Are you planning your yoga studio design and you are considering what type of flooring to use? If YES, here are 11 best types of flooring for yoga studios.
A yoga studio can be described as a room, building or any other place where yoga classes and instructions take place. It can be as small or as simple as a single room, or as complex as a structure that has multiple studios that include built-in props and heated humidified rooms for specialized practices like Hot Yoga.
Whether you want to craft a comfortable home yoga studio for yourself, or you want to install a commercial yoga room, it’s vital for you to put a lot of things into consideration. As far as yoga is concerned anywhere in the world, the less distractions there are, the easier it is to focus on the art. That is why studios almost always feature white washed walls, minimal decor and simple lighting.
Another very important thing to consider in a yoga studio is the floor. It would not do for your clients, or even you, to try to strike a balance in an uneven, slippery or uncomfortable floor. That’s why choosing the best flooring for a yoga studio room is very important.
Even with a yoga mat in place, many types of flooring and carpets can prove slippery or too soft to allow you to really feel grounded, or be even too hard. And, when things start getting sweaty and sticky, you’re going to want a surface that is water-resistant, easy to clean and maintain.
Proper yoga flooring is an essential component to a positive yoga experience. As an owner, there are multiple factors you need to consider such as comfort, cost, durability and maintenance, etc. when choosing a flooring for your yoga studio.
You equally have to consider the best flooring types for your yoga studio that can as well fit into your budget. In this article, we would try to help you sort out these issues.
Best Flooring for Yoga Studio
Knowing what you are looking for in yoga flooring is very important as it would help you make the best decision. This guide is designed to point you in the right direction and help find the perfect surface for your practice, priorities, lifestyle, values and budget. All the following are great flooring options for yoga studios based on your budget and preferences.
1. Hardwood Floor
Hardwood is one of the most popular choices of studio owners because of its inherent qualities. As a flooring for a yoga studio, hardwood flooring displays timeless beauty, elevation of indoor air quality, durability, and barefoot-friendly surface. Wood is naturally shock-absorbent and with the right protective surface, non-skid.
Maple, oak, pine, hickory, and walnut can be sanded and refinished to remove scuffs and scratches, but extreme humidity and constant wetness will cause the wood to swell and possibly crack. Hardwood floors need constant humidity monitoring in a hot yoga studio. Installing a new hardwood floor is expensive although not as pricey as reclaimed wood.
2. Reclaimed Wood Floor
Another good source of yoga flooring is reclaimed wood. People who have good concern for the environment typically go for reclaimed wood.
A studio floor of reclaimed chestnut, hemlock, poplar, walnut, cypress, or cherry wood is the perfect complement to the bare brick walls or industrial concrete of a loft studio in a recycled factory, a studio in a re-purposed barn, or a home studio in a period house.
But one thing you have to take note of is that a reclaimed wood flooring can cost you more than a new hardwood floor because finding, matching, and preparing old, used wood with cracks, nails, paint, and discolorations requires more labor than milling new lumber.
That said, the fabulous, one-of-a-kind floors should be sanded smooth and even, and free from major gouges and cracks. It’s a good idea to have a walk-off mat at every door to the studio to catch abrasive dirt and protect the finish. Based on the sealant used, you can get a healthier floor than a new hardwood floor.
3. Bamboo Flooring
Bamboo is yet another durable source of flooring for a yoga studio. This green wood mimics a hardwood floor in many ways, as it is dirt-resistant and durable, non-allergenic, shock-absorbent, good-looking, and more hard-wearing than hardwood.
Maintaining a bamboo floor is easy as brushing and damp-mopping will keep your studio floor clean, and any scratches or other slight damage can be erased with a dab of mineral oil or a light buffing. Ethically harvested bamboo isn’t cheap, but it’s a less expensive choice than hardwood, both new and reclaimed, and it is as well a light, attractive flooring option.
4. Cork Flooring
Cork is yet another durable option to thing about when you are looking for a flooring option for your yoga studio. Also renewable, cork floors offer cushioned resistance; they absorb impact as well as sound pretty well. The cork material can be installed easily and it has anti-microbial properties.
Cork contains a substance called suberin that repels the viruses and bacteria carried on the skin and released by sweat. Cork is a more economical choice than hardwood and the sound-dampening property of the tiles or overlay.
