Walls were scrubbed from the ceiling to the baseboards, rubber mats were pulled up to clean the floor underneath and the meticulous job of wiping down each individual weight on all weight stations was done, to name a few. Treadmills were also dismantled to clean motors and fans inside, the machines also getting waxed underneath the tread.
Seeing as the facility is open 361 days a year, some long cleaning projects like these can only get done during holidays, Gower said.
“You can look at it unfortunately that we were able to have this much time to do it, but this is the first time we’ve ever been able to get down to this level and taking things apart,” he said.
But it’s not the only facility taking advantage of the situation. The Decatur Athletic Club is using the downtime to update its spin room, adding new bikes and painting lights. DAC Manager Kaelyn Falk said the plan is to have a glow spin class in the future.
The DAC keeps members up to date through Facebook and hosts live workout sessions throughout the day so people can still exercise with instructors at home.
At Decatur Family YMCA, CEO Matt Whitehead said some projects usually require them to close parts of the facility and take about a week to finish, but have been tackled during the COVID-19 shutdown. The Y has so far stripped and waxed its tile floors and refinished the wooden floors in the aerobics room, gym and racket court.
