"If your house is built on a slab then you must use engineered hardwood instead of solid."

This is not really relevant. You simply should not put dance flooring of any sort directly on a concrete slab, as it will be "dead" with no give to it.

Real wood in addition needs sufficient ventilation underneath to prevent the accumulation of moisture, but then so do some of the cheaper "engineered" materials which can experience glue failure.

Ralph, I've noticed that several studios have installed Pergo (qv) floors. It's a type of laminate which is relatively inexpensive and holds up fairly well under the stress of dancing.

A hardwood floor is ideal but it must be installed correctly for dancing and, even worse, it must be maintained. Accordlingly, hardwood floors are very expensive.

If your house is built on a slab then you must use engineered hardwood instead of solid.

jj

Help on hardwood dance floors!

I am ripping up my carpet in my house's great room to install a hardwood dance floor. Their are so many choices in wood flooring with solid, manufactured, engineered, strip, various types of wood, bamboo, locking, nail down, floating, etc... Does anyone have any good advice to give me. I do ballroom, swing and country dances and learning more. It will not be a studio but just a place to socialize and practice at home (24' x 12' in size).

Thanks in advance!

The laminate or real wood that clicks/locks together works well and can save you money. They either require installing a padding or have padding attached. I put cheap laminate in a large room in the basement for practising and that works well. I had to level part of the floor to do that, put it worked out well. My only regret is a did not putting better quality laminate in, like I did in 2 rooms upstairs. The good stuff would have been worth the 40% more it cost. But even with the cheap stuff on concrete, we are happy with the results. Any of the click floor are called floating, but probably are not as good as

What kind of surface do they dance on for the British at Blackpool. It appears to be in squares. What about the floor at Monaco. Is it the same. When watching demonstrations on youtube doesn't anyone look at the surface being danced on. Square Vinal tiles in many cases. So before spending a fortune on a wooden sprung floor think twice. Is it neccessary.

There are only two properties that govern the quality of a dance floor:

One is the "feel" of the surface. How much grip/resistance is there. It doesn't matter at all what the surface is made of if it has the "right" feel. Well maintained Maple has perfect "feel", but it is very expensive, and is very little used any more.

The other is the "give" in the surface - its spring. A good floor absorbs impact and returns it with reactive force. Traditionally, this is achieved with timber having particular qualities (and this is all about how the boards are supported, and not about the boards themselves), but modern floors are frequently "sprung" with foam or actual leaf springs.

There are aethetic considerations, but these are separate: a proper maple floor, suitably sprung, is a joy to look at as well as to dance on, but much cheaper alternatives can be equally servicable.

I would advise a floating parquet floor and wax it rather than coating it. A coated floor wears out in those spots that are used most and is more difficult to repair. Use waxpowder when it gets slippery. DancelifeUSA stocks this waxpowder.

Odd that this topic should pop up again, after a year, or perhaps we have an interest in the product cited?

The stubbs of cheap candles, split to remove the wick, and a fine cheese grater, does it for me.

Parquet flooring needs a good subfloor to stop individual blocks moving under pressure (particularly from ladies heels), and would not, therefore, be an obvious choice for a sprung floor in a domestic setting.

Hi There,

I have a professional Master Dance Floor for sale. 10x14 light maple portable 4x4 foot sections. We purchased this floor from California and had it shipped to Maryland. I paid $3,000.00 for the floor. I am asking $2,000 firm for it.

If you would like to see photo's of it, go to Craigs List Baltimore, and type in dance floor. I have 4 photo's listed. Heavyduty mobile storage cart is included w/ purchase.

Nice thing is, when you move, you can take it with you!

Thanks,

Renee
pets.unlimited@comcast.net

Renee, I am just a tire kicker but with my rusty math I cannot divide 4x4 sections into the dimensions you give.
I am guessing the overall size is in yards? Is there a 1 foot border?

I did try to find your pics, but Google to craiglist from UK gave some strange results - and no joking, someone was offering the ashes of an unknown grandmother for sale!

If you want the link (and I hope it is tounge in cheek) here it is
http://www.craigslist.org/about/best/bal/1393232597.html
I know its off topic, unless someone has danced with a partner with less life in her(and now I am being irreverant).

Exact dimensions please, and perhaps a link to the actual photos.