Can You Repair Gymnasium Wall Padding?

Gymnasium wall padding is an essential element in keeping your athletes and students safe. While this padding is designed to be highly durable, it can be damaged. Luckily, there are also ways to repair it.

How to Repair Gymnasium Wall Padding

Your gymnasium wall padding contributes to your gym’s overall appearance, and you don’t want marred or damaged padding detracting from its aesthetic. Additionally, damage like tears can affect how the padding works, and left unrepaired, those tears can potentially become larger.

To care for your wall padding, make a habit of regularly inspecting it. If your gym sees heavy use, or if it's used by many kids, you may want to perform weekly inspections to verify that your padding isn’t damaged.

If you do find damage, you can repair the padding in multiple ways.

Marks on the Vinyl Covering

The vinyl covering of these pads is highly durable, but it can be marked up by pencils or pens. You can try to clean these marks off using blue Dawn dish soap and hot water, or a specialty vinyl cleaner. Getting the marks all the way out can require some elbow grease.

If you have small ink marks that you can’t remove with the above method, you can try using ink remover. Be careful and conservative when using these products, since they can start to remove the color from the vinyl especially if you have a logo or graphic on the wall mat. Do not use products that contain acetone, 2-Butoxyethanol, or chlorine as these can remove the coloring in the vinyl.

After you’ve used the ink cleaner, wipe down the vinyl with a damp cloth to remove any remnants of the cleaner.

If kids use your gym, consider having them leave their backpacks in an area away from the padding to help prevent kids from marking up the pads with pens or markers. Alternatively, choosing a darker vinyl color, like black, can help to conceal some of these markings.

Larger Marks or Tears in the Vinyl

If you have a larger mark or a tear that goes through to the foam in your gymnasium wall padding, you’ll need to make a larger repair. You can use a vinyl patch to repair the padding.

To custom make a patch, you can cut a new piece of vinyl and use vinyl cement called HH-66 and a brush.

To patch vinyl, you’ll need the following instructions:

1. Clean the vinyl cover with rubbing alcohol. This will remove dirt and oils that could prevent you from getting a quality adhesion.
2. Cut out a patch of new vinyl that’s 2 to 3 inches larger than the tear.
3. Place the patch over the tear and then trace an outline onto the padding. This is the area that you will glue.
4. Use a brush and apply an even coat of glue to the underside of the patch and to the outline that you’ve traced onto the vinyl cover on the padding.
5. Let the glue dry for 2 to 3 minutes, then press the vinyl patch over the tear.

You can buy large pieces of vinyl by the yard at local craft stores. This is an ideal option if you have many repairs to make, or if you’re repairing large tears in the padding.

Alternatively, you can buy vinyl repair materials that are available in a kit. These kits offer convenience and are ideal for smaller repairs.

Consider keeping these vinyl repair products on hand so you can quickly make repairs if your padding is damaged. Leaving vinyl tears unrepaired can cause them to get larger, especially if kids are tempted to play with them.

Additional Ways to Protect Your Gymnasium Wall Padding

Gymnasium wall padding can be a significant investment for your commercial gym, but it’s also an important tool in athlete protection. Protecting your padding from damage can minimize the repairs that you need to make.

Start by investing in the best quality padding that you can afford. At Greatmats, our wall padding has heavy-duty vinyl covers designed to be highly durable and to withstand the significant use they’ll see in commercial spaces.

Choosing a quality product can minimize potential damage that occurs with regular use. You might pay a little more upfront, but you’ll enjoy a better product that looks great for longer.

It’s also important to carefully follow the standard installation instructions for the product you purchase. Proper installation ensures the padding is supported and secure, and can help to prevent damage.

Be sure to also carefully read the usage instructions for the padding you buy. Some wall pads are designed for outdoor use, but they need to be taken indoors during inclement weather.

Ensuring that these instructions are followed can protect the integrity of the padding. You’ll get more out of your investment as a result.

If you do store padding, like outdoor padding that’s taken inside, create a designated storage area where you can store the padding safely. Avoid any areas with sharp, protruding objects or shelves, and make sure that all staff who handle the padding understand that the vinyl can be punctured or torn.

With a little extra planning, you can maximize your wall padding’s lifespan and protect it from damage.