Occasionally clever do-it-yourselfers send me an e-mail on how they've done sprung floors. I'll use this page to offer them to you.

A Cool Trick I rent Rosco floors in the Los Angeles area. On several occasions where a sprung floor was required, but when funds were inadequate I have done the following. Purchase from Home Depot or other similar store an insulation product made from small bubble wrap with foil adhered to both sides. The product comes in a variety of widths, but I buy the four foot wide version. Cut the material into lengths appropriate for the space. I always run the "sub floor" perpendicular to the direction of the performance surface. A small amount of tape is used to hold the lower floor from moving while the performance floor is being laid. Tape seems as per normal installation. I have done this over marble, concrete and slate floors. It is not perfect nor any real substitute for a suspended floor. But when money is an issue for a short term project it goes a long way towards a solution. Tell me what you think! Ciao, Fred Allen (freddoes@aol.com)

I was really impressed by the collection of suspended flooring system options that you have on your "flooring.html" page. Thank you. I am putting in a small floor at home on a budget, where we will be over a concrete slab, and have limited ceiling height (7 ft.). My project is 8 x 12 feet for a small practice area at one end of our new basement rec room. In reading it all over, I have created a solution that should be sufficient, and very cost-effective. I wanted to share it, as well as get your critique on it. I am not running a studio, or professional stage here, just a practice floor for home- ballet and tap. There is a pressure treated pine lattice that is readily available at lumberyards 1/2" thick, just two diagonally crisscrossed layers of 1/4" wood. The strips are 1 1/2" wide, 4" on center. The nice young man a Home Depot helped me lay two of these on top of each other, so that we had 4 staggered basket weave layers. No solid wood top to bottom. Then we put apiece of 1/4" plywood on top and jumped on it as hard as we could, to see of the plywood or lattice would crack. No problem! A 3 layer basket weave of 1 x 2's at 12" (or is it 16"?) on center mentioned on the page you referenced really only gives spring in the top 2 layers, as the first is laid solid on the concrete, raising pads for the second layer. The 3/4" actual thickness of a 1 x 2 12" OC scales down roughly to the 1/4" strips at 4" OC in terms of stiffness, according to my engineering friends. Apparently, the stiffness of a given width and material of beam is a function of the depth of a beam (3/4") vs (1/4") cubed, divided by span, or length between supports, cubed. So if you cut the span in half, you can sacrifice half the beam's thickness and get the same stiffness. Similarly, if you cut 12" down to 4", and use 1/4" thick wood in place of 3/4", you are still at about the same stiffness. The only place this breaks down, is in the fact that the span between 1 x 2 strips 12" OC is actually only 10 1/2", and the span between my 1/4" x 2 strips 4" OC is actually 2 1/2", a little stiffer. But the doubled lattice sheets actually provides one extra (fourth) layer of 1/4" thick "springs", so I'm guessing that it will be close enough. The engineering says this support system underneath whatever decking (plywood) will deflect about 50% of what the 3 layers of 12" OC furring strips would deflect (the lattice design is 2x stiffer), but I am planning on trying a thinner top flooring to get more deflection, not 3/4" birch plywood. The lattice is rot-proof, already stapled together at the joints, costs just $6 each for a 4 foot by 8 foot section, and I don't have to nail together all of those blasted furring strips! The furring strips 12"OC would cost about $8 for a 4'x8' area, and doubled lattice costs just $12. The conventional 3 layers of 3/4" end up at 2 1/4" thick, and the lattice stack will be only 1" thick (remember the 7 foot ceiling...). Go to Home Depot at dinnertime, when its nice and empty, and try this- I think you'll be impressed! In our town's new HD, the lattice and 1/4" luan plywood are right across the aisle from each other. Since even the overly-wimpy 1/4" plywood seemed structurally sufficient (didn't break with two guys jumping up and down real hard) with lattice supports 4" apart, I am planning to use Pergo right over the lattice for aesthetic purposes when we aren't dancing. Total floor thickness (my favorite feature of this design): A mere 1 3/8" above the concrete slab!!!!!!!! This will be a minor step up from the adjacent carpet that the rest of the room will have. I wouldn't dare use thin Pergo over 12 or 16" OC supports without plywood, but the lattice provides support every 2 1/2" really, and the individual Pergo strips are about 6" wide by 4 feet long. Pergo was a suggestion from the nice young man at HD, when he pointed out that I'd still have to put a finish on a plywood floor! If you haven't seen it, Pergo is a 3/8" thick prefinished flooring made of masonite or such with a fairly wood-like vinyl surface in a choice of ~20 colors/grain patterns and the new version uses snap together joints- no more glue. So if I want the dance floor to move, I just remove the keeper molding strips, and move it or sell it! A few of my friends have put Pergo in the living room and or hall and love its durability. It looks better than most fake wood, and just needs damp mopping to clean it. The joints are very tight. Only downside is that it is ~$2 per sq foot, but still a far cry cheaper and/or easier (cheasier?) than birch plywood after finishing. Pergo always suggests that you let their flooring float, i.e. don't nail it down at all & leave a gap at the perimeter, trapping it with moldings- its that stable. I think it will sound great with taps, being harder than plywood and fairly thin. I'm a little worried that the top finish won't hold up as well under taps as it did in my friend's hallway. If it gets marred, however, I'll just click it apart and change the damaged piece(s). In any case, the finished 8 x 12 area will cost just $150 plus tax, which fits my budget better than shelling out $450 for Alva's starter kit of foam, then shelling out $100 or more for 3 sheets of birch plywood, just so I can START the finishing process. My E-mail is sheawhat@att.net if you care enough to either say thanks or send some dire warning to save me from myself before I put it all down in May... In any case, my thanks and hats off to you and your team for all of the useful links and insights. READER'S DIGEST VERSION: If you do get a chance to write back, my basic questions boil down to: Do you think it is 12" OC or 16" OC for the conventional 1 x 2 basketweaves? Do you think the top surface of Pergo is going to slide OK? Do you think the Pergo joints will hold up? Do you know anyone who has used Pergo or one of its clones for dancing tap or ballet successfully?