# Problems Laying Marley



## Dizzie (Feb 9, 2013)

Hey All. My shop recently put down some marley and there has been an issue with the gaff tape balling up in small chunks and leaving a residue after being danced on for warm ups and a four hour call with tap, jazz, ballet and movement being done on it. We pulled it up and laid it again with two different rolls of gaff (possibly from the same lot) and it started to do it again but not to the same degree. All of the approriate steps were followed for laying it and I was just wondering if this has this happened to anyone else and if anyone had an idea for the cause as well as a solution?

Thanks!


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## DuckJordan (Feb 9, 2013)

Yeah don't use gaff, Vinyl tape is what you should be using, its a little more expensive but well worth it.


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## venuetech (Feb 9, 2013)

Dance Floor Tape from Rose Brand

I use gaff tape on the ends and "Dance Floor Tape" (vinyl tape) for the seams.


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## Footer (Feb 10, 2013)

venuetech said:


> Dance Floor Tape from Rose Brand
> 
> I use gaff tape on the ends and "Dance Floor Tape" (vinyl tape) for the seams.



Same here. Vinyl won't stick well enough to hold the ends down. Also, the second you introduce tap shoes to marley all bets are off.


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## DuckJordan (Feb 10, 2013)

Never had a problem on our marley with tap shoes. we just use gaff for tabs on the ends the rest is vinyl tape. clean edges and seams.


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## Grog12 (Feb 11, 2013)

We use gaff all over. Our dancers find vinyl tape to be a tad to slippery. The also use the gaff as yet another way to determine where they are on stage.

I've run into this problem. Generaly it happens the worst for me if I mop the floor just before I roll it. I've also noticed that a lot of gafftape isn't made as well as it used to be.

I'd love to be able to switch over to vinyl tape around these parts its cheaper (by enough I'm surprised its more expensive wherever DuckJordan is) but its the price we pay for happy dancers.


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## Van (Feb 11, 2013)

I have recieved rolls of Gaff tape that have behaved in exactly the same way! I once had 2 whole cases< no not dozens not a couple but two complete cases> of completely rotten Gafftape. The action you describe usually occours if the stuff has been frozen or gotten EXTREMELY hot. I've used Gaff on Marley and only had moderate sticking issues, you should be able to use it without this issue, even though Vinyl is the reccomended material to use as it matches the consistency of the rest of the floor. < I know Ballerinas who would emasculate me had I laid Gaff down for seams!>


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## SteveB (Feb 11, 2013)

Footer said:


> Same here. Vinyl won't stick well enough to hold the ends down. Also, the second you introduce tap shoes to marley all bets are off.



Interesting

Never new a tap dancer that wanted a Marley floor

They always use hardwood in my experiences.

And as to the OP, we use Shurtape brand gaff tape and have always done so. Never had a company complain, except when our JLG list screwrd up the tape between the panels and we had to re-tape. 

Never used vinyl though see it occasionally.


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## venuetech (Feb 12, 2013)

Van said:


> The action you describe usually occours if the stuff has been frozen or gotten EXTREMELY hot. >



never have noticed a problem with gaff tape that has been frozen. (as long as it has returned to room temp)


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## kicknargel (Feb 13, 2013)

I too have had bad batches of gaff that I suspect had been frozen. Also, not all gaff is created equal. Second the support of Shurtape.


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## venuetech (Feb 13, 2013)

I have spent many a year in this sub-arctic environment called Alaska. if freezing/thawing gaffer tape degrades its performance its very likely that i would have noticed. when frozen it is very difficult to work with, so i do try to avoid using it when cold. but get it back up to temp, it behaves normally, as far as i can tell.


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## Zebulon1880 (Jul 30, 2015)

I have been working as a stage tech for ballet since 1990. I have pulled thousands of feet of tape when laying down Marley dance floor. I have always used cloth dance floor tapes. It is more expensive, but pays for itself because when firmly laid, it resists rolling up and is slip resistant. It is important to keep Marley clean between installs. Also, some stagehands don't know that it is important to keep a 1/4 inch gap between floor panels and to firmly press the tape down in this gap. This prevents buckling and helps secure the Marley to the stage floor. If the stage floor is a rough or non-wood surface, I would recommend laying vinyl tape under the panel seams to help securing the cloth tape. I also stretch each panel by taping one end securely, having two stagehands pulling the other end while I kick the panel toward the pulled end. One more point to consider. Make sure the room temperature is consistent between installation and performance times. If the Marley is laid at a lower temperature than performance temperature, the panels tend to ripple and loosen. Most ballet companies require room temperature to be at least 70 degrees when dancers are present for class, rehearsal and performance. Colder temperatures tend to cause muscle cramps. Too warm can cause the same problem.

I hope this information will help.


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## Zebulon1880 (Jul 30, 2015)

venuetech said:


> I have spent many a year in this sub-arctic environment called Alaska. if freezing/thawing gaffer tape degrades its performance its very likely that i would have noticed. when frozen it is very difficult to work with, so i do try to avoid using it when cold. but get it back up to temp, it behaves normally, as far as i can tell.


Check my comment above buddy.


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## jstroming (Aug 5, 2015)

I use gaff on the edges, vinyl on seams for video. We don't leave a gap. If it's a long running show we'll tape the first roll seam to the deck with gaff. Then lay second roll with vinyl tape on it. This prevents it from slipping on deck.


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## bobgaggle (Aug 6, 2015)

To answer the OPs question, no I haven't run into that problem. I've gone the 'no visible tape' route on a green marley. We ran a strip of gaff on the deck across where the seam in the marley would be and put double sided carpet tape on top of that. The gaff lets you pull it off at strike in one piece, rather than sitting on the deck with a scraper trying to peel carpet tape gunk. The first piece goes down the easiest, but if you take your time on the seams you can get a flawless looking result, without taping on the visible side of the marley. It works out that the bond between the gaff and the carpet tape is stronger than the bond between the carpet tape and the marley, so when it came time to strike, the floor popped off with a few solid upward tugs, and the gaff peeled off the deck easily. Of course we had issues because it was a one day load in and we didn't have time to let the marley relax off the roll, so it developed a few bumps and puckers over the course of a week long run. Luckily all the flaws were close to the walls of the set we put on top of the floor and weren't really visible from the audience...


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