Hot Surfaces

Anaheim Courtyard by Marriott: Families Focused on Fun

Before, it used to be concrete so there wasn’t a day that we wouldn’t get an injury. So when we’d get injuries we’d give our injury reports every day even if it’s a band-aid or something like that… ever since we had Life Floor we haven’t had one.
— Ari Padila Waterpark Supervisor
Anaheim Courtyard by Marriott

Excited vacationers looking to experience the best of Southern California look to the Anaheim Courtyard by Marriott whether it’s an annual seasonal visit, or a once-in-a-lifetime trip. 

In addition to spacious accommodations and wonderful staff, the hotel is proud to offer guests their Surfside Waterpark, a 20,000 sq ft waterpark for families to bond and kids to play off a day of excited energy. They first approached Life Floor in 2017 for their kiddie pool and stairs, and after two years of reduced injuries, they came back with ideas to expand the surfacing. 

This 4,300 sq ft concrete splash park that sat underneath a WhiteWater West multi-level play structure had been a significant pain point and continued to stain and deteriorate. The splash park’s concrete surfacing got extremely hot in the Southern California sun and the kids would be so excited to play and get off the slides that they would slip and fall on the abrasive surface.

Anaheim Courtyard by Marriott
Safety Messaging at Anaheim Courtyard by Marriott
Hopscotch at Anaheim Courtyard by Marriott
Game at Anaheim Courtyard by Marriott

The WhiteWater design team wanted to create a surface that combined safety, comfort, and play elements, like hopscotch, surfboards, a Twister-like game, and inlaid sea creatures, in order to enhance the guest experience with both passive and active play value.

Going from daily injuries to injury-free days was a huge relief for the Courtyard by Marriott staff, and the guests immediately enjoyed the more comfortable flooring. While we were filming the splash pad, one guest remarked, “The colors are really vibrant. It’s not slippery at all. We’ve actually been to this hotel before, so it’s nice to see sort of the new, updated look and feel. And the kids really enjoyed it and had a lot of fun, and no one fell and everyone seemed to have a blast.”

Children Playing at Anaheim Courtyard by Marriott
Anaheim Courtyard by Marriott

The difference between concrete and Life Floor is more than just a reduction of injuries. The way families and kids played completely changed with the new surface. Parents started sitting down on the splash park with their kids, and toddlers flocked to this open and free play area without worry about bumps, bruises, or hot concrete.  

The kids love it. The kids play differently out here with Life Floor. It’s a really funny thing - parents are out here sitting down with their kids. It’s hard to explain, but they play differently and they have more fun and it looks beautiful.
— Brian Schinski, Operations Manager

Shaping Up Design at Grapevine: Our Answer to a Burning Question

Pleasant Glade Pool Deck in Grapevine, TX

The City of Grapevine, Texas is home to an aquatics program carefully curated to engage the community throughout the hot summer season. Between the waterpark, indoor recreation center, outdoor family pool, and splash pads, the award-winning facilities keep 54,000 citizens cool and active. The city’s morning and evening swim lessons, lap pool, and obstacle course are especially well known and loved by community members. However, with the Texas sun heating up the concrete deck to dangerous temperatures, the city knew it had to resurface the entryway.  

In our entryway, we had no shade protection, so by 4 pm that concrete was 130-140 degrees at least.
— Hunter Hardeman, Aquatic Supervisor of the Pleasant Glade Pool

Grapevine chose Life Floor because of the tile’s unique ability to dissipate heat underfoot. Unlike concrete, Life Floor tiles do not absorb heat, which is why the tiles feel comfortable to walk on in the summer sun.

Choosing a modern design in rectangles, the entryway now simulates a river flowing into the pool entrance, without the added cost of cutting curves into the tiles. With this affordable design solution, the floor is now a feature instead of a hot problem.

Pleasant Glade Pool Deck in Grapevine, TX
We have really enjoyed Life Floor. It has definitely made our deck that used to be so hot much better to walk on. It’s great.
— Hardeman

Parr Park Sprayground has experienced similar heat issues on its concrete splash pad. Using Cool Deck, the City of Grapevine tried to mitigate the hot surface, which ultimately lead to a slippery surface. The city approached Life Floor to solve the slippery, hot surfacing problems in combination with creating a completely new and unique design. It was the perfect timing. The Life Floor Studio had just finalized our newest Hexagon shape. 

Parr Park in Grapevine, TX
Parr Park in Grapevine, TX
Parr Park in Grapevine, TX
We’ve been really excited about adding hexagon tiles to our product line-up because they offer a completely different visual effect than what we’ve been getting from our square, rectangle, and triangle patterns. The hexagon can be seen as more modern or even more visually interesting to a lot of people. It also interlocks in a more radial way than our other shapes have. When arranged with enough variety of color, hexagons can create a really interesting mottled effect across a surface. For this reason, we think this shape has the potential to really enhance municipal splash pads without adding additional cost for custom-cut designs. Parr Park had a pre-existing splash pad with a swooping shape so I thought it would be fun to create a design that followed those curves. I really liked that the mix of cool tones could create a vibrant, futuristic feel that departs from so many of our other designs that often have nature-based or beach themes.
— Kelsi Goss, Studio Director for Life Floor

A big thank you to the City of Grapevine for being our Hexagon pioneer! 

Installation by Preferred Installation Partner, Inside Edge.


A Blistering Safety Issue

Sizzle. The sound you’d like to avoid when wet feet touch hot concrete. If you’ve ever been to an outdoor aquatic facility in the summer, this problem is likely a sore subject. One of the most common complaints brought to us by operators is the issue of hot surfaces throughout outdoor facilities, specifically on pool decks, stair towers, and walkways. It comes as little surprise then to learn that concrete can reach temperatures hovering around 120°F, while rubberized surfaces can easily reach temperatures above 140°F. In one recent study, a rubberized surface was reported to be 170°F (X).

The Sand Paper: Shortage, Supply, & Safety

At Life Floor, we've seen a lot of sand in and around water parks, other aquatic installations, and in other human-made environments. That may not be a good thing. To paraphrase a philosopher, "We don't like sand. It's coarse and rough and irritating and it gets everywhere." (seen here) Digging into the problem a little deeper, we realized that trucking sand into these places from mines, beaches, and riverbeds isn't just annoying, it's potentially dangerous. Here are a few reasons we think the aquatic recreation industry, and any industry, should rethink sand usage: