Load reads High or Standard for both point and rolling load. Standard is not a lesser floor, it is a different load case, and in a school hall it is the correct one. In an arena carrying telescopic seating it is not.
What the systems share, and the two they do not.
The table above separates the systems. These two properties do not: they hold for the 7 systems with a KTL wood surface. The columns choose which system; these two decide whether it is still flat in five years.
They do not reach FlexiPRO 21 + hard covering or FlexiPRO 21 + elastic covering. On those KTL supply the birch-plywood subfloor only, and the covering, its coating and its cleaning regime all belong to whoever makes it.
The boards are conditioned for the climate they are going into.
An imported hardwood floor arrives seasoned for somewhere else. That is one of the two ways it gets ruined here. The other is the slab it is laid on.
Timber moves with the moisture around it. Boards conditioned for a European winter take up humidity here and push against each other until the floor cups, lifts or splits at the perimeter. It happens months after handover, long after anyone is watching.
KTL condition the boards to the destination instead. The moisture content is set for the climate the floor is going into, and the boards are lacquered on the back as well as the face so they take up moisture evenly rather than from underneath. That is what lets them be laid tight, without the gaps a floor otherwise needs in order to move.
The catalogue asserts that without a number. The number is 6.5% to 12%, which is the range KTL say their production can be set to, and it is wide enough to matter: the bottom of it is a heated European building and the top of it is this climate. It comes from their Thailand presentation rather than from the catalogue, so it is a sales document rather than a specification, and it is the kind of figure to have confirmed in writing against a specific order.
This is a board-side answer. It says nothing about the slab, which in this climate is the other half of the problem and is ours: we measure slab relative humidity with in-situ probes left to equilibrate, to BS 8203 and ASTM F2170, and the reading decides whether a membrane goes in and which one. Not the habit of always fitting one, and not the habit of never.
What this rests on
Boards are supplied at a moisture content matched to the climatic conditions where the floor is installed, and are laid without gaps.
KTL catalogue, p5.
“All flooring boards are customised with a moisture content suited to the individual climatic conditions in your area - installed without gaps and tailor-made to remain stable.”
Boards are lacquered on the back as well as the face, for moisture stability.
KTL catalogue, p8.
“Backside lacquered floor boards for optimal moisture stability.”
The coating is cured in a factory, not rolled on in a sports hall.
It is the difference between a floor a cleaner can put a machine over and a floor that has to be closed, sanded back and recoated.
A site-applied lacquer cures in whatever air the hall happens to have that week. KTL apply a seven-layer UV-cured coating under factory conditions instead. Game lines then go on over that cured coating, and no clear top coat is applied after them; on the portable design floors the lines are printed into the panel before the final lacquer coats instead.
KTL say the floor takes a scrubbing machine rather than hand-mopping. That is the difference between a routine a cleaning contractor can keep and one that quietly lapses. They have not published the chemicals, the pad grades or the frequency, so we ask for those in writing against the named system before anything goes into a handover manual.
On durability the number to hold on to is the abrasion strength: KTL put the factory coating at around three times that of a lacquer applied on site, with a ten-year warranty on it at normal wear. Abrasion resistance is precisely what decides how fast a coating is worn through to the point where the floor has to be closed, sanded back and recoated, so a longer interval between refinishes follows from it. How much longer depends on how hard the hall is worked, and no recoat interval is published to multiply, so we do not put a figure on it.
What this rests on
The seven-layer UV coating has around three times the abrasion strength of a lacquer applied on site, and carries a ten-year warranty at normal wear.
KTL catalogue, p8.
“10 years of warranty on the 7-layer UV-coating system on the surface (at normal wear & tear); abrasion strength around 3 times higher than traditional on-site applied lacquer.”
Game lines are applied over the KTL coating, so no site-applied clear top coat is needed after marking.
KTL catalogue, p8.
“Game lines are applied on top of the KTL coating - no additional on-site clear top-coat application needed.”
KTL rate the floor systems for a lifespan of approximately fifty years.
KTL catalogue, p8.
“High quality floor systems with a lifespan of approximately 50 years.”
The floor is maintained with a scrubbing machine rather than hand-mopping. No chemicals, pad grades or frequency are published.
KTL, direct to us on 2026-09-04. Not in the published catalogue. Their word, not a document.
