Replacing Pour-in-Place with Life Floor at Yawa Aquatic Centre

Yawa Aquatic Centre in Victoria, Australia is an indoor, $37M, state-of-the-art recreation centre that opened in 2021 and offers a wide range of year-round aquatic, leisure, and wellness programs for people of all ages.

After: Life Floor

Before: Pour-in-Place Bonded Rubber

Prior to the installation of Life Floor, keeping the floor clean throughout the Aqua Play Zone proved difficult for facility staff. The pour-in-place surface contributed to significant health concerns for patrons due to extensive mold growth permeating the porous material. Exhaustive efforts to remove the mold were not successful, so Yawa Aquatic Centre decided to remove the entire pour-in-place surface and install Life Floor due to our product’s impervious, easy to clean nature.

Yawa Aquatic Centre boasts a playful beach theme complete with Waterplay spray fixtures, palm tree structures, and side wall graphics that reinforce this design. The customer selected our Montauk Theme to emulate a sandy beach.

Within the gradient of square tiles, Mojave paths weave around the space to subtly guide circulation and avoid slide runouts. Inlays from our Marine and Sea Life sets provide pops of color and theming, tying into the designs of the Waterplay structure and features. A thicker area of Life Floor was installed around the slide runout to increase cushioning and safety for this high-impact area.

Life Floor Australia and New Zealand contracted an accredited installer, Maurer Construction Tiling, to adjust the concrete sub-base to improve drainage, reduce water pooling, and install Life Floor at this beautiful centre.

Thank you to Life Floor Australia and New Zealand for your continued collaboration and dedication to serving the greater Oceania region.

---

Learn more about Life Floor

Where can Life Floor be installed?

Life Floor is engineered for aquatics and designed for play! Our products can be installed virtually anywhere with proper techniques and have been installed at over 2,500 facilities worldwide. Explore some of our most common application types below and discover how Life Floor may be a good fit for your project.

Splash Pads

Splash Pads are one of our most common project requests and we often see both retrofit and new build construction types.

Life Floor is certified to NSF/ANSI/CAN Standard 50 which was created by NSF International specifically for interactive water play venues, also known as splash pads and spray grounds. As a certified product, Life Floor meets 6 performance-based criteria including Slip-Resistance, Cushioning, Impermeability, Cleanability, UV Resistance, and Chemical Resistance.

It’s common for children to run around spray features to dodge water or re-engage with the amenity from different angles. This area is referred to as the overspray area or apron.

Including overspray areas in surface design is beneficial to increase safety where children are still engaging in play. The Life Floor Studio and authorized designers can easily expand designs to cover these areas in ways that complement the available space.

Without overspray

With overspray

Pool Decks

Pool decks are another of our most popular requests. Life Floor is flexible and durable which allows for tight coping and wrapping around pool edges and fixtures. We also offer high contrast depth markers, no-diving symbols, and other safety messaging that is manufactured from our same high-performance safety surfacing. Our tile modularity means that safety messaging will not lose contrast over time since each color of Life Floor is a different tile.

Custom safety messaging such as “Bench Below” or “Please Walk” signs are available upon request.

Zero-Depth Entries

These commonly slippery areas present a hydroplaning challenge for operators, staff, and guests alike due to the sloping surfaces leading into the water. Adding Life Floor’s cushioned and slip-resistant surfacing at these entry points can enhance safety, design, and accessibility at any aquatic center.

Sometimes, it’s difficult for guests to visualize how deep water is becoming and how quickly. Gradients and colors that symbolize shorelines and water depth can be a good visual indicator of zones. For example, a walkway or lounge chair area can have tan colors that resemble sandy beaches while light blues can represent shallow water, gradually developing into darker colors as water depth increases.

In some states within the USA, pool codes require specific surfacing color options under certain depths of water. Internationally, restrictions are often less limiting, allowing for colorful designs that can extend deep underwater.

For more information about the different types of Zero-Depth Entries, read our blog Reducing Slip and Falls at Zero-Depth Entries.

Waterparks

Waterparks have many areas where Life Floor can be installed to solve common challenges and aesthetically transform the design of a space.

