There's a threat to wood gym floors lurking high above, jutting from the ceiling and waiting patiently to accidentally douse the floor with thousands of gallons of water. That's right: it's the humble sprinkler head. While its mission in preventing fires is noble, it's a disaster in the making for wood flooring.
On March 13, a sprinkler head at Michigan's Paw Paw High School was accidentally damaged, sending an untold amount of water onto the floor and causing "a lot of cupping," according to The Courier-Leader. It took 15 to 20 minutes before the sprinkler was turned off. Now, the gym could be unavailable for several months while it's under repair.
In the past few months we've brought you two similar stories-one from the UK and another from Colorado. In all three examples, accidental damage to the sprinkler heads caused them to go off and flood the wood floor below. So, do you have any tips on stemming the tide of this type of wood floor damage?
