Thread: A bit out of left field - floating floorboards in garage.... dance and cars.

I'd be looking at paint or vinyl, either just a roll out piece big enough to fill the frame or you could go a full garage but I would think turning the wheels on anything but hospital/restaurant vinyl or solid timber flooring could result in damage.

Vinyl-

We had floating floor put in our old place a while ago and, if I remember correctly, it's not glued down, it just sits on a foam underlay.

What an accommodating Dad!!

I'd be thinking of sheets ... say 4 or 6mm AA (marine) ply finished in decking paint, and lightly grooved every 100mm to resemble timber flooring. Easy to pack up and store, sounds like timber .. and should wear well.


Regards

Rob

Originally Posted by Tahlee

What an accommodating Dad!!

I'd be thinking of sheets ... say 4 or 6mm AA (marine) ply finished in decking paint, and lightly grooved every 100mm to resemble timber flooring. Easy to pack up and store, sounds like timber .. and should wear well.


Regards

Rob

I reckon floating floor might be cheaper than AA marine ply... that stuff is highway robbery
You'd also need a way to keep the edges locked together; ply is dimensionally stable, but it will twist, especially the thin stuff, and you don't want people tripping over raised edges

Originally Posted by geocacher

1. What to use and how will it cope with the car still being parked on it? And at what cost - ideally keeping cost to a minimum.

The least expensive wood flooring here is engineered bamboo. The surface finish is extraordinarily fragile and practically irreparable once scratched. Park a car on it and it will look a mess instantly.

Originally Posted by geocacher

2. Do I permanently glue it down, or pin the ends with electricians plugs so I can pull it up later if I want to? (They move out eventually...)

Removing tongue and groove plank flooring installed with urethane flooring glue is a Herculean task. You'll come to hate yourself if you glue the flooring down and then try to remove it. The method I found works best is to use a 90 lb. class jack-hammer to pry up the ends of two planks at a joint and then lever up the planks with the blade of a mattock. After the planks are pried off you need to use a heavy and sharp scraper to remove all of the glue. Extremely tough job to do.

Originally Posted by geocacher

3. Do I do the whole double garage or just the half that's needed and if I do how do I make the edge neat?

If you use floating flooring on half of the surface you'll need some way to restrain it.

Originally Posted by geocacher

Thoughts? Material suggestions, any other ideas.

I've used this with success BEHR Premium DeckOver 5-gallon Wood and Concrete Coating-500005 - The Home Depot
I'm sure that there's a local equivalent. The finish is flat, pretty tough after a couple of weeks of curing, and the base is tintable.

Cheers,
Rob

I think that if it were me. . . .

Daughter would be handed a paint brush, masking tape and a couple of contrasting colours of epoxy concrete paint. Encourage a chess board pattern or anything else suitable for her dance school needs. When done, cars could parked on the epoxy without fear of damaging the floor. And if after she moves on, you could cover the epoxy with another color more suitable to YOUR tastes.

If slip and slide for dancing is needed paste wax or some of that sawdust like stuff sprinkled on dance floors.

Originally Posted by geocacher

Hi all,

My daughter has been using our garage as a dance studio now for a while. She wants to take it to the next level.

She's asked if I could put down flooring so that when she's working on stuff and videoing it, it looks less like a garage.

I'm looking at putting down floating floor but it brings up a few questions.

1. What to use and how will it cope with the car still being parked on it? And at what cost - ideally keeping cost to a minimum.

2. Do I permanently glue it down, or pin the ends with electricians plugs so I can pull it up later if I want to? (They move out eventually...)

3. Do I do the whole double garage or just the half that's needed and if I do how do I make the edge neat?



Thoughts? Material suggestions, any other ideas.

Thanks,

Dave

I've installed floating floor boards in my garage with floating floor underlay, I didn't glue them down because I went wall to wall and there wasn't any need all I did was put some edging around the edges to finish it off.

Make sure you get boards that can handle some water on them, I went for wider boards and from memory they were 12mm think. Cost me about $800 for the boards.

How would a floating floor feel to dance on? I hate walking on it, feels and sounds wrong.

Hi JMS,

Do you still park anything on it or is it a dedicated room for something else?

DJ

My suggestion would be a vynal plank (timber look) floor. It doesn't require an underlay, no glue, and if you cut it in reasonable tight, you could get away with just caulking the edges. Removing it won't leave any traces it was ever there. We install it in shops (high foot traffic) and it seems to wear really well. It's advertised as 100% waterproof so easy to mop.

Very easy to install and lightening fast on a single large room..
We get ours usually from Harvey Norman, about 50-65 per sq m.

I think it's called allure or something...

May be more comfortable to dance on as well as it doesn't have the 'bounce' of a traditional floating floor

The floor in my workshop is yellow tongue pine board flooring, it is tough, easy to lay and cars won't break it. Mine has been down about thirty years and was the first generation of flooring and has been fantastic for what it is. Secure some joists down to the concrete and screw the flooring down, job done. The only consideration for dancing is the noise factor and it is going to be noisy if hard shoes are worn.

From past contact with Irish dancing most dancers require a sprung floor. As in boards over joists. A surface without give is very hard on the feet and legs after a while. Check these out.
Indoor Outdoor Dance FloorSprung Dance Floor, Portable Sprung Floor, Sprung Floor, Sprung Flooring Sydney, Australia


Indoor Outdoor Dance Floor
Regards
John

it very much depends on how much and how many. Is it just her or is it a number of dancers and how often does she/they practice. Shin splints are a mongrel, so forget about the painted concrete. If the floor is practice floor for one, a couple of sheets of smoothed face ply or MDF on a timber frame is ideal - plenty of spring and can be stood against the wall to allow for the car. There are quite a few different types of clips that can be used to join the panels together - see modular lounge clips. These are designed to clip together as the units are dropped into place and release as the units are lifted out. They would attach to the opposing sides of the frames.

Originally Posted by orraloon

From past contact with Irish dancing most dancers require a sprung floor. As in boards over joists. A surface without give is very hard on the feet and legs after a while. Check these out.
Indoor Outdoor Dance Floor Sprung Dance Floor, Portable Sprung Floor, Sprung Floor, Sprung Flooring Sydney, Australia


Indoor Outdoor Dance Floor
Regards
John

bite the bullet and put in a proper floor.

Much less expensive than dealing with shin splints, buggered knees, etc

(and painted canvass can disguise the walls)


After all, cars are water proof.