Stairs

Due to the modularity of our tiles, stair nosings and treads will maintain high visual contrast over time. Since our products are slip-resistant, they also reduce injuries that occur on slippery slide towers and ramps.

Elevated Platforms

As WhiteWater’s recommended safety surface, Life Floor is standard on AquaForm structures and Landing Pads. Life Floor is recommended on AquaPlay structures and for splash zones under AquaPlay, AquaForm, and AquaSpray structures.

Landing Pads for Waterslide Exits

Life Floor Landing Pads are designed to meet the safety and quality standards of today’s most challenging aquatic conditions. Our Landing Pad tiles will never absorb water and will remain slip-resistant even when submerged underwater.

Edge Pads for Lily Pad Walkways

Lily Pad Walkways are a popular attraction at waterparks and provide a unique way for children to engage with a small space. Edge Pad Landings that are cushioned with Life Floor allow for safer entries and exits to these types of features. They can also include custom graphics, logos, or colors to complement a facility’s theme.

Sloped Ramps

Life Floor is ADA Compliant and can be installed on any sloped access ramp. These commonly slippery areas especially benefit from Life Floor’s slip-resistant properties.

Locker Rooms and Bathrooms

Locker rooms and bathrooms are typically added onto projects that already include a pool deck or splash pad to take advantage of lower installation costs per square foot or square meter.

Since these facility features are often connected to aquatic amenities, they are typically wet and slippery especially near showers and entrances. Wet carpet mats are unsightly and can harbor harmful bacteria or mold which require them to be replaced and cleaned often. Life Floor offers a beautiful alternative that complements facility design and is easy to clean.

DRY PLAY

Life Floor is engineered for aquatics, but some customers enjoy the superior cleanability and cushioning of our products. This is especially true on Cruise Ships where lightweight, IMO Certified products such as Life Floor are highly sought after.

---

To get started on your project, begin a conversation with one of our Account Executives to find out how Life Floor can solve your surfacing-related challenges.

What Exactly is Life Floor?

For anyone familiar with our product, they know that Life Floor is an aquatic safety surface with endless design opportunities. What many people don't know about our flooring, especially if they haven't seen or experienced it in person, is exactly how it looks, feels, and functions. Let's dive into the details! 

MATERIAL 

Most people have seen or experienced pour-in-place aggregate products commonly used for safety surfacing at playgrounds and they assume that Life Floor must be similar. While our product is also cushioned, our tiles are entirely different.

Life Floor is made of a closed cell foam-rubber which means it’s impervious to water and easy to clean. The compressive nature of this unique material is what also makes it a safer option than concrete. Our tiles’ impact attenuation has been third-party tested by NSF International to prove that they can cushion guests if any slip-and-falls occur.

CUSHIONING  

To achieve any level of impact attenuation, materials require a certain thickness. What does that look like with Life Floor?

Our standard 3/8" (10 mm) tiles are most commonly used on splash pads and pool decks and have been tested to a minimum fall height of 1'-0" (0.3 m). For more robust needs such as slide landing pads, we offer 7/8" (22 mm) tiles with a minimum fall height of 4'-0" (1.2 m). We also offer a layered system that can be customized to protect at even greater heights. 

SIZING

Many customers wonder if Life Floor can be rolled out like rubber matting products used in other applications. Our surfacing doesn’t come in sheets or rolls. Instead, it is a modular system with a standard square tile size of 24" x 24" (610 mm x 610 mm) that is adhered to a substrate such as concrete. As a result, any customer looking for minimal replacements, especially in the event of any accidental damage, can swap out individual tiles without replacing an entire floor. 

For additional shapes, our triangles and rectangles are half tiles, our hexagons are 20" (508 mm) from edge to edge, and our custom cutting possibilities are endless. Our proprietary precision-cutting system allows us to cut any shape, logo, or image from any number of our square tiles making Life Floor a popular choice for designers and customers looking to accurately depict specific imagery. 

INSTALLATION

But what about the grout? Again, Life Floor works differently. Our tiles are adhered to substrates like concrete with a commercial-grade waterproof contact cement adhesive. No material is applied in the joints between tiles. Instead, they are installed tightly adjacent to one another. Due to the natural closed-cell properties of our tiles, these joints are easily cleaned and do not harbor microbial growth. The finished look of our installations is continuous, allowing for more organic designs, like the one pictured above, to be achieved.