This essentially means that noise or music from one studio is muffled or nonexistent in the studio next door. This provides a great advantage when there are multiple classes scheduled at the same time. It’s a low-maintenance flooring that is kind to joints and easy on the eye.
5. Marley Flooring
Marley is a cushion kind of flooring that is also popular with yoga studios in the united states. Because of its inherent properties, Marley flooring has the ability to protect joints from jarring and yogis who fall out of their pose from bruising.
This flooring type is a hybrid synthetic and it comes in a variety of colors. Rolls of Marley can be taped down instead of permanently installed. This is good for you if you are not thinking of being permanent in your present location. You can easily take the flooring with you as you go. Marley has been severally noted as a good, feel safe surface for your yoga studio.
Other Types of Flooring That is Acceptable for a Yoga Studio
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Engineered Wood Flooring
Engineered wood is one of the good flooring options you can look to as a yogi if you are somehow how on funds. The material is first of all made out of real wood, but it is configured from a variety of woods as a veneer with varied grains.
This type of wood lasts well and is pleasant to look at. Engineered wood is more moisture-resistant than traditional hardwood, and the high quality version costs almost as much, though you can still get something good on your budget. The material is a hybrid of laminate and wood – a real layer of wood veneer glued to a core of plywood or high-density fibreboard (HDF).
The core keeps it stable in variable temperatures and humidities, a consideration in hotter, wetter spaces that are not suitable for hardwood. That means this flooring is good for hot yoga. Because it is a structurally stable, durable wood floor, engineered wood represents a good investment.
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Linoleum flooring
Some people may balk at linoleum, but the fact remains that it is a good flooring option for your yoga studio if you are not big on funds.
The smooth, natural tiles or planks are completely renewable, nontoxic, and environmentally friendly. It is also beneficial to your clients too in various ways. Linoleum is pressed from a mix of linseed oil, jute, cork powder, flax, wood flour, and natural pigments.
It comes in an infinite number of hues and designs. But most yogis go for the plain color because of the serenity it brings to a yoga studio. Again, this type of floor has no “bad” chemicals to out-gas, it contains no petroleum products, can be damp-mopped, and comes cushioned (because it is also made up of cork) so it can be laid over a bare floor.
The oxidation of the linseed oil inhibits the growth of staph and salmonella bacteria, and linoleum is recommended as safe for those with allergies or respiratory ailments. Because linoleum is all-natural, it does react to extremes of humidity by slightly expanding and contracting.
This can be controlled by regulating the humidity in the studio year-round so any expansion or contraction is undetectable.
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Rubber flooring
Rubber is tree sap, and rubber flooring can be made from recycled material. A rubber flooring is waterproof, stain- and scuff-resistant, tough as nails, shock-absorbent and slip-resistant. Rubber flooring was developed for high-traffic public spaces, designed to wear like iron.
Another good aspect of this flooring type is that it is affordable, and can suit any budget type. It comes in sheets, two kinds of tiles, and a limitless array of colors and designs, including realistic stone. Rubber is easy to clean but excessive sweat will stay on the surface, so it requires special maintenance in a hot yoga studio.
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Eucalyptus flooring
Eucalyptus is a hard-wearing floor material that is much similar to bamboo because it is made of plant. The fast-growing tree has a distinctive grain, with visible knots that resembles mahogany. It resists dents and costs less than half the price of fine hardwoods.
Eucalyptus flooring has been highly recommended for hot yoga studios because of its inherent qualities. It’s very stable and thick enough to withstand several rounds of sanding and refinishing.
If You Are On A Very Low Budget, You Can Look Into These Flooring Options
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Laminate
Laminate is a multilayer synthetic flooring that is made to look like wood, but it doesn’t offer the high qualities of wood such as resilience or durability. This is a relatively inexpensive flooring option that is an imitation, thin, photographic representation of hardwood or bamboo that’s about 3/8-inch thick and is bonded to a high-density fiber.
It is made with tongue-and-groove edges for speedy installation, so a damaged section is easier to replace than most other flooring.
