to the following.
  • High school gym floors
  • Charter school gym floors
  • Private school gym floors
  • Personal home gym half courts
  • Racquetball courts
  • University basketball courts
  • NBA basketball courts
With over 30 years of experience in custom wood plank flooring installation and refinishing, we love putting our knowledge and expertise to work for residential and commercial customers.
 
Contact Arizona Hardwood Supply today to learn more about the North Pointe Charter School basketball renovation at (623) 742-9663 (WOOD) or stop by one of our 3 Valley locations for more information on our sports flooring installation and refinishing services.