SLIP-RESISTANCE 

Our grooved Ripple tiles are uniquely slip-resistant as verified by third-party testing. Even our Slate tiles feature a MicroTread texture for added traction. Life Floor products are engineered to perform best when wet which creates a solid grip for bare feet on our surfacing. As a result, guests of all ages experience aquatic spaces more confidently—playing, swimming, and splashing in ways that would be impossible on slippery surfaces.  

SEE & FEEL LIFE FLOOR YOURSELF

The best way to experience Life Floor is by visiting an existing installation. For anyone curious about local facilities that feature our product, we've created an installation map to reference. 

To see and feel Life Floor for yourself, we also encourage you to order a product sample. We have a variety of options depending on your needs available in our sample store. 

---

Looking to learn a bit more about Life Floor? Our team would love to connect about your aquatic needs. 

Aquatic Surfacing Design Trends for 2023

With vibrant colors and limitless theming possibilities, aquatic surfacing designs continue to gain in popularity as a way to enhance splash pads, pool decks, and water parks. As this application evolves year after year, the Life Floor Studio takes note of the most popular design requests at different facilities worldwide. Curious to know where things stand in 2023? Explore these top aquatic surfacing trends we've been seeing so far! 

Detailed, Custom Imagery 

Wet’N’Wild Gold Coast

Since just about anything can be cut into our floors, we're seeing an increase in requests for custom design work. Some customers use this technique to illustrate a theme across a whole splash pad whereas others selectively add a few custom images as fun accent graphics. 

Bold Bands of Color 

Wells Park

As an alternate way to design with square tiles, several customers have resonated with large striped designs that showcase vibrant patterns or gradients of color. This application demonstrates a budget-friendly way to achieve a distinct and colorful effect.

More Complex Triangle Gradients 

Ever since our earliest triangle gradient designs debuted at locations like Cedarcrest Splash Pad and Atlantis the Palm Dubai, these continue to be some of our most popular styles. An evolution we've seen recently has been the request for more complex gradients. These include bright swirls of color, multiple islands across a splash pad, and more varied, artistic designs.

Unconventional Themes 

Manor Field Park

We've seen limitless creativity when it comes to designing aquatic spaces. Looking beyond typical water-based themes, some more recent splash pad designs have featured unique design ideas inspired by motifs like sports, winter, the forest, parks, and the desert. 

REFINED Geometric Designs 

Kimpton Seafire Resort + Spa

For pool decks, country clubs, and high-end resorts, we've seen an increased interest in understated geometric designs. These patterns often use our triangle or rectangle tiles as well as our more muted or neutral color options. 

LOGOS THAT CELEBRATe BRANDS AND DESTINATIONS

Morey’s Piers

Since 2022, we’ve featured add-on packages that allow customers and designers to more easily include and price Logos and Inlays. As a result, we've seen an uptick in requests for custom branding. Municipalities and theme parks often choose to include logos as a powerful way to make their aquatic facilities more unique and memorable. 

Paths and Play Opportunities 

With themed Inlays that can be laid out to create a treasure hunt trail or a path of lily pads for hopping, customers are delighted to add activities to their floors. Beyond the increase in requests we're seeing here, classic play features in the Life Floor portfolio, like hopscotch, continue to stand the test of time. 

Elevated Aquatic Themes 

Brimbank Aquatic and Wellness Centre

Since we're designing for areas with water, splash pads that feature aquatic theming will never fade in popularity. As an evolution of these designs, we've noticed facilities leaning into more turquoise and aqua tones over more traditional blues. As noted in some of the trends above, we've also seen more requests for custom imagery and the use of our Inlays to add theming and play value. 

---

The Life Floor Studio continues to push the limits with our tile designs and can't wait to see how these trends keep evolving over time. Witnessing how surfacing completely transforms and brightens up facilities worldwide while creating positive experiences and memories for guests makes our work endlessly rewarding. 

Interested in exploring any of these options on a splash pad or pool deck? The Life Floor Studio offers complimentary design services and can't wait to help bring your project to life!  

Is Concrete Surfacing the Right Choice for Splash Pads?

