On Dec 31, 4:08*pm, RickH wrote:
I dance 3 or 4 nights a week on the Willowbrook Ballroom dance floor.
It is a 6200 square foot bare maple floor constructed in the early
1920's. *It has had dancers on it continuously since then dancing to
all the great swing bands of the 20's through 50's and continuing to
this day.

It is an amazing floor, it is mechanically sprung like no other floor
I have ever been on. *It has a wonderful thump, smoothness and bounce
that is unheard of in these days of banquet halls where some dumb-ass
restaurant owner simply applies some prefinished flooring to concrete
and calls it a dance floor.

The Willowbrook floor is referenced in this wiki article about floor
construction, but is not detailed enough for my project:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sprung_floor

My dream is to install this same kind of floor in a building I own. *I
would love to see exactly how the Willowbrook is constructed, but that
wont be possible. *I've danced on sprung floors over foam, and it is
simply terrrible, like landing on sand, there is cushion but no return
in energy, foam sucks. *The Willowbrook floor is somehow sprung using
wood.

I will finish the with 1 inch T&G bare maple just like Willowbrook.
Of course over 90 years of dancers feet does more amazing things to
bare maple, which can never be replicated in ones lifetime.

Does anyone here have any knowledge on how the amazing dance floors of
early the 1920's were constructed? *In terms of the under structure?
Possibly any old-timers who installed basketball courts in the 1950's,
might be similar?

If you have knowledge like this, please share this lost art in the
wiki article before you die.



Additionally, I get the feeling that the Willowbrook has a 3 layer
basketweave spring system. One cannot detect any "studs" or solid
spots anywhere, all is good and springy.

Here is a diagram of a triple basketweave spring system:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Woodsprung.svg

Based on this diagram what species/size would you use for the
basketweave battens?

Also assuming 3/4 inch maple on top, would 1/2 inch plywood be a good
load distribution layer (underlayment)? My fear is that 3/4 inch
plywood would negate the effect of the basket springs by being too
stiff.