Temporary floating floor over Marley

Hi all,

Not sure if this is the right spot for this, might be better under scenery (and if so, mods feel free to move it)

I'm trying to avoid having to take up and lay down the Marley floor in our auditorium during our upcoming musical production. The set design calls for a floating floor, which we are planning to build from a layer of OSB below a layer of 1/4" MDF. It will be secured to the front of the stage, so it will not be able to shift. I'm hoping that I can lay the floating floor on top of the Marley, likely with a layer of builder's paper in between, and leave it there for the duration of tech and the run of the show (about 2 months). Our Marley is Harlequin's Reversible floor.

Has anyone done this? Should I have any concerns about doing serious damage to the Marley floor? I called Harlequin and they weren't able to give me much insight.

Thanks!

How much to replace the Marley if things don't go as planned? How much to take it up and then restore it after the production? How much to add it to the producter's liability insurance? Just some random thoughts...

Im not clear on what you mean by floating floor. I use ther term for an installed stage floor on rubber pads and sleepers. If you're just laying the osb flat on the marley, I would not be surprised if you found the texture or pattern of the osb. Risin paper might mitigate that, but overlapped edges would probably impint themselves.

If you have a scrap of the dance floor and a little time, mock up a section in the shop or classroom to try it.

Is the surface under the marley unsuitable for the needs of the musical?

If the dance floor isn't being used for show, get it out of there. In areas where it may not be covered all the way you don't want extra foot traffic that could leave scuffs, you don't want to risk paint drips or water pooling on the surface if you try and mop the floating floor. As @BillConnerFASTC suspects, you will get a solid imprint of OSB texture if you have enough people walking over that surface for long enough. Even if you use masonite any little specks/staples/wood chips/etc will get pressed and and embedded in the floor.

On a stage with 5-7 rows of dance floor, it only takes about an hour to roll up, and usually with a group of high school students I've found I can get it laid back down and taped within 2-3 hours. Really not worth the risk or the cost to leave it in place. You will easily spend more in OSB/masonite/paper/etc than you would another dozen rolls of black vinyl tape.

The surface under the Marley is a badly scuffed finished hardwood floor that I'm not allowed to paint or screw into.

Thanks for all the insight! Sounds like it's not worth the risk, it's only 3 strips and we definitely don't have the budget to replace it.

manuallyfocused said:

The surface under the Marley is a badly scuffed finished hardwood floor that I'm not allowed to paint or screw into.

Thanks for all the insight! Sounds like it's not worth the risk, it's only 3 strips and we definitely don't have the budget to replace it.

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Use a ground cloth. Pull up the dance floor. Do a layer of kraft paper or painters plastic over the hardwood floor, lay down some big pieces of muslin over it and tape/stretch the edges down. Once you've made the cloth taut, then you can lay down a coat of primer and then paint the cloth however you want the floor of the stage to look like. At the end of the show, rip it all up and , sweep the hardwood floor, and roll your dance floor back out.

MNicolai said:

Use a ground cloth. Pull up the dance floor. Do a layer of kraft paper or painters plastic over the hardwood floor, lay down some big pieces of muslin over it and tape/stretch the edges down. Once you've made the cloth taut, then you can lay down a coat of primer and then paint the cloth however you want the floor of the stage to look like..

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depending on what scenery/caster type you've got rolling over it...

bobgaggle said:

depending on what scenery/caster type you've got rolling over it...

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That’s what hoverplatforms are for.

(cue 20 more years of “That’s great for xyz, but they aren’t quiet enough for theater...”)

bobgaggle said:

depending on what scenery/caster type you've got rolling over it...

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Did a production of Joseph with rocklike platforms and a groundcloth.
The platforms had fixed casters that rolled at an angle toward downstage center and were about10' wide and 14' deep, so there were about 18 too many of these fixed casters screwed to the bottom.
During the show, they moved from the DS to US position about 95 too many times and because the casters weren't perfectly aligned, they would stretch the groundcloth on the way DS and then bunch the groundcloth on the way back US. After every night the stage crew would have to lift these behemoth platforms and try to re-stretch the groundcloth. It was a mess.