Dance Away with a Floating Dance Floor

If you are into dancing or exercising, either professionally or casually, you more than likely understand the importance of a certain type of flooring.  This design is called a floating dance floor or sprung floor. Floating floors are most often seen being used in dance studios to protect the dancers from stress injury caused by hard surfaces. Not only are these floors protecting athletes, but they can also help improve performance!

What is it about this type of flooring that helps? Other than allowing dancers to perform moves safely and appropriately, these floors are actually lifted off of the ground. Because of this, floating dance floors offer a surface that pushes the exhausted energy back into the movements of the dancer for an even more effortless performance. Since dancers and other athletes may spend hours upon hours practicing and performing, floating dance floors will go far in preventing injuries and other long-term issues.

Floating dance floors are made up of a number of layers. The top layer is the surface that will be performed on.  Under that is typically a layer or two of plywood. Then, the final layer that makes this floor appear to float is foam!

When it comes to finding the right foam for the job, The Foam Factory has the solution! The foam we typically see purchased for these floating dance floors are 1”x3”x3” blocks of our 2lb Crosslinked Polyethylene foam (XLPE).  After the sheet is cut into blocks, they are then spread evenly over an area. The other layers are set on top of the stabilizing foam blocks.

What makes 2lb XLPE the best foam for the job? The answer is that its specific qualities make it perfect for what a floating dance floor needs to function properly.

• This foam has the correct firmness. It will help prevent the body from tiring out. It also highly reduces the risk of stress injuries.
• XLPE gives a bit of spring that lifts feet when moving, but it will not have too much bounce like a trampoline would.
• It will absorb the shock from the energy of falls, which helps reduce injury.
• It creates a decent amount of traction to prevent the floor from moving.
• As a bonus, this foam will offer an appropriate amount of noise control in your studio!

The above are just a handful of reasons that Crosslinked Polyethylene from The Foam Factory is the appropriate choice for your floating dance floor! The floors that you can build with XLPE do not solely work for dancers either. These can be used for children’s play areas, aerobics, sports, and more!  Another good reason to invest in our XLPE: if the foam gets damaged, it is often inexpensive to replace compared to other materials!

No matter what you are looking to build your floating floor for, whether it is for a professional studio, a home gym, or your local community center, you can find the right foam at The Foam Factory. If you have questions about your application, or you want the foam custom cut, contact us today!

Tags: Closed-Cell Foam, DIY

Posted in DIY, Health and Fitness