Hockey flooring can be a tricky thing to figure out if you’ve never bought any, and especially if you’ve never set any up. Everyone has to start from somewhere, but when you’re building up from nothing it can be more than a little confusing to try and make sure that you’re doing everything the right way.
There are a lot of people that swear by hockey tiles, or whatever name they choose to use for this kind of flooring. Even so, it doesn’t matter how much people swear by it if you don’t know how to even get past the first step of this process so you can get your own hockey tiles set up in your very own home.
Believe us when we say that we’ve been there, and over the years we’ve been able to piece together a few killer pieces of advice to help you along your way so you can get everything set up in such a way that you’ll be happy, no matter how much space you have for this.
Today, we’re going to be looking at our personal favorite 7 tips and tricks that span all across this process. With any luck, you’ll be able to set up your own hockey tiles at your home like a pro, even if this is your first time doing this.
1. Measure The Area You Want To Use
This is probably one of the most important parts of the entire process, from beginning to end. You have to make sure that you measure the space that you want to use for your hockey tile area. This information will prove to be essential for moving forward.
This process is easy enough, but if you skip it nothing in the rest of the process will work out how you want it to. This can be done with a few easy steps and shouldn’t take longer than 10 minutes, depending on how precise you want to be.
- Visualize the space that you want to use.
- If you need, you can use objects from your house to mark off the space. Chairs work especially well.
- Use a tape measurer to see how big the space is.
- Write down the measurement for both the x-axis and the y-axis.
- Put away anything you might have used to mark off the area.
Once you’re done with that, you’re ready to move on to the next steps. This step is important for making sure that you get the right number of tiles for the area that you want to fill up. To few tiles and you won’t be able to fill up the space, but too many tiles and you’ll have extra tiles left when you’re done.
2. Research Specific Products
There are a lot of products available on the market when it comes to hockey flooring. That’s a great thing for people that just want to get some tiles and be done with it, but it’s not as great for people that want to make sure that they get quality products.
Not every hockey tile is built the same, and the difference in quality could end up costing you a lot of money if you end up having to replace tiles frequently. Higher-quality tiles might be more of an investment up front, but if you want to be able to use the tiles for a longer period of time it’s important not to skimp.
Different tiles are built with different “features,” so to speak. We’ll cover those in greater detail later on in this article, but it’s good to think about what you would need out of your hockey tiles before you buy them. This will ensure that your tiles will be able to do exactly what you need them to.
3. Think Long And Hard About What You Need
Thinking long and hard about what you need can mean a lot of different things in this context, but it’s important to be thorough during this step if you want to be sure that you’re getting the perfect hockey tiles, no matter your situation.
We already covered the importance of taking measurements of the area that you plan on using, but the things that you need to consider hardly stop there. In fact, there is a lot to think about when it comes to the planning section of this process.
Where do you want to keep the tiles? Do you want them to be inside or outside? Are you going to keep them in the garage but still want to be able to park your car there? Do you want to be able to set up the tiles and just leave them in one place for an extended period of time?
All of these things are important to consider when you’re deciding what kind of tiles you want to purchase. If you know what you need out of tiles, you’ll have a much easier time deciding what kind of tiles you want to purchase for this project.
4. Consider Additional Supplies
When it comes to hockey tiles, you don’t have to stop just with the tiles. In fact, you have a whole lot of options available to you for this kind of thing. Some of these things are just cosmetic, while others help with structural things.
For example, you can get colored tiles to make your little hockey tile rink look nicer. That doesn’t do anything but make the rink look prettier. On the other hand, you can get some plywood to put under the tiles to make the whole thing more stable.
5. Shop Around
Shopping around for tiles serves a couple of purposes, and both of those are incredibly important when you’re trying to get your hockey tiles set up for your home. There are a few reasons why this is so important:
- Finding the best prices.
- Making sure that the tiles have the features that you need.
- Ensuring that the tiles that you get are of high quality.
Without shopping around, you’d only be able to know what one brand or retailer has to offer. That’s not going to work out very well if you’re looking to make sure that you’re getting the best possible tiles for your budget.
In fact, not shopping around can lead to you getting an inferior product that is more likely to break down more quickly than a superior product would, and that could end up costing you more money in the long run because of the process of replacing the tiles.
6. Ask Your Friends About What They Use
There’s no problem in asking for help, and when it comes to buying hockey tiles, your friends will definitely be able to give you some input. If you have friends that already have their own hockey flooring set up, they probably have some opinions on what works and what doesn’t.
Some people have to go through an entire trial and error process in order to make sure that they get the perfect hockey tiles, and that can be expensive. Simply asking your friends what they use and how they feel about it can give you a good indication of what’s going to work best for you.
This can save you both time and money while also providing you with even more time to train on your hockey flooring than you would have had otherwise. That is, after all, the best-case scenario for your hockey tile journey. The less time you spend making sure the tiles work right, the more time you can spend getting in some much-needed training.
7. Think About Features In Products
We’ve touched on this a bit here and there throughout the article, but this is very important. Different tiles have different features designed into them to make placement a lot easier for you while also making the tiles a lot more durable.
For example, there are a lot of tiles that are weather-proof. That means that you can leave them out whether it’s rain, snow, or shine and you won’t have to worry about it. There are also a lot of tiles that are designed to handle a lot of weight, which is useful if you’re planning on parking on them.
These features might not seem important to you, but consider that you might end up having to move the tiles at some point, and being sure that the tiles are durable no matter where you put them can ensure that you can go even longer without having to replace them.
Finding the Hockey Tiles of Your Dreams
Hockey players all over the United States and Canada already use hockey tiles to help them get a much-needed edge during their at-home training sessions. Knowing how to pick out good tiles can make or break your training sessions.
Fortunately, there is no shortage of options when it comes to high-quality hockey tiles. Many companies make solid products that you can feel confident about using on a daily basis. It might not seem like a lot, but these tiles can make a huge difference in your training regimen.
