BURNT HILLS & BALLSTON LAKE — Volleyball players from Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake are practicing in neighboring school districts this month because of problems that developed after a new finish was applied to their home school gym floors.

Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake School District spokeswoman Christy Multer said a finish applied to the high school and middle school gym floors on Aug. 11 has failed to dry.

“The top of the finish is sticky and underneath is almost a gel,” Multer said.

Athletic Director Robert McGuire said interscholastic sports practices started Monday with five high school volleyball teams unable to use any of the district’s school buildings.

In addition to the problems at the high school and middle school, two elementary schools in the district are undergoing gym renovations and the third school is too small to accommodate the teams, he said.

McGuire arranged for his teams to practice two hours a day at either Niskayuna or Ballston Spa high schools and scheduled the first junior varsity volleyball tournament on Aug. 29 to be played in Niskayuna.

Students are scheduled to return to school on Sept. 4. Multer said it’s not known when the gymnasiums will be open for classes.

Custodian Supervisor Dave Martin said one coat of Comply Gym Finish was applied to the maple floors of the school gyms, as is done each August.

“It looked glossy and fine at first, but after two days, it was obvious something was wrong,” he said.

“Gym finish usually cures from the bottom up,” Martin said, “But this stuff is cracking on top while the part next to the wood is still gooey and even moving or pooling in spots.”

He said normally the finish completely cures in four or five days, but this summer after more than a week, the gym floors are dull with large areas of “alligatored cracks.”

He said the product used this summer is the same his staff has used in the past.

Multer said school officials have been in contact with Comply manufacturer Essential Industries of Wisconsin in an effort to resolve the problem.

“Essential has sent representatives to look at the floors. They are investigating whether the district received a bad batch of finish,” she said. “Essential is working with BH-BL to remedy the situation and has called other school districts using Comply to warn them to check their batch number and not use the product if they purchased the same batch.”

The company’s Web site describes Comply as an “oil-modified urethane finish.”