It should be noted that damp mopping or dry mopping will keep laminate clean, and it does take some punishment, so regular cleaning and maintenance will make it last. This flooring arrangement is a perfect fit for a yoga studio that needs something temporary.
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Vinyl
Vinyl is a chameleon that adapts to any yoga studio with properties such as anti-fatigue cushioning, high-traffic, high-impact resistance, rapid surface moisture evaporation, and treatments to prevent out-gassing and make it odor-free and bacteria-inhibiting.
It’s also a petroleum product – PVC – and should be guaranteed phthalate-free and stable to a high temperature for studio safety. Vinyl is easy to clean and maintain and it comes in a wide choice of colors. Vinyl comes in easily installed sheets that are usually glued down and heat-welded together by professional flooring experts.
Yoga Studio Flooring Options To Avoid
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Carpeted Floor
Carpets are not good for practicing yoga on, you have to by all means avoid these. If your studio floor has a carpeted floor, your best bet is to cover it with a more forgiving or more easily sanitized, cleaned, and dried material that will withstand heavy use, moisture, and high temperatures. You want to encourage a focus on the yoga postures, not on the cold, hard, slippery floor.
Factors To Consider When Choosing a Flooring Option For Your Yoga Studio
There are various flooring options that are available to yoga studios, but not all these options are great for your studio when looked at holistically. The fact also remains that what one studio needs depending on location and patronage may not be what the other needs.
But regardless of all these, there are certain factors to look into before you go about choosing a flooring option for your yoga studio. Some of these options include;
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Safety level of the flooring
When choosing a floor for your yoga studio, the first thing to think about is the safety of your participants. Yoga is practiced directly on the floor and this floor should be free of all kinds of niggling distractions like odors, nails, slipperiness and other defects.
More often than not, studios install flooring not designed for yoga use, such as carpet or wood. This leads to a variety of safety problems, including unstable and slippery footing, abrasiveness and minimal shock absorption. Not to mention the odor you will have with carpet and the splitting of the hardwood floors from extreme use, moisture and heat.
That is why you should never scrimp on safety when thinking of flooring for your yoga studio. If your flooring is safe, it will enable your clients to move freely on a slip-resistant platform to ensure stability in more advanced poses.
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Sanitary and Cleaning Considerations
Yoga floors are subject to a lot of activity and should be kept clean always. So, when picking the best flooring for your yoga studio, you should keep cleaning considerations on mind.
Picking a floor that cannot be easily and thoroughly cleaned would mean setting yourself and your business up for problems. Such issues can include mold, fungi, odor and increased possibilities of contracting staph infections.
The floor should not absorb water nor stay wet for long periods of time. Look for a surface that allows for evaporation and features anti-microbial properties. Finally, be sure your flooring does not release particles, filaments or harmful outgases. The goal should be to provide a dust-free, less toxic and hypoallergenic yoga practicing environment.
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Practice Method
Another thing to look into when you want to choose a floor for your yoga studio is the kind of yoga you intend to practice. If you practice Bikram or hot yoga, you need a floor that can withstand the heat nor expand or contract with higher temperatures.
Also, make sure your flooring system will not separate in the heat, which can cause bubbling and cracking on the yoga mat surface. This can injure your clients
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Floor Durability
When choosing a flooring system, the largest deciding factor is how long the flooring can last for your business. It will not be in your best interest to fix a flooring that needs to be changed frequently. Talk about unbudgeted expenses.
Before you decide on a floor type, first ask if you are going to get good value for what you paid for. Is the surface environmentally-friendly? Does it have a special design or surface texture? Does it come with a limited product warranty? It is important to get answers to these questions before moving forward.
Conclusion
The best yoga flooring for your studio most times depends on the peculiarities of your studio, but safety should be the primary concern when choosing this type of flooring. Yoga is often practiced directly on the floor, meaning that the surface must be free from dangerous nails and other defects.
It is also important to make sure that students will be able to move safely on the floor, so you need a slip free and even surface. When flooring is designed specifically for yoga, it can be made in a way that accommodates the activities that normally take place in a yoga studio.
This includes working with bare feet and sitting directly on the floor itself. Certainly, it is possible to practice yoga anywhere, but when creating a space that is ideal for yoga, and where you aim to charge some fees, it is a good idea to make sure all possible dangers are considered.