Every build-up, drawn to scale.
Each section below is drawn from the manufacturer’s published layer thicknesses at the same scale, so two systems can be compared by eye. The resilient element is drawn in the accent colour, because where the give sits is the thing that decides most specifications.
Portable PRO Summit V2
EN 14904 A344 mmHigh loadarea-elasticFIBA WF73-07
Professional basketball and other fast ball games, multi-purpose usage in large sport/event arenas.
Species offered. Hevea, Beech, Maple. The catalogue names them and shows a swatch for each, and publishes no per-species technical data at all, so species is a question for the manufacturer rather than something to read off a page.
Species offered. Hevea, Beech, Maple. The catalogue names them and shows a swatch for each, and publishes no per-species technical data at all, so species is a question for the manufacturer rather than something to read off a page.
Large arenas and multi-purpose usage, including ball games, badminton, and gymnastics. Concert and event arenas that need a flooring system with a high loading capacity, for example heavy loads from retractable seatings.
Manufacturer’s render, KTL
1 mm1 millimetres. 7-layer UV coating + site game lines
22 mm22 millimetres. Solid hardwood boards, 22x130 mm
Species offered. Hevea, Beech, Maple. The catalogue names them and shows a swatch for each, and publishes no per-species technical data at all, so species is a question for the manufacturer rather than something to read off a page.
Arenas and multi-purpose halls, including ball games, badminton, and gymnastics at the highest level.
Manufacturer’s render, KTL
1 mm1 millimetres. 7-layer UV coating + site game lines
22 mm22 millimetres. Solid hardwood boards, 22x130 mm
53 mm53 millimetres. PRO III LVL battens + integrated shock pads
baseUneven concrete or subfloor
76 mm system height, 96-156 mm on wedges
Species offered. Hevea, Beech, Maple, Merbau, Ash, Oak. The catalogue names them and shows a swatch for each, and publishes no per-species technical data at all, so species is a question for the manufacturer rather than something to read off a page.
EN 14904 A464 mmHigh loadarea-elasticFIBA WF73-01BWF Grade 1 International Elite
Arenas and multi-purpose halls, including ball games, badminton, and gymnastics at the highest level.
Manufacturer’s render, KTL
1 mm1 millimetres. 7-layer UV coating + site game lines
22 mm22 millimetres. Solid hardwood boards, 22x130 mm
41 mm41 millimetres. PRO II LVL battens + integrated shock pads
baseUneven concrete or subfloor
64 mm system height, 86-144 mm on wedges
Species offered. Hevea, Beech, Maple, Merbau, Ash, Oak. The catalogue names them and shows a swatch for each, and publishes no per-species technical data at all, so species is a question for the manufacturer rather than something to read off a page.
Multiflex Advanced V2
EN 14904 A452 mmStandard loadarea-elasticFIBA WF73-02BWF Grade 1 International Elite
Multi-purpose halls and studio usage with focus on ball games, badminton, and gymnastics.
Manufacturer’s render, KTL
1 mm1 millimetres. 7-layer UV coating + site game lines
22 mm22 millimetres. Solid hardwood 2-strip parquet, 22/20 mm
Species offered. Hevea, Beech, Maple, Merbau, Ash, Oak. The catalogue names them and shows a swatch for each, and publishes no per-species technical data at all, so species is a question for the manufacturer rather than something to read off a page.
(the 'Designed for' field is EMPTY on p32 - the only system page with no stated purpose; the page badges are YOGA & STUDIO and MULTI PURPOSE)
Manufacturer’s render, KTL
1 mm1 millimetres. 7-layer UV coating + site game lines
22 mm22 millimetres. Solid hardwood boards, 22x130 mm
10 mm10 millimetres. Elastic foam underlay
baseLevelled concrete slab
32 mm system height
Species offered. Hevea, Beech, Maple, Merbau, Ash, Oak. The catalogue names them and shows a swatch for each, and publishes no per-species technical data at all, so species is a question for the manufacturer rather than something to read off a page.
Species offered. Birch plywood (subfloor only - no KTL wearing surface). The catalogue names them and shows a swatch for each, and publishes no per-species technical data at all, so species is a question for the manufacturer rather than something to read off a page.
