We had the opportunity to help out our friends at Stabil Fit Life with their new gym by painting the walls and putting flooring in one of the restrooms. The walls were 15 to 20 feet high but we were to paint no more than to 12 feet high which is the same height as the windows.
The owners wanted to see how the existing trim color would look with the new wall color. As there was a good chance the trim would not be painted, we had to be careful to avoid painting any of the trim. Especially since we didn’t have any touch-up paint in the trim color to cover up any goofs.
The top border seemed to be the biggest challenge at 12 feet high and the longest stretch 80 feet long. A laser level was used to mark where to place the bottom edge of the painters tape. Once the tape was applied, we smeared caulk over the bottom edge of the tape to fill in all the tiny little voids.
Cut-in was fairly straightforward just up higher than usual. Most of the vinyl baseboard was still missing but about 35% remained. Some of it we masked but soon found a better result by not using tape and wiping the paint off the baseboard. The tape that we did use was difficult to remove and left white voids that were visible in contrast to the dark color we were applying. It was necessary to go back and touch up these areas.
Once we had a good start on cutting in, Alex, began rolling with an 18″ roller. The double-sized roller covered a lot of area very fast. We were able to use a pole for the big roller but cutting in still required ladders. After the second coat went on, we noticed white pinholes where there was a drywall joint underneath. I was able to use a smaller roller and go over these areas with a little bit of a sideways motion. This filled in the pinholes and I just rolled over the area to make it consistent with the rest of the wall. Finally, the masking came off and the decision was made to keep the existing trim colors.
Next was the restroom flooring. One restroom had tile flooring which was in great shape. There was an issue at the doorway where the tile edge varied in straightness by more than half an inch in either direction leaving an unsightly gap between the flooring outside the restroom and the edge of the tile across the doorway.
I offered to make a custom threshold for this and the other restroom doorway and the owners accepted. But first, we had a floor to install in the other restroom which had a painted concrete floor. The owner originally requested new tile in that restroom, ideally to match however we also presented an option for LVP that was more than half the cost, installed. The LVP is more than tough enough to handle the day to day traffic in a gym environment. The owners opted for the LVP, saving them a few hundred dollars..
Rather than bring the LVP out to meet the gym flooring, we would use a threshold matching the other threshold to cover the unsightly gap and provide some aesthetic balance and consistency.
Back at the shop I set out to manufacture 2 36 inch thresholds from red oak. They will look the same on top with different profiles underneath. The threshold for the second restroom was a little easier since the flooring edges were straight and parallel. I just needed to make a rabbit cut deep enough to ride on top of the LVP. The first restroom with the tile was a little more challenging. I did not want to leave a wide span unsupported as it may eventually crack with traffic.
I cut to size the 1 by 8 inch boards and planed them down to 5/8 of an inch. Then after rounding the top edges, I routed out 3/8 of an inch where the oak rides on top of the tile leaving no more than a half inch gap unsupported underneath. The threshold on the tile floor has a thickness of 1/4 inch and the threshold on the LVP floor has a thickness 3/8 inch. Both thresholds are 5/8 inch at their thickest point adjacent to the gym flooring.
It was a pleasure to help out our friends at Stabil Fit Life and we are grateful to have a part in the growth of their wonderful business of restoring health and wellbeing to people. I pray for their profound success!
