Sprung Floor Building at Our Dojo’s New Home
This past weekend, we spent 2 full days working on moving into our dojo’s new home. On day 1, we arrived early on Sat. morning to get organized with Kevin Holter, our project manager for the sprung floor and all other construction projects. Complete with detailed blue prints and cardboard templates, the guys got to work on gluing foam springs to the bottom layer of plywood of our sprung floor, while Kevin was busy cutting up the wood pieces for the second layer and edges.
- GENIUS IDEA of Kevin’s:Using a cardboard template to indicate placement of foam springs
If you ever build your own sprung floor, be sure to have fans blowing to keep the area well ventilated while working with the copious amounts of glue. We set up ours, but only after it became so potent that it was necessary.
- Warning: Try not to sniff too much glue fumes!
While the guys got to work on this, I scrubbed the washrooms down to make them usable then set up a snack/lunch table to keep the troops happy.
- Gotta keep the troops happy and fed!
Once the first layer was fully glued with foam springs, they were placed down and a second layer of plywood was laid on top, off-setting the seams, and screwed into place. By the end of the first day, we managed to have the sprung floor fully in place. The floor wasn’t quite tight enough against the wall, but with a little man-power, we got this issue sorted.
- The efforts of 8 men yielded a couple of extra inches.
The majority of our work on day 2 was spent moving mats, equipment, etc from the old dojo to the new one, then putting the mats in place. Because the wall was completely square, we had to use wood pieces to square it off so that the mats stayed properly in place.
- Getting the first layer of the sprung floor in place.
- Screwing in the final screw 🙂
I spent a lot of time cleaning carpets and setting up our new lounge on the second floor. This will give parents a place to hang out comfortably while their kids train. We want to install a camera that allows them to watch the class from the lounge, but we haven’t found the right camera system just yet.
- Testing the new lounge area… It works!!!
There is still a lot of work to be done, but at least the training area is in a usable state, so we’ll be starting classes there tonight. It may take a few weeks, but once we have everything fully set up, I’ll post some photos showing off our new dojo. 🙂
- Starting to look like a dojo! 🙂
I would like to thank all the students who came out to help with the set-up of the new dojo. They worked very hard over long hours. I am truly grateful for all your efforts in helping us to complete our vision. 🙂 To see all the pics from our weekend of building and set-up, check out all the photos from this past weekend on Facebook: pics from day 1, pics from day 2.
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Thanks for the post Lori. Always wondered how they do a sprung floor. Now I know! So great to have had all your helpers. Looks like a fantastic job.
Looks great!
I highly recommend talking to Will Repath, of AFA sound, to coordinate an AV set-up (TV in the room). Not only is he great friend, but his favourite thing is to build the best AV for the least money (not NO money, that would be suspect…).
Any fool can get great sound if they spend lots of money, but he built my speakers out of salvaged drift wood, built my subwoofer out of strawboard, and found me pro-level Marantz stereo components for a wicked price. Then shipped it to Baffin Island.
He regularly installs video and audio into multi-million dollar homes, churches and bars, and sub-contracts for ‘big’ contractors when they can’t get it right.
He’s awesome -tell him I sent you, and he’ll figure out a killer system for WAY less than you had imagined.
[email protected] 604-258-0479, cell 604-727-6730
You should call him, he’s awesome (yes, I said that 3 times).
We just put a foam sprung floor in at our school, you guys are going to love it! Breakfalls, and hard throws are a dream now!
Yes, it’s been a very popular move with our students. Everyone is really pleased! 🙂
This is great! I am looking to do similar for a home studio. Wondering what kind of foam/glue you used – and where you sourced your mats?
Hello Jodi. I used the same foam that they used here: http://judoinfo.com/tatami.htm. I inherited my tatami mats, so I couldn’t tell you where they came from.
We are thinking of putting a foam sprung floor in our Aikido school — can you please let me know how thick (e.g. 1/2″, 3/4″) the plywood sheets were, and how well are they holding up?
I wish I could answer the thickness question, but I don’t recall. I’ll have to take a look around to see if we have the plans. I will say there’s two layer of plywood. One layer with the foam attached, then a second layer layer on top in a differing configuration and screwed down in order to prevent shifting. Then the mats are laid on top of that.
It’s been 6 years and the floor is still great.
Thank You for sharing your amazing experiences!