Using concrete as the surface for an aquatic play area is like building a house, putting down plywood and calling it a home. Sure, it functions, but it’s not going to be comfortable or add any design value. And that’s the reality of concrete. It functions fine as a foundation, but is that all we want out of surfacing?

Life Floor Activates the Entire Splash Pad

At Life Floor, we believe safety surfacing dramatically improves the user experience. It completes the immersive experience you’ve planned and budgeted for, combining safety, playfulness, and utility all in one. In fact, because of the way Life Floor performs with water, it’s actually an additional play feature that activates the entire splash pad.

The Surface is a Canvas for Play

Life Floor is a feature because it encourages different kinds of play. The entire splash zone is energized when Life Floor is the surface. Kids cartwheel, jump, somersault, crawl, and tumble their way through spray features. In other words, users play in more ways with Life Floor. By equipping the surface for play, designers can engage 90% more of the aquatic facility.

Investing in Safety and Play Value

The added safety and play benefits of Life Floor are a worthwhile investment. Explore some of the ways we’ve transformed facilities and see what our customers have to say about Life Floor.

Historically, aquatic surfacing has been disastrous. Everything has failed. But with Life Floor, that’s all changed. You can now specify durable surfacing that doubles as a feature. Life Floor's performance and durability have been third-party tested through NSF, which is why we can confidently say we are the only aquatic safety surface that does exactly what it should do.

Want to learn about how our tiles are third-party tested for durability?
Read about how we met the criteria for NSF Standard 50:26 here.

---

HAVE A PROJECT THAT NEEDS LIFE FLOOR?

Contact us below and tell us about your project. Our Studio Team provides custom design concepts free of charge. We look forward to designing with you soon!

Life Floor is Now the Recommended Surface of Waterplay

Minneapolis, Minn., March 2, 2022

Life Floor, an innovative aquatic safety surfacing manufacturer, and Waterplay, the industry’s leading aquatic play manufacturer, today announce a strategic partnership to bring aquatic surfacing to the global splash pad market. Together, the companies are committed to making aquatic recreation completely immersive and connecting the world through play and social experiences. 

“We’re thrilled to bring Life Floor to our customers. It just makes sense for our companies to team up and create a playful experience together. Life Floor is really stunning in the aquatic space and a perfect complement to our products and, of course, for customers looking for strong theming. It’s also very fun in that kids play differently on a Life Floor aquatic surface, they’re able to crawl and roll without restriction, or make a game of jumping from tile to tile. With NSF certification, our partners and customers can trust they are investing in a surface that is both durable and safe.””

— Kerrin Smith, Waterplay Vice President

Waterplay’s commitment to bringing play and social experience to communities around the planet is evident in their inclusive designs, range of splash features, and global reach. The company is passionate about making play accessible for every ability with thousands of installations and a 35-year track record of happy customers. 

“We really couldn’t be happier to partner with Waterplay. They’re a leading manufacturer in splash pad design with a team who is incredibly passionate about play. Offering our products together brings the best of both worlds together for aquatic users—unique, imaginative play solutions paired with beautiful, safe surfacing.” ”

— Gwen Ruehle, Life Floor Vice President, Business Development

The Waterplay and Life Floor partnership includes the global splash pad market. Exclusivity will be given to Waterplay for all projects specified solely with Waterplay equipment and Life Floor products. Life Floor is committed to providing the best aquatic surfacing for all spray park end customers and will continue working directly with customers who choose alternative equipment providers. Life Floor will also continue working directly with spray feature manufacturers and their Registered Aquatic Partners where Waterplay and Life Floor are not exclusively specified.

---

Life Floor manufactures Life Floor tiles, a foam-rubber flooring system designed for use in wet areas with barefoot traffic. Created as an alternative to concrete and other conventional materials, Life Floor is the only safety surface specifically designed and engineered to perform in aquatic environments. Life Floor combines award-winning safety with unparalleled design capabilities, delivered by an expert team committed to a world-class experience for everyone who interacts with our products. To learn more, visit lifefloor.com.

