Project: Scheels Sports Park Dome Floor Leveling
Location: Springfield, Illinois
Dates: September - November, 2025
Contractor: Show Me Industrial Services, Inc.
Product: Rapid Set® LevelFlor®
Project Overview
The Scheels Sports Park Dome Floor Leveling project stands as a model of technical excellence, problem-solving, and performance-focused craftsmanship. Located in Springfield, Illinois, the project was completed inside the largest air-supported sports complex in the United States—a 190,000-square-foot inflatable dome engineered to accommodate high-level athletic events in soccer, basketball, baseball, and volleyball. When approximately 20,000 square feet of slab was discovered to be outside the strict flatness tolerance required for professional-grade sports flooring, Show Me Industrial Services was brought into level and correct the subfloor using Rapid Set® LevelFlor®, overcoming complex environmental and logistical challenges along the way.
Project Size
The scope included 15,000 square feet of corrective underlayment work and 5,000 square feet of surface grinding. The work spanned over four weeks and required detailed planning, precision layout, and phased execution to restore surface tolerances to the strict 1/8-inch variation within a 100-square-foot grid—a specification critical for the safety and playability of the multi-sport surfaces to be installed.
Project Difficulty
The nature of the structure, a massive inflatable dome, introduced significant environmental complexity. Internal air movement generated by the dome's support systems created a continuous breeze across the floor surface. This had a direct effect on the working time and curing conditions for the underlayment, requiring real-time adjustments in pour rate, mixing, and finish timing to maintain flow consistency. Combined with the extremely tight tolerance requirements and a 10’ x 10’ elevation grid mapped with floor lasers and Tapcon concrete screws, the project demanded a high degree of technical skill and adaptability from the entire crew.
Uniqueness
Few projects of this scale and function occur within an inflatable structure, and fewer still require such demanding flatness tolerances under those conditions. The project's location inside an air-supported dome, along with the required performance-grade flooring tolerances, made this repair truly unique. The team had to develop a custom workflow that merged traditional leveling best practices with dynamic adaptation to the dome’s airflow, time constraints, and layout specifications.
Innovative Construction Methods
The crew used several innovative practices:
The use of dual leveling methods of grinding high areas (~5,000 sq. ft.) and leveling low areas (~15,000 sq. ft.) showed a multi-solution approach to achieve uniformity across the slab.
Use of Materials
Originally, Mapei Novoplan 2 Plus and Planiseal Max primer were specified for this project. However, due to the fast-track timeline, Rapid Set® LevelFlor® was substituted. LevelFlor® was readily available, provided greater cost savings, and was preferred by the team for its longer application times, enhanced workability, and proven performance under demanding conditions.
The crew placed over 900 bags of Rapid Set® LevelFlor®, using 18 pallets of material over four days. LevelFlor® was selected for its fast-setting, high-performance formulation and consistency, even in demanding conditions. The material's predictable flow, rapid strength gain, and compatibility with fast-track leveling schedules allowed the team to maintain production while meeting performance expectations. Without the material’s reliability and rapid-setting nature, maintaining elevation accuracy under time pressure and airflow challenges would have been even more difficult.
Project Results
The team successfully restored the floor within specification, achieving the required 1/8-inch flatness tolerance across all 100-square-foot sections. Post-pour laser verification confirmed compliance, and high spots were ground down to precision, meeting the required specifications. The finished floor provided a highly stable and consistent surface that enabled proper performance of the athletic flooring systems to follow, ensuring safe play, optimal ball bounce, and long-term functionality in a nationally significant facility.
This project not only resolved a critical issue but also demonstrated what’s possible when precise layout, trusted materials, and expert craftsmanship come together under demanding conditions. For construction professionals, it serves as a powerful example of problem-solving under pressure, and the importance of both technical precision and adaptability on a complex jobsite.
The Levelflor installation took place from September 29 to October 17, followed by additional concrete grinding and leveling from October 20 to November 3. The project was completed in time to meet a hard deadline of December 19, 2025, set to ensure the athletic flooring contractor could finish on schedule for tournament events. Thanks to this timely completion, the Scheels Sports Park Dome opened as planned.
