FAQs

When cleaning your floor use a mild neutral cleaner, such as
an EFS floor cleaner. Do not use cleaners with ammonia or
abrasives in them, as they can permanently damage your
vinyl dance floor.

If you teach tap, clean your floor after your largest tap classes
to keep aluminum oxide (black goo) from building up on your floors.

No, as long as you are careful and use the right tools. When cutting your vinyl floor use the EFS Seam Cutter or a carpet knife with a new blade, and use a straight edge when making the cut. Remember to measure twice to avoid mistakes.

It depends on the temperature. If your vinyl surface floor has been stored in cold conditions or is shipped during winter months, store it at room temperature (72º) for twenty-four hours prior to unrolling it.

Your vinyl surface floor is more susceptible to visual scuffing due to the nature of movements involved with dance. Some of these scuffs will clean up and some will not. Over a period of a few months your floor will develop a patina from the visual and percussive scuffs that will not affect the danceability of your floor provided our cleaning schedule is followed.

Most dance floors are comprised of two components: a surface floor and a subfloor. The surface floor provides resistance or the appropriate friction for the style of dance being performed. The subfloor provides the resilience or spring to help protect the dancers’ joints and muscles from injury. Both are necessary to ensure a healthy safe environment.

Dance surface floors made from vinyl and linoleum are often referred to as “marley” floors; this is the same as referring to all tissue as “kleenex” or referring to all sodas as “coke.” Actually, the original vinyl surface floor made by Marley for the entertainment industry stopped being produced around 1978, so it is truly doubtful that anyone is dancing on a “true Marley floor” at this point in time.

Wood surface floors are not as common as vinyl surface floors due to wood floors requiring the use of rosin, and the added expense of having to refinish the floor twice a year.

Just as different people prefer different brands of shoes, there is no exact style of floor to suit everyone’s needs. As such, you should take the time to test the various floors you are interested in as you will be dancing on your choice for a long time.

Most vinyl surface floors will last eight to fifteen years under normal wear.

Dance sub floors are also referred to as sprung floors, as they provide the resilience, or give, dancers need. Dance sub floors are also sometimes referred to as floating floors as most of them are not attached directly to the concrete or hard wood foundation.

Putting a vinyl surface floor directly on top of concrete does almost nothing in protecting dancers from stress injuries. An appropriate dance subfloor (sprung or floating floor) should also be installed to provide a healthy dance environment.

There are some stiffer calendared dance surface vinyls that can be taped on top of low pile carpet, such as EFS Mezzafloor, for those studios on tight budgets or in awkward lease arrangements. (However, nothing is a good substitute for an appropriate dance subfloor.)

Some vinyl dance floors have foam-backing and are not appropriate for tap or other hard shoe dance styles. The foam muffles the percussive sound the dancer is trying to achieve and the striking of a hard shoe style on vinyl backed by foam tends to tear through the top layer of vinyl. Other floors such as our Studiofloor can handle tap but may not produce sound that is as crisp as desired.

When it comes to dance floors, the UV (ultraviolet) rays from direct sunlight are typically the most destructive component to which a vinyl surface can be exposed.