# Building a dance floor over a pool.



## Bud Cline (Mar 12, 2006)

The 2X10's would easily handle the 12' span and without some engineering input I would say wouldn't be any different than any other dance floor anywhere. In some cases better.

I would further warn that a substantial handrail would be in order near the fountain.

What does your insurance agent say about this idea? I personally think its a great idea.


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## hyunelan2 (Aug 14, 2007)

It sounds like a really neat idea, but are you sure you'll have time to execute it with a wedding coming up at the end of the month? Time crunch = stress, not what you want right before your big day.


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## kwikfishron (Mar 11, 2010)

Lets see, how many bouncing drunks does it take to bust up the edge of a pool?


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## airon26 (May 30, 2011)

Yeah I thought a hand rail near the edge by the fountain might be a good idea, but then again... it might be kind of funny to watch someone fall in.

Time is not an issue. I've got the entire month off, and I figure this will only take a few days to build.

The edge of the pool is concrete, and with the 2 foot overlap on each side, I'd figure it'll be fine.


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## user1007 (Sep 23, 2009)

How, or were you going to anchor the deck to keep it moving in lateral directions? What about the 10" drop/step around the perimeter?


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## airon26 (May 30, 2011)

As far as the 10" step, I was just going to leave it at that, a step. I guess I could put some kind of rail around the outside, and have an 'entrance' with one step up. I want to avoid that though, because then I would have to build the rail beefy enough for people to lean on, cause I'm sure if it is there people will lean on it.

As far as anchoring the floor so it doesn't move laterally, I hadn't thought about that. I just figured with the weight of the floor itself that it probably wouldn't move?


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## Bud Cline (Mar 12, 2006)

> As far as the 10" step, I was just going to leave it at that, a step.


I think you would have some serious liability exposure with that step. Ten inches is well outside the parameters of the law and building codes. Assuming alchohol is available to the guests, that step would be a real issue. How about a five inch step all the way around?


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## airon26 (May 30, 2011)

Bud Cline said:


> I think you would have some serious liability exposure with that step. Ten inches is well outside the parameters of the law and building codes. Assuming alchohol is available to the guests, that step would be a real issue. How about a five inch step all the way around?


Good point. 

I'd better build a step all the way around, or build a rail with a step area.
Thank you for the input.


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## kwikfishron (Mar 11, 2010)

Apparently you can rent/buy “pool cover dance floors”.
Here’s just one.
http://theeventdepot.com/stage-dance-floor-rentals-in-miami.html


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## AGWhitehouse (Jul 1, 2011)

If the pool is a sand bottom, I would re-think the 2'-0" bearing points. you will be putting hundreds of pounds of loading within 2'-0" of the edge of you pool. The pool walls may not be designed to handle that kind of direct loading. It may be worth putting the load point at least as far from the edge as the pool is deep. This will allow your loading point to dissipate in a triangular shape that doesn't include your pool wall.

Railings are a good idea, you don't want that expanding dance circle to include people stepping off backwards...ouch...


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## user1007 (Sep 23, 2009)

kwikfishron said:


> Apparently you can rent/buy “pool cover dance floors”.
> Here’s just one.
> http://theeventdepot.com/stage-dance-floor-rentals-in-miami.html


I wasn't trying to blow your concept apart by the way. I think it a fun idea.

These look kind of cool and I bet the event rental company would know what you needed in terms of liability insurance and so forth.


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## Bud Cline (Mar 12, 2006)

I'll bet Spokane would have such a thing to rent and a rental may give the rental company all of the liability exposure. Besides what will happen to the materials when the event has passed and it all must be taken apart.

The mileage may kick your butt but you never know. You could probably go get it yourself and return it afterward. Then you would have to add the cost of gas for two two hundred-mile round trips but still might be a washout in cost.:yes:


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## stadry (Jun 20, 2009)

im-n-s-h-fo, liability would still attach to the renter/property owner,,, deep pockets attract legal action


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## UCFWill2007 (Jul 13, 2011)

I'm planning on doing the same thing in November. How did this turn out? How did you end up building it? I'm still trying to come up with ideas to engineer something like this. I called a company that rents out dance floors to go over pools and it looks like it would cost at least a couple thousand dollars to rent.


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## airon26 (May 30, 2011)

UCFWill2007 said:


> I'm planning on doing the same thing in November. How did this turn out? How did you end up building it? I'm still trying to come up with ideas to engineer something like this. I called a company that rents out dance floors to go over pools and it looks like it would cost at least a couple thousand dollars to rent.


This is still in progress. The wedding is on the 30th, and we are planning on building it the weekend before.


