Sunday, January 27, 2008

Something springy

Hi all
Well I hope you saw my article in Irish Dancing magazine this month (January 2008). I promised to have more online but it has been a crazy new year. so I am finally getting to it.

In my little diagram I say you need "something springy"

what I used was a gym floor foam like found on these websites
http://www.matsmatsmats.com/exercise/exercise-floor/soft-floor.html
http://www.softnsafefloors.com/page%203.htm
http://www.mygymfloor.com/Products/ValueGrade/tabid/78/Default.aspx

But this is not the only option. I am doing a review of commercially available flooring and each manufacturer uses different foam.

Check out this foam I just saw.
http://www.rei.com/product/688668?vcat=REI_SEARCH

it is only $4/sq foot! wow! I haven't checked it out to see if it might be too springy

You could consider the old fashioned foam camping mats. or insulation foam used for sealing garage doors. use your imagination but TEST first! you don't want too much sprint or your dancer will be fighting the floor and may even hurt themselves because it is too springy.

whatever foam you use. You will place it every square foot. one of the comercially available floors comes in snap together strips of engineered hardwood. it has the foam affixed in a strip under the snap together edge.

More to come soon.

I hope you have fun making your floor. send me pictures when you get done. I will post them here so others can learn from your experiences too.

Enjoy