Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Suggestions For Booth Floor

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Posted by John Rizzo (Member # 1289) on 02-24-2011, 06:28 AM:

Hi we just finished our booth,we have plywood as the floor and would like to know what would be a good floor to put down. We are thinking about interlocking rubber floor tiles, I would appreciate any thoughts on this subject.

Posted by Pete Naples (Member # 761) on 02-24-2011, 10:24 AM:

Anything that is firm, easy to clean and doesn't trap muck.

Carpet is a non-starter in my book.

Some vinyls/tiles may be too soft, allowing equipment to squirm, and may tear easily.

Hardwearing, firm industrial vinyl or I guess rubber flooring would be good. IE Not the kind of stuff you'd put down in your bathroom or domestic kitchen.
If your flooring had some anti-static properties that would be a good thing.

Then there's the issue of that the law allows you to use, and in that respect, you'll have to do your homework locally.

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 02-24-2011, 01:14 PM:

John you are firing up a debate on this one amongst the masses. Anyway...

I always put carpet down. Never EVER had a problem and it makes the booth not so obnoxiously noisy so the projectionist is more apt to stay in there and keeps the noise levels through the port windows significantly lower too.

The trick is to get dense low pile carpet, not "home carpet". Carpet squares are particularly well suited as if you spill oil onto the carpet, you often would only need to pull up and glue down a new square.

Posted by Jeremy Weigel (Member # 4208) on 02-24-2011, 04:07 PM:

I'll second Brad's suggestion. I worked in a booth that was over 300' long by roughly 15-20' wide and had all tile. It was a huge pain in the arse to keep mopped. Even in a small booth its easier to vacuum a carpet than mop a tiled floor.

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 02-24-2011, 04:29 PM:

DEFINITELY carpet. Yes, the equipment will settle a bit over the first couple of months, but that's nothing a teeny-tiny bit of tweaking can't correct. Unfortunately most theater owners don't want to put even an extra dime into the booth. But it will save your projectionist's hearing abilities (if you run film) so consider it morally obligatory. Also, for the love of science, put in a drop ceiling! That really helps as well.

Posted by John Rizzo (Member # 1289) on 02-24-2011, 04:33 PM:

I thought Carpet would be the worst case scenario and generate a lot of Static Electricity.

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 02-25-2011, 09:58 PM:

...you can condition a carpet with some sort of anti-static spray of sorts.

Trick on carpet in booths with oil operated machinery is to lay a sheet of cardboard under the machine to catch the drips if you're doing a full sheet of very short nap carpeting.

I've seen other booths that have tile around the machinery for easy cleaning, but carpet the rest ...

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 02-25-2011, 11:48 PM:

Never had any issues with static in the carpeted booths I have worked at.

Posted by Jeremy Weigel (Member # 4208) on 02-26-2011, 12:27 AM:

Dilute some liquid fabric softener in a spray bottle and spray the carpet if you have static issues.

Posted by Dave Macaulay (Member # 813) on 02-26-2011, 10:45 AM:

Carpet is an amazing amount better than any bare finished floor. Dust gets trapped in the pile and doesn't blow around, you just vacuum it up. We all drop things now and then, not a good thing of course but a carpet can save some things that hit it compared to a tile or painted concrete floor. The noise reduction is considerable. Cost for commercial low-pile carpet or carpet tiles is probably similar to hard tile or a proper epoxy floor paint. No underpad should be used.
Equipment may settle into the carpet a tiny bit but the stuff is only about 1/4" thick... big deal.
You have to be careful with moving equipment into place so the carpet doesn't get torn or shifts and bubbles up. Having some moving equipment when moving heavy equipment should not be a luxury.
The only issue is with actually getting it done. On new construction even having the booth floor sealed is hard to schedule, there are usually 3 trades at least working in the booth with near-impossible deadlines and getting the room cleared completely for floor finishing is next to impossible. To retrofit carpet is difficult unless you use the carpet tiles, that is dead easy. You must clean the floor around film projectors very thoroughly, the adhesive will not stick at all to an oily floor!

Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 02-27-2011, 04:41 AM:

In one booth we have painted cement. The other carpet, dense like Brad says. Hands down for the carpet. Noise abatement is impressive, but the real beauty that it is really easier to clean, even though it wouldn't seem that way to someone who hasn't worked with both hard floors and carpet. A vacuum cleaner with a GOOD HEPA filter is a must -- we have an upright because it just is easier to work and lends itself to quick once-overs.

Our cement floor, on the other hand, needs to first be washed down with soapy water and then we have to use a wet/dry vac to suck up the soapy water....a pretty labor-intensive and a big production every time it has to be done, so it's harder to get personnel to not to think of it as much more of a chore than vacuuming ever is. That means it usually gets done more often and with less whining.

With the cement floor, we also lay down a thick rubber runner mat at each projector in deference to the projectionist's feet. That has ridges in it which does catch dirt and holds it, but those mats have to be taken out when we wash the floor and have to be hosed down too. Just thinking about and I am whining in my head.

Go with dense, indoor/outdoor carpet -- tiles are a good idea for the reasons Brad suggested.

In the carpeted booth we have never had any trouble with the equipment shifting, or if it has, it's been so insignificant that it was easily compensated for at the projectors themselves with minute adjustments.