Constructing a Proper (Floating) Dance Floor

contributed by my colleague Barbara Devereau

For anyone out there who does not know and wishes to lay a proper dance floor this is how you do it according to my husband (an engineer) who has over the years overseen them laid many times for myself and other teachers who have admired mine. (Floating means it sits on a subfloor but is separate from it and not attached to walls etc. Its framework is what holds it together.)

On the thin side of a 2 x 4 put a 1 inch thick rubber pad and place it on the floor with the rubber side down onto the concrete/cement sub floor. Repeat this process and lay the next 2×4 16 inches from the first one. This will eventually give you a floor with 16 inch centers. Between the long 2 x 4s screw (do not nail, the bounce will bounce them out) with strong wood screws 16 inch pieces with a little rubber on the bottom of the centre of them every 16 inches down the length of the 2x4s. The cross parts are to make the floor stable and give you 16 inch squares. Start at one end wall of the studio and move to the other always checking that the frame is level both ways. (if it isn’t shave some of the rubber until it is) On top of this framework you place good one side 1/2 inch plywood and screw it down onto the frame sinking the screw heads into the plywood so they cannot injure nor work loose when the floor is in use. (The top floor should be well screwed down with counter sunk screws, not just corners and sides but the entire sheet to the cross joints, then filled with wood putty and sanded smooth.) Over the plywood lay Marley or what ever dance flooring you prefer. When jumped upon the rubber absorbs the downward pressure and releases and is ready for the downwards pressure again on the landing and again releases. The Marley makes for a non slip finish and is my choice.