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Sheldon Wolfe
Senior Member
Username: sheldon_wolfe

Post Number: 331
Registered: 01-2003
Posted on Friday, March 06, 2009 - 02:42 pm:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post

What materials are good for the floor in a scene shop? Like the stage, stuff gets screwed down to it, and welding is a concern.
Marc C Chavez
Senior Member
Username: mchavez

Post Number: 338
Registered: 07-2002
Posted on Friday, March 06, 2009 - 03:46 pm:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post

having grown up in several --- one was t&G doug fir of the 1910's it had a thousand layers of paint, goo and later on fiberglass and hotmelt glue. never refinished it or anythiing - other than dust mopping with those "oil" soaked wood shavings that were used to pick up dust.

the other one was CIP concrete with a sealer. Everything could be scraped off except the paint. It was right behind the stage so we did not often screw things to it. if that happened we'd build a couple of temporary platforms and screw to those.

Flat and level are important-ish as you are often building "off the floor" and if you constantly have to level the first piece...it just adds time.

the stage - of course - had an early variety of MDO plywood screwed to it and painted a very dark -dark brown with enough gloss not to show every scuff but not enough to show all the dust either. and NOT flat black - although I know that's done a lot. idnividual sheets could be unscrewed and removed as they became too damaged.
J. Peter Jordan
Senior Member
Username: jpjordan

Post Number: 313
Registered: 05-2004
Posted on Saturday, March 07, 2009 - 02:06 pm:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post

One several stage floors, I have used tempered hardboard; not sure about the shop. If welding is really a concern, I think cast in place concrete is really your only option. Otherwise, Plywood with plugged ply veneers and with a face of plugged veneer or MDO is almost ideal. When it gets too grubby and dinged, it can be replaced relativelly easily.
Phil Kabza
Senior Member
Username: phil_kabza

Post Number: 370
Registered: 12-2002


Posted on Saturday, March 07, 2009 - 02:44 pm:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post

For a scene shop that needs to accept screws for temporary construction of sets, I would put down sleepers, 1/2 inch CDX subflooring, and then screw down 1/4 inch tempered hardboard for the working surface. After 5 or 10 years of making a mess, it would be easy to replace the tempered hardboard.

Stage flooring is another question altogether.
Sheldon Wolfe
Senior Member
Username: sheldon_wolfe

Post Number: 332
Registered: 01-2003


Posted on Monday, March 09, 2009 - 10:18 am:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post

Thanks for the suggestions. I was able to contact someone at the Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis. Their shop floor is two layers of 3/4" plywood on concrete. They use small squares of plywood as needed to build welding jigs, thereby protecting the floor.

They use pneumatic staplers to attach things to the floor, so they don't like hardboard, which bends the staples. It also is harder to drive screws in.

They do use hardboard on the stage, but for many productions they overlay that with a floor designed for the show.
Curt Norton, CSI, CCS
Senior Member
Username: curtn

Post Number: 138
Registered: 06-2002


Posted on Monday, March 09, 2009 - 10:25 am:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post

Thanks for the follow up. It's always good to hear what works from a user standpoint.

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