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## UCFWill2007 (Jul 13, 2011)

What is your plan for construction? Materials, design, etc? I really want to do this for my wedding, but I'm not sure of the best approach, I have a bunch of different ideas.


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## mollyclose (Aug 5, 2016)

Hello! Wondering how this worked out for you? I know it's been a while since you posted, but my daughter is getting married in our back yard next month, and we were planning to build a dance floor over our pool using a plan that sounds similar to yours. Just wondering what materials you ended up using and how it all worked out for you; I would really appreciate any advice or feedback. Thanks so much!


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## airon26 (May 30, 2011)

mollyclose said:


> Hello! Wondering how this worked out for you? I know it's been a while since you posted, but my daughter is getting married in our back yard next month, and we were planning to build a dance fl oor over our pool using a plan that sounds similar to yours. Just wondering what materials you ended up using and how it all worked out for you; I would really appreciate any advice or feedback. Thanks so much!


It worked great! And we actually ended up using the materials twice. My brother got married the year after and we built the floor on parallel docks over the lake.

I'll see if I can find some pictures and then give you more info on the construction.


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## ChuckF. (Aug 25, 2013)

Build in a trap door for pranks.


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## cnickisch (Dec 1, 2017)

Hey I saw you posted about building a dance floor over your pool in 2011 or something so this is a long shot but I thought I would reach out to see if you would answer me I have a few questions. We are actually looking at doing this over our pool. Contact me on here or [email protected]


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## Nealtw (Jun 22, 2017)

cnickisch said:


> Hey I saw you posted about building a dance floor over your pool in 2011 or something so this is a long shot but I thought I would reach out to see if you would answer me I have a few questions. We are actually looking at doing this over our pool. Contact me on here or


Instead of posting your email, you could have sent him a Private message.


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## jlhaslip (Dec 31, 2009)

Last time I was involved on building a dance hall floor, the Residential Code book and their Span tables got tossed out the window.

Ended up using one size bigger material and one half of the spacing for a residential floor load. Essentially, you need to build the dance floor to Commercial code, ie: a Public building. 

The dynamics of the load is different when you are flinging a guy or gal around randomly.


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## Nik333 (Mar 1, 2015)

Nealtw said:


> Instead of posting your email, you could have sent him a Private message.


I think someone told me that you can receive a PM, as a newcomer, but can't PM back until you have a few posts.


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## cnickisch (Dec 1, 2017)

Nealtw said:


> Instead of posting your email, you could have sent him a Private message.


It wouldn't let me send them a private message so I gave him my junk email. Thanks for the concern though!


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## ZackRight (Nov 4, 2017)

yes, I WAS GOING TO SAY THE same, you can rent floors to go over almost any type of pool...


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## cnickisch (Dec 1, 2017)

There doesn't seem to be any rental companies that do this in my area.


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## Cantwell (Jan 13, 2021)

airon26 said:


> It worked great! And we actually ended up using the materials twice. My brother got married the year after and we built the floor on parallel docks over the lake.
> 
> I'll see if I can find some pictures and then give you more info on the construction.



It's been almost 10 years since the original post, yet it is still very relevant. I too am now looking to build a dance floor for a wedding in May of this year. Looking to see if you could provide any guidance on materials and/or layout. Thank you!


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## Nikki_07112021 (Apr 22, 2021)

Cantwell said:


> It's been almost 10 years since the original post, yet it is still very relevant. I too am now looking to build a dance floor for a wedding in May of this year. Looking to see if you could provide any guidance on materials and/or layout. Thank you!





airon26 said:


> As the title suggests, I would like to build a dance floor over my in-ground pool for our wedding at the end of this month. Since I want this to be as safe as possible, I figured I'd better ask for some suggestions. Here is the situation:
> 
> The pool is 12' wide by 40' long. Ideally I would like the dance floor to cover 30' of the pool length, leaving the last 10' open for a fountain.
> 
> ...


Would LOVEEEEEE to see how this turned out as well, as well as materials and such. I am getting married at our home, in July. I live in Upstate New York and the closest rental company for this I could find was near NYC, and they quoted me $28,000 for rental to cover my pool...yes, TWENTY EIGHT THOUSAND DOLLARS!!! So any information would be helpful, and much appreciated.


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## JMSB (Oct 4, 2021)

airon26 said:


> It worked great! And we actually ended up using the materials twice. My brother got married the year after and we built the floor on parallel docks over the lake.
> 
> I'll see if I can find some pictures and then give you more info on the construction.


Old post but great idea... do you have pictures and details? Thanks


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