Species offered. Birch plywood (subfloor only - no KTL wearing surface). The catalogue names them and shows a swatch for each, and publishes no per-species technical data at all, so species is a question for the manufacturer rather than something to read off a page.
What it looks like on a slab, and what it looks like eight years later.
Manufacturer’s render, KTL. Top 55% cropped away, which removes the installation crew entirely.
Manufacturer’s render, KTL. Nothing removed: bare floor, no people, no client marks.
How the board is conditioned, milled and checked.
The moisture argument on this page is a process claim, so this is the process. Samples are oven-dried and weighed to fix the moisture content, and the milled board is checked on the bench for dimension and profile.
Manufacturer’s render, KTL. KTL's own factory. No client and no people in frame; nothing removed.
Manufacturer’s render, KTL. KTL's own factory. Hands only, no face; nothing removed.
Manufacturer’s render, KTL. KTL's own factory. Hands only, no face; nothing removed.
Manufacturer’s render, KTL. KTL's own factory. No client and no people in frame; nothing removed.
Manufacturer’s render, KTL. A studio render on a plain background. No client, no people; nothing removed.
Solid, not a veneer over a core.
KTL put it plainly: engineered floors are generally a 3 mm veneer on plywood, “difficult and risky to sand and relacquer when issues appear” and “practically impossible to sand more than once”. A solid board is the reason the coating argument on this page is worth making at all, because there is enough timber under the lacquer to sand back to.
One test on this site has a number behind it.
Everything else KTL publish about performance is a class letter, and a class letter is not an answer to a specification written around a figure. The rolling-load report is the exception, so here it is in full: what was rolled, how heavy, how many times, and what the floor did.
The resistance to rolling load was carried out by rolling a wheel ( steel ) at a load of 1500N forward and backwards 150 times, within a test area approx. 0,7m x 0.1m. Testing was performed at the prevailing laboratory conditions ( 23 C , 35 % RH ).
Maximum indentation by wood species against the Demand in EN 14904 5.2 limit of < 0.5 mm.
Max. indentation
Demand in EN 14904 5.2
Ash
Beech
Oak
Hevea
Maple
Merbau
KTL Sports floor type 4
< 0.5 mm
< 0.1 mm
< 0.1 mm
< 0.1 mm
< 0.1 mm
< 0.1 mm
< 0.1 mm
No perceivable damage was observed after the testing.
Read the < signs: the report states indentation below 0.1 mm against a limit of < 0.5 mm, which is not the same as an indentation of 0.1 mm. As it appears from the table above, all wood species passed the rolling load test, EN 1569, as part of the EN 14904. It covers all six species KTL sell, including ash and oak, which the timber table above does not.
The species decide how much the floor moves.
Volumetric shrinkage is how much a timber changes size across its moisture range, and in a climate that swings the way Bangkok’s does it is the number that decides whether a floor stays flat. Hevea moves least of the six at 7.5%. Beech moves 2.4 times as much, at 17.9%. That is the whole argument for a rubberwood floor in the tropics, and it is a property of the timber rather than a claim about a product.
Density, Janka hardness and radial, tangential and volumetric shrinkage for six timbers, as cited by KTL from the Wood Database.
Species
Density(kg/m3)
Janka hardness(N)
Radial shrinkage(%)
Tangential shrinkage(%)
Volumetric shrinkage(%)
Hevea
595
4280
2.3
5.1
7.5
Merbau
815
7620
2.9
4.8
8.0
Beech
710
6460
5.8
11.7
17.9
American maple
705
6450
4.8
9.9
14.7
Sycamore maple
615
4680
4.5
7.8
12.3
European birchSubfloor plywood only
625
4140
6.0
10.0
16.0
Figures from the Wood Database, cited by KTL in their Thailand presentation of April 2024. Third-party reference data that KTL cite. It is not KTL test data, and it is not a measurement of a KTL floor. Four of the six species KTL sell. The table omits ash and oak, splits maple into American and sycamore, and adds European birch, which the catalogue lists only as subfloor plywood rather than as a wearing surface. Hardness is worth reading alongside movement rather than instead of it: merbau is both the hardest timber here and the second most stable, at nearly twice the Janka figure of hevea.
nine systems is a shortlist of one or two once we know the room.
Tell us what the room is for, what will be played on it, and the heaviest thing that will ever cross the floor.
