Despite your best intentions, sometimes getting to the gym just doesn’t happen with life’s daily demands taking up your time. But when your gym is just steps away from the couch, committing to a healthy lifestyle becomes easier–and more cost-effective–than ever before.
Whether you just need a few tweaks to an existing room to do Pilates, or you’re a Crossfit champion looking for a custom workout experience you can’t find anywhere else, Legal Eagle Contractors can design and build a fantastic home gym for you.
Why Use Legal Eagle Contractors?
A contractor you can trust to do the job right, on-time, and on-budget can be hard to find. But Legal Eagle Contractors is just that type of contractor.
We’ve been a staple in Houston remodeling for more than 35 years, completing hundreds of successful projects for happy customers and winning numerous industry awards, including Houston Remodeler of the Year. Our founder and CEO, Dan Bawden, is a leading authority in aging-in-place (AIP) construction and universal design (UD). The Legal Eagle family consists of friendly, reliable pros who treat your home construction project as if it were their own.
Home Gym Considerations
As you plot out your nice new workout space, here are a few considerations to think about that will affect what your gym can and should look like:
- Type of workout: Will you be doing calming yoga, or slamming 50-pound plates into the floor after deadlifting?
- Room flexibility: Do you want to be able to use your gym for non-gym activities?
- Space and layout: Do you have enough room to safely do your workout in the space you’re imagining it going?
- Budget: Anything is possible design-wise with an unlimited budget, but sadly very few of us are working with one of those. If you have a history of signing up for gym memberships and then never going, it may be wise to consider building something more basic.
Adding a Home Gym vs. Converting an Existing Room
A very popular option for creating a home workout area is to do a room conversion. This allows you to continue using the room for its original purpose, but adding health and fitness functionality. For example, we find that a lot of homeowners who want to work out in the garage want to be able still to park in the garage, and that can be done with the right planning and materials, such as vulcanized rubber mats that won’t break down from dripped oil.
If you prefer to have a dedicated room for your gym that’s built specifically for that purpose, a home addition may be the way to go.
Aspects of a Home Gym Construction Job
Whether you’re doing a home addition or converting a garage or other room to a home gym, these are some of the factors to take into account:
Flooring
A good floor is crucial for a good workout. Based on your workout activities, we might recommend rubber mats for strong shock absorption and the ability to roll them up, if desired. For a permanent solution, cork is eco-friendly and resistant to mites, mold, and mildew while also offering good shock absorption. We may need to reinforce the floor (especially for second-story home gyms), as well, and we can advise you on how to lay out the equipment so as to safely distribute the weight.
Entertainment
Maybe you like to watch sports while bench pressing and need a TV mounted on the ceiling, or you like to hear music while working out. We can run audio/video, cable, DSL, and electrical wiring, design custom entertainment centers to protect your equipment, soundproof the room (which will also help with dropped weights and other noises), install new outlets, and more.
Insulation and air quality
Speaking of soundproofing, seeing to insulation, air quality, and air conditioning will be of utmost importance if you’re planning to work out in the garage during a Texas summer’s day. Even if you’ll be indoors, you’ll be generating humidity (in the form of sweat, which can lead to mold), heat, odors, and possibly off-gassing from equipment, all while using up lots of oxygen. We can install windows, fans, new air conditioning lines and vents, smart thermostats, insulation, and more.
Security
Garages are notoriously easy to break into. You don’t want to have to worry that your new $2k workout bike will get stolen. Our team can install motion-activated floodlights, shatterproof windows and/or window bars, additional locks and deadbolts, newer and safer garage door openers, and other security measures.
Gear
Your home gym could have a rock wall, monkey bars, or 70-pound heavy bag; just let us know what special equipment you want to use and we’ll build it (if necessary) and install it for safe use.
Storage
Space can get tight when you’re sharing it with a car or a bunch of furniture. Let us build in space-saving cabinets, closets, or custom weight racks.
Aesthetics
A home gym doesn’t need to be ugly, and in fact it shouldn’t be! Let us craft a modern, inviting space that appeals to your taste and makes you want to work out.
Benefits of Having a Home Gym
If you’re on the fence about putting in a home gym, here are more reasons to convince you…
- Ditch the commute and save time and money, and it’s better for the environment!
- Save upwards of $700 per year on a gym membership and never have to deal with someone else’s sweat on your favorite machine.
- There’s nothing more convenient than a gym at home where you can workout exactly when you want.
- A home gym doesn’t expose you to anyone else’s germs and will never be shut down for pandemic reasons.
- Adding a home gym can increase your home’s value as well as make the property more appealing to would-be buyers.
- Set the playlist you want, the channel you want, the temperature you want…it’s all up to you!
- Get twice the value out of your new gym by making it double as a home office or other space.
Get Started Today!