Gwen Ruehle | Vice President, Business Development
+1.612.269.7919 | gwen.ruehle@lifefloor.com
lifefloor.com

Waterplay designs and manufactures play solutions for indoor and outdoor aquatic play spaces. Freestanding play features, playable fountains, elevated structures and water management solutions—we specialize in inclusive, high value, quality products that last. With aquatic play, water management, seating, shade, surfacing and toilet facility solutions, there’s no aquatic play project we can’t handle. Contact us today to start working with our experienced support teams positioned to help you every step of the way. building a splash pad is easy with Waterplay. Visit waterplay.com to learn more.

Shanley Hutchinson | Group Marketing Manager
+1.250.712.3393 | marketing@waterplay.com
waterplay.com

New Life Floor Tile Colors!

We’re excited to announce that we’ve expanded our color palette with two new offerings: Seafoam and Submariner. We’ve carefully chosen these colors to expand our popular blue and turquoise color families. With these new additions, we’re broadening the creative possibilities for our design partners and customers.

SEAFOAM AND SUBMARINER

SEAFOAM

Seafoam features a medium teal tone that complements Turquoise and Aqua. Together, the three colors form our new Theme: Surf. On its own, Seafoam is the perfect hue to create designs inspired by beautiful tropical getaways. Paired with Turquoise, Aqua, and our lighter tan tones, this new color can be used to create gradients representative of island seashores. 

SURF THEME: TURQUOISE, SEAFOAM, AQUA

NATURAL BRIDGE, VA
Featuring: Surf Theme
Photo Credit: Inside Edge Safety Surfaces

SUBMARINER

Submariner is a deep navy that is now the darkest blue featured in our palette. With this new color, we’ve expanded our most popular Theme, High Tide, which also features Ocean, Bluebird, and Aviator. Submariner’s rich tone adds depth to gradients and patterns. We recommend using it with our blue and tan colors to create aquatic-inspired designs. It also works well as a more neutral option to pair with greys or to contrast bright color selections. 

HIGH TIDE THEME: SUBMARINER, OCEAN, BLUEBIRD, AVIATOR

REDFORD CHARTER TWP, MI
Featuring: High Tide Theme
Photo Credit: Inside Edge Safety Surfaces

Through a limited release, these new colors have already made their debut on some installations across the country. We look forward to seeing how our expanded color palette inspires even more projects this year. 

DOTHAN, AL
Featuring: Submariner & Seafoam
Photo Credit: Dothan Leisure Services

FAYETTEVILLE, GA
Featuring: Seafoam
Photo Credit: Inside Edge Safety Surfaces

COMPLIMENTARY DESIGN SERVICES

Interested to know what a design using these colors would look like at your facility? Contact us today to have our Studio Team create a complimentary rendering of your project! 

LIFE FLOOR + WHITEWATER PARTNERSHIP

Bringing non-slip cushioned surfaces to the world WhiteWater is very pleased to have entered an exclusive distribution agreement with Life Floor for the global water park market. Life Floor’s patented foam-rubber flooring system significantly reduces slips and falls, the #1 cause of water park injuries. However, with Life Floor, when a fall does occur, bumps and bruises are minimized. This is a game-changing product for the water park industry because as every owner and operator knows, the majority of water park injuries occur in this category.

“The partnership further confirms WhiteWater’s designs and product offerings as the safest in the industry,”

— Geoff Chutter, WhiteWater’s President and CEO

DELIVERING FUN - SAFELY

Jonathan Keller, Life Floor’s CEO, sums up the announcement of this new partnership, “Working with WhiteWater, the market leader, was an obvious choice to access a wider market, but we’ve also found that the missions which drive our companies are very aligned. Both companies are single-minded about delivering fun safely with the highest quality products available. I think I can speak for all of us when I say that we are excited by the opportunities that this agreement represents.”

Chris Biancofiore, the Product Manager for WhiteWater’s wide range of interactive water play products and attractions, commented, “On Life Floor, kids feel safer and freer to push their boundaries without the fear of getting hurt…simply put, they play differently.  The forgiving surface isn’t abrasive, so it’s soft on bare feet and won’t skin knees.  As a result, the only tears will come from when they’re told it’s time to leave the park.”

