Home Dance Floor Project

I have a question for all the dancers here.

My girlfriend loves ballroom, I've actually started taking private lessons in an attempt to, at some point in my life, be able to lead her somewhat eloquently.

She has always wanted a dance floor at home to practice on. She rents a house that does not have adequate space for this on the main level, however the basement offers a decent sized room. I would guess it's around 40'x10' which isn't huge but is more than adequate for a smaller sized dance floor. Here's the issue: it has carpet that looks like was laid by a drunk right after and all nighter at the pub... There is a HUGE bubble lengthwise down the middle of the carpet. I can literally grab the bubble and fold it, it's not a small mistake. But, since it's a rental, we cannot remove the carpet from this room.

My questions are as follows:

What type of material should I use for the actual floor surface? I want this to be smooth and seamless if possible. I've considered buying like a laminate type fake wood floor, vinyl maybe? I don't know the terminology but my apartment has fake vinyl type wood and it slides wonderfully. I've also thought about just using plywood and sanding/finishing.

Secondly, Do I just have to negotiate the fold in the carpet? I'm going to need to raise the floor regardless, so I guess I'll just have to negotiate the fold? Build the support frame in a manner that doesn't touch the fold?

Anyway, the most important part of the question is what material/finish should I use for the surface. I can likely deal with the carpet without too much work but was interested to see if anyone had any ideas. Maybe the carpet section is better suited for a carpentry forum :p
 
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Ha! I am doing this too, in my new basement. There are several threads on this, if you search, they were very helpful. I did do a search on craigslist for dance floor, and shockingly found a few actual dance floors for sale, pretty cheap. Also some greatmats tiles for sale. Now if only they would respond to me! SO you might try that as well.
 
The floors I danced on in England were for the most part Maple floors that was linseed oiled. I have maple Wood floors in my house and they are all linseed oiled. My teacher actually taught me how to make the floors smooth as silk with the linseed oil. Enjoy you dance floor....
 
We recently sold our house near Atlanta, and we had installed an O'Mara sprung floor when we first bought the house in 2006. Fantastic surface.

Unfortunately the buyers were not dancers :(
 
Actually put together a greatmats floor - portable dance floor tile. It's not real wood and it's not fancy, but it was relatively cheap, super easy to do, I could put it right over my carpet and I can take it with me if I move. for what i use it for, it's more than adequate!
 
Oh, greatmats is what I got too! Got it cheap off craigslist, and it's small for now, but I'll expand it later this year. I'm impressed with it as well, for the price and ease. I may put some thin plywood between the carpet and the tile, tho.
 
I have a question for all the dancers here.


What type of material should I use for the actual floor surface? I want this to be smooth and seamless if possible. I've considered buying like a laminate type fake wood floor, vinyl maybe?

IME, laminate is not optimal for ballroom. I second dancepro's endorsement of maple with linseed oil.

I love that you want to lead eloquently. Yay you!
 
Thank you all for the advice. It looks like we are going to wait until more permanent place to do this. Might as well hold off/save up/and do it right once. Until then, i just steal meeting rolms after hours at work to dance with her :)
 
Here's mine with the greatmats floor. Put it together myself in a few hours

Does the floor slide around on top of the plywood? I wasn't sure if i needed to put some grippy stuff or felt on top of the plywood so that the greatmats tiles don't move.
 
Does the floor slide around on top of the plywood? I wasn't sure if i needed to put some grippy stuff or felt on top of the plywood so that the greatmats tiles don't move.
You don't have to worry about anything moving... The tiles are HEAVY!!! Once you snap them into place, the floor is impossible to budge.
 

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