[Bryson]

Looks great! No grit underneath is trickier than it sounds...

How did you do the seam in the end?

[kscherer]

Great job, Tony. Looks good.

[turtle]

Originally Posted by Bryson Looks great! No grit underneath is trickier than it sounds...

SOOOOOOO HARD!!!! I can't even believe it is without grit. Static is real and everything seems to want to stick no matter how many times we swept and vacuumed. It like putting on a screen protector except it is 10'x20' and in two parts.

How did you do the seam in the end?

For right now nothing is down. Since I had to cut and trim and trim more because my walls aren't actually straight I'm giving it time to "settle". If it doesn't buckle or anything like that I'll plan to tape from under it for now. I just don't like the "look" to the tape on top if I can get away with it. There are only going to the three girls using this floor in reality so it isn't going to have major use. I can't imagine it being a problem so I'm "chancing" it.

[Matsu]

Hey, this is a little related. I just refinished my basement - floated LVT over existing tiles throughout, except for the bathroom which is finished in tile, and so far things look good. No Grit

I'm setting aside an area for home gym space, and don't want the vinyl to get all beat to hell. Right now it has an exercise bike, rower, and slant board. Will get some free weights/rack and a functional trainer/cable-pull machine.

Of course the best way to protect everything is probably rubber flooring, but I'm wondering if a low pile synthetic carpet cut and bound into an area rug with a closed cell foam underneath would provide enough protection and feel stable enough underfoot for floor exercise/rehab like work.

[turtle]

Other than the dance floor, the rest of my gym is covered in foam flooring tiles (like these) and they work great. I have a bike and weight bench on them. Some free weights too but they are dumbbells. The treadmill is on the antistatic mat on the floor directly without the foam tiles. I also have a universal machine sitting on the foam tiles and it all works great. Feels stable underfoot with all the routines I do.

Edit: I just looked at the images I posted and you can see the floor in some of the shots. I wouldn't change out this flooring for the workout area at all now.

[Yontsey]

If you live near a Tractor Supply, or another similar rural supply store, we have 4'x6' horse stall mats laid out in our new basement for workout mats. They are 3/4" rubber and are about $50 a sheet. They're heavy as sin but way cheaper than typical workout mats.

[drewprops]

I hope you dance!


...

[Matsu]

I ended up putting in 8'x10' of 3/4" (20mm) high density foam, I have another 20-30sq ft I can put in if I decide to run it wall-to-wall-to-wall. It's not as strong as rubber would be, but it's nice under foot, and I can top it with a carpet for a little more resilience.

I may be putting in some Dance-y stuff too I don't know the first thing about Barre excercise, but my lady needs to do quite a bit of rehab on her shoulder/arm, and a set of Swedish bars/ladder might be a good thing for it.

[turtle]

Cool! I'm glad my gym came with the tiles on it already. I doubt I would have gone out and bought any but would regret it almost every day I didn't have it down.

for the barre itself, you can just get normal handrail supports rather than full on supports like I did. Of course, if you need the clearance from the wall there aren't many options other than building your own with wood. If you'd like, I'll see if Mrs T remembers where we ordered our barre supports from.

[Matsu]

I'm sure I could build something safe and attractive, I have about 6 sheets of high quality 3/4" ply in the garage that would probably look spiffy laminated together, rounded over, smoothed and finished to match our ash WaterRower... very spa-like vibe... hmmm...

Time and effort though? Maybe it's easier to just buy something like this

[turtle]

Yeah, I'd just buy one too for something like that. I wasn't thinking the full rack when I posted earlier.