MORE THAN JUST SAFETY

Life Floor is longer-lasting and stays cleaner. While Life Floor’s non-slip ‘soft fall’ is its biggest benefit, its quality manufacturing also makes it incredibly durable. The completely waterproof tiles will not absorb water or other liquids and last as long underwater as they do above water. Its closed-cell construction does not support the growth of microbes.

Virtually impossible to stain, its more resistant to chlorine and UV exposure than other rubber composite products on the market, making Life Floor not just a safety choice, but an economical one as well.

---

About WhiteWater

WhiteWater, The Water Parks and Attractions Company, is the leading global designer and manufacturer of innovative water park products and active family attractions for world-class clients. We specialize in water slides, multi-level water play structures, wave-generating equipment, FlowRider® stationary surfing machines, harnessed attractions, interactive play, and water rides. WhiteWater is dedicated to providing the ultimate WOW experiences to our clients and their guests by delivering projects on time, on budget, and to the industry’s highest quality and safety standards. Our industry-leading innovation is driven by a team of 600 extremely talented employees in eight offices around the world working together to complete over 5,000 projects since 1980. Recently, WhiteWater was awarded Canada’s Best Managed Companies designation for its excellence in management and business practices.

Una de Boer | Director of Marketing
+1.604.249.3432 | una.deboer@whitewaterwest.com
whitewaterwest.com

About Life Floor

Life Floor manufactures Life Floor tiles, a foam-rubber flooring system designed for use in wet areas with barefoot traffic. Created as an alternative to concrete and other conventional materials, Life Floor is the only safety surface specifically designed and engineered to perform in aquatic environments. Life Floor combines award-winning safety with unparalleled design capabilities, delivered by an expert team committed to a world-class experience for everyone who interacts with our products. All over the world, people trust Life Floor to make their aquatic environments look and feel extraordinary. Life Floor was founded in 2011, and has served the biggest names in water parks, including Carnival Cruise Line, LEGOLAND, Cedar Fair, and Great Wolf Lodge. In 2016, Life Floor became the only surfacing company ever to win the World Waterpark Association's prestigious Kelly Ogle Memorial Safety Award.

Gwen Ruehle | Vice President, Business Development
+1.612.405.2718 | gwen.ruehle@lifefloor.com
lifefloor.com

---

FAQS

Who is WhiteWater West Industries (WWI)?

The Original Waterpark Company! Founded in 1980, WWI helped start the World Waterpark Association and are the oldest manufacturer of fiberglass water slides. They are also the largest supplier of equipment (slides, wave pools, surfing machines, play structures) in the entire world, in fact their business is as large as all of their competitors combined. They have done over 6000 projects in the 38 years they have been in business. To get a sense of scale, if they were to install Life Floor around all of their previous projects, that would require more than 60 million square feet of Life Floor.

At this point, WWI does everything from designing, specifying, planning, supplying, managing projects, and helping maintain waterparks and theme parks all over the world. Their largest markets are China, the United States, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East, and they complete from 170-220 projects per year.

What does this partnership mean for Life Floor?

Life Floor is now WWI’s recommended safety surface. Soon, Life Floor will be included in all designs for water park Multi-Level Play Structure (MLP) equipment, as well as on applications such as slide towers, wave pools, and around FlowRiders and slide pads.

How did this partnership happen?

WWI and Life Floor both value safety, and the partnership is focused on safety first and foremost. We believe that bringing the leader in aquatic safety surfacing design and manufacture in partnership with the leader in water park design and manufacture will create safer aquatic recreation experiences for potentially millions of people.

How will this partnership work for customers?

New water park customers interested in purchasing and installing MLPs can obtain Life Floor for their facility by working exclusively through WWI.

If you are a water park customer with a preexisting relationship with Life Floor, you may contact either Life Floor or WWI directly for MLPs and other projects.

If your park does not have WhiteWater equipment, you can still buy from Life Floor directly.

What about splash pads?

Given our commitment to splash pad safety via our work with NSF-50, Life Floor will still be selling splash pad surfacing directly to clients.

Has WWI purchased Life Floor?

WWI has not purchased Life Floor. Life Floor remains an independent company, and we look forward to seeing how this partnership will serve the waterpark industry going forward. 

---

If you have any questions about how this partnership affects you, or how to best obtain Life Floor for a project, please contact solutions@lifefloor.com.