does anyone know how to make a wooden floor suitable to tap dance on please?

Answer 1

Appropriate flooring for tap dance (and most percussive dance traditions) MUST have:
1 - A TOP LAYER MADE OF HARD WOOD. Oak, maple or other hard woods are fine. Pine, beech, birch or other softer woods are acceptable for the occasional use but will not sustain extended tapping (more than a few hours) without possibly irreparable damage (note that plywood or Masonite are NOT "real wood," whether soft or hard!) The wood should NOT be painted, varnished (most polyurethanes are OK though) or waxed.
2 - HIGH RESILIENCY, indicating that the flooring is sprung, or “bouncy” (also called floating floor or suspended floor.)
3 - RESONANCE, which indicates the floor’s ability to sound somewhat like a drum, is intimately connected to resilience. There must be some space - at least two inches or five centimeters - underneath the top layer of the floor for this to happen.
4 - A CRACK-FREE SURFACE, referring to any spaces between the wood boards on the floor. Likewise, nails, tape or sticky tape residue are dangerous and therefore not acceptable.

AP DANCE CANNOT AND SHOULD NEVER BE PRACTICED, STUDIED OR PERFORMED ON SUCH SURFACES AS:
- carpet
- plywood
- Masonite
- laminated, hardboard, strand board or MDF (Medium Density Fiberboard) flooring
- poured rubber (“gym floor”)
- vinyl-type flooring (Marley, Harlequin, Rosco, "battleship linoleum" or ANY other type of linoleum/vinyl-based product, etc.)
- the type of portable, parquet-like flooring that is typically rented/bought by hotels, night clubs, party/entertainment/event companies, DJs, resorts, etc. for ballroom, swing or other types of social dancing.
- plastic or composite flooring
- cement/concrete
- tile
- marble (yes, we've seen it!)
- non-sprung wood floors
or any flooring that does not meet the four MINIMAL criteria listed above.


Here is the way one person made a floor for tap:

This type of sprung floor has three layers.

* A 3/4"plywood top
* A bunch of foam rubber squares, about 1/2" thick
* A 1/4" masonite bottom

The squares are about five inches square. And are glued to the plywood and the masonite, making a foam sandwich. The masonite is cut just a little smaller than the ply. A neoprene tongue and groove edgeing on the ply means zero screws. Either it runs to the wall or has blocks (like mini-ramps) on the sides to hold it together.
The floor can be permanently installed or used as a portable surface. We have saved several 4x8's from the installation and put them together for our occasional tap dancer. Good sound, the Tapper's love it.
The Good News is that it is wonderful for dancing on! The Bad News is that it is only for light to medium theatre use. No big genie lifts or even grand pianos. I believe it is where the joins are - the four corners of the modules. Very fragile.
The CalArts Dance School uses a foam rubber floor.

Answer 2

I would go with an engineered flooring that looked like wood. I have hardwood floors in a few rooms and in the winter time, I can see a noticeable difference in the space between the boards. This is just due to running the heat (forced air, not under the floor heat, either) and the lower humidity due to running it. So, I can't imagine how bad they would buckle and pull apart if they were exposed to direct heat. I've been told that getting a humidifier for those rooms would solve most if not all of the problem and plan on doing that next winter.

Answer 3

Tap Dance Board

Answer 4

Strong wooden frame made by 2"x2" timber, cover the frame with floor boarding! Then ,go to a laminated floor shop buy a pack of laminated flooring, top the floor boards with the laminate.
Job done, very easy.
The laminate floor will cost about £10 (one pack should do the job) the tongue and groove flooring plus frame maybe about £20.
Hope you are not living in a flat above me?????
Good luck with that one.

Answer 5

OK, Mark up there has it down to a "T"....I've put in my own floors for tap before and I don't think I could have explained it any better!!! He's got it all completely covered in that answer!!!
Mark, can I call YOU next time I'm putting in a new floor? ; )

Answer 6

There were so many woodworking plans with this collection and you will not believe this but there are over thousands plans in the one package deal. Go here https://tr.im/iikOV
This is really something to find that many all together. For someone like me who is just really starting to get involved with woodworking this was like letting me loose in a candy store and telling me I could have anything I wanted. That was my dream when I was a kid.

Answer 7

years ago people used to use and old wooden door on the floor?