# Marley Stage Floor Substitute



## CrisCole

I am new here, but I have read many posts here for help.

There has been a lot of talk about Marley floors, and I just wanted to put my two cents in. 

We have a Marley floor in one of our studios, and it works just fine. 

However, for our second studio floor, the expense of a Marley floor was not an option, as we were touring 'Willy Wonka' and could not do marley for both. 

So a friend turned me on to this--PVC Shower pan liner. 

We purchased some and installed it in our studio as well as the touring show. 

It's a lot thicker than marley (I think its 40 mils) and has more grip, so pirouttes must be done right on it. 

The nice thing about it for touring is that it doesn't need a subfloor. Because it is thick and has some natural give to it, the dancers love it. (Well, some of the older dancers still complain, but they complain about anything)

Another good thing is it doesn't require coke-ing (I'm assuming you all know what it means to coke a marley floor) because it has natural grip. 

It's also made all of our dancers really good at turns, because of its surface.

The downside is the weight. It's heavy, a 10' by 20' is about 50 lbs. 

Another plus for us was that we were able to easily cut holes in it to match our fog ducting, and trapdoors. 

And, it's a LOT cheaper, about $3 a sq yard. 

Just thought it would help.


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## SHARYNF

did you use the PVC version or the CPE version (your link is to the CPE version)

Sharyn


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## CrisCole

Pardon me, I mistyped. 

The CPE that is linked is not right, I must have put in another link. Sorry.

We use PVC roofing, similar to the EPDM roofing here Firestone

It's rubber-like and is thicker than marley. Let me se if I can find a link to it. 

We simply asked a local contractor and he had it.


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## CrisCole

Some new info:

After playing with the roofing in different ways, I want to make a few comments, to help you make an informed choice. When you first purchase the roofing and lay it down, it will get a fine black powder (looks like a streak mark) on lots of things. This is because it's rubber-it will do that for a while. If you coke it slightly (meaning mop it with diluted coke) it will make the powder go away, but dance turns will be impossible. 

I also recommend that you cut it larger than you need, because after a while under the stage lights, it will shrink a lot. With it, no sub-floor is needed, it has enough spring to it as it is. 

The floor will also smell for a few days if you buy it new. However, if you leave it lay out for a few days, the smell will go away, and doesn't seem to return each time. 

Hope this helps!


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