# Concrete Stage Surface/Paint?



## Edgineer (Jan 10, 2009)

This looks like this might be the best forum for this question, so here goes . . .

We are building a new church auditorium, and the stage is smooth poured concrete, almost 1000 sq.ft. We are a modern church with a band, skits, maybe some artistic dance, and the occasional play. We want a black stage surface, and the general consensus is to paint it with some sort of a floor paint as a less expensive solution than some sort of laminate (which might also need to be painted). We don't want anything too glossy or reflective for light control, and we need something that isn't too slippery or tacky, but will be durable. A local floor specialist (who isn't a stage person) suggested Valspar's Latex Porch & Floor paint.

What kind of surface or paint do you recommend? Thanks in advance for any responses/suggestions!


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## avkid (Jan 10, 2009)

I would recommend an epoxy paint made for concrete, it will be much more durable.


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## techieman33 (Jan 10, 2009)

I agree with avkid, get an epoxy paint, like what's made for garage floors


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## lieperjp (Jan 11, 2009)

+1 for epoxy paint. 

Also, you might want to talk to the contractor and see if they have a recommendation to give you, if they're nice.


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## TheDonkey (Jan 11, 2009)

Now I'm only going by the little info I have in my head,

But isn't a concrete florr REALLY REALLY bad for dance and the like? IE isn't it much too solid?


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## aminorking (Jan 11, 2009)

To look at it from a different angle, you could place MDF sheets down on the stage, put gaffer at the seams and paint. This may be cheaper if the paints you are looking at are quite expensive because you could paint the MDF with regular paint.

Hope that is helpful


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## TupeloTechie (Jan 11, 2009)

You could try a dark concrete stain.


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## Edgineer (Jan 12, 2009)

Thanks everyone! I share the concern about concrete being too hard for dance. Regarding the MDF sheet idea, which I like, we've talked about something like pergo, but it never occurred to me that we could get thin sheets of MDF. I'll check that further.

Also, I was concerned about epoxy paints possibly being too tacky and reflective, but someone told me today that we might be able to get an epoxy that has more of an enamel look and feel.

Please keep the ideas coming, and thanks again!


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## Van (Jan 12, 2009)

Edgineer said:


> Thanks everyone! I share the concern about concrete being too hard for dance. Regarding the MDF sheet idea, which I like, we've talked about something like pergo, but it never occurred to me that we could get thin sheets of MDF. I'll check that further.
> 
> Also, I was concerned about epoxy paints possibly being too tacky and reflective, but someone told me today that we might be able to get an epoxy that has more of an enamel look and feel.
> 
> Please keep the ideas coming, and thanks again!


 Concrete Bad ! 
MDF not much better, it's a very dense substance with no perceptable give. 
The real way to do it is to install a " sprung floor ", use search feature, I and several others have posted concerning the construction of one. 
If your only solution is asimple surfecr cover then I strongly suggest using an expoxy floor covering. There are several availible either OTC or from Contractors. Nowdays they are almost infinately tintable and come on satin or flat finishes. Another option would be availible from a flooring contractor which is a rubberized gym flooring, this has a little give, but it is gougable.


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## Edgineer (Jan 12, 2009)

Thanks. We don't do much dance right now. If we do, it is more in the ballet/worship direction, but there has been some modern dance in the past.

I was referred by one of our contractors to Rosebrand (don't know why I didn't think of them earlier), and they recommended their Adagio vinyl dance floor covering. I guess this would fall into the same category with Marley, which our rigging contractor suggested. Does anyone have experience with that sort of covering?


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## derekleffew (Jan 12, 2009)

Edgineer said:


> ...and they recommended their Adagio vinyl dance floor covering. I guess this would fall into the same category with Marley, which our rigging contractor suggested. Does anyone have experience with that sort of covering?


Most of use have lots of experience with vinyl dance flooring, and all of us will probably state that no professional dancer will dance on any surface laid directly on concrete (unless that surface is a portable sprung floor, such as Harlequin Floors - Harlequin Woodspring Basketweave ).


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## Van (Jan 12, 2009)

Edgineer said:


> Thanks. We don't do much dance right now. If we do, it is more in the ballet/worship direction, but there has been some modern dance in the past.
> 
> I was referred by one of our contractors to Rosebrand (don't know why I didn't think of them earlier), and they recommended their Adagio vinyl dance floor covering. I guess this would fall into the same category with Marley, which our rigging contractor suggested. Does anyone have experience with that sort of covering?


 
Honestly if you're talking about long term wear and tear, you're much better off with an epoxy coating or a poured urethane coating. Marley is a great thing but unless you install it over a sprung floor it's still useless for dance, especially Ballet. < most ballets won't dance on a floor that isn't sprung, or at the least they will require a temporary floor be laid. Now if you worship includes Nativa American Stomp dance you might be ok....> 

Issues with Marley include but are not limited to;
Cannot roll loads on it < no moving Pianos on anf off stage. No Cadillacs full of feeder either.>
Tears, it will tear and stretch if put under enough stress, once it stretches in this manner there is no way to fix it beside cutting out the area and laying in a new piece which creates more seams.

Seams, Seams suck. There are special tapes use to cover seams on Marley and they do their job however, long term they will begin to loosen up and then they leave a nasty icky residue that takes forever to clean up, which you have to do prior to applying more tape. 

Expansion. When you lay a marley you have to leave small gaps at the seams to allow for expansion and contraction. Even the heat from stage lights can cause a single piece < run, roll, whatever> to expand up to an 1/8" then when it gets cold again, shrinkage. All this moving around does quiet a number on the tape. and if you don't leave enough room for expansion you get big waves / puckers, moguls along every seam. 
leave too much room and you get troughs, dimples and whatever the opposite of moguls is. 

Hope that helps.


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## Edgineer (Jan 14, 2009)

Thanks again everyone. Dance is really a very rare component for us, so it's looking more like our best and most economical bet will be the epoxy/paint route. We can always have a portable floor added over top of that. Just to be thorough, I'm actually re-exploring the carpet option.


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## Edgineer (Jan 15, 2009)

Almost forgot: my only concern with the epoxy type finishes is lighting reflection/glare control from FOH, especially onto objects and materials that we don't want lit from FOH. Does anyone have such experience? I have never done lighting with such a surface, but we get enough glare onto our upstage surfaces from our current flat black wood surface stage.


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## Van (Jan 15, 2009)

If you use an epoxy coating you can mix in flattening agents, any contractor who does large scale applications of epoxies should be able to help you out.
You could also aplly several coats of Rosco Clear Acrylic Glaze, in a flat, over a shiny surface. You will have to wait a couple of weeks, until the epoxy is completely cured though.


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