[Callers] Sticky floors

[James Saxe via Callers]

A couple people have mentioned wax as a possible remediation
for sticky floors.  There are several potential problems with
wax:

1.  As with any floor additive, you could get on the wrong
side of the hall owners if you use it without permission.
Note also that wax, unlike, say, corn meal, will not easily be
removed by sweeping at the end of the evening.

2.  If you have a finished floor, and there are areas where
the finish has worn down to the bare wood, then wax can get
worked into the grain of the wood, making it difficult for
future coats of finish to adhere properly.  See

    http://www.waterlox.com/faqs/woodworking/apply-wood-finish-over-previously-finished-surfaces

3.  When you sprinkle wax by hand, it's practically impossible
to apply it evenly to the entire floor.  Having (relatively)
slippery spots next to (relatively) sticky spots can be
particularly hazardous.  If dancers apply wax to their own
shoes, it can rub off onto the floor, creating local slippery
spots.  (My experience with corn meal, btw, is that it tends
to get more evenly spread around floor by dancers feet than
dance wax does, though it's still hardly perfect in this
regard.)


I have occasionally danced on floors that were waxed and
machine buffed with good results, but note the following
contrasts with the situations described above:

    * The machine buffing spread the wax uniformly, avoiding
      local slippery or sticky spots.

    * Either the floors in question were never intended to
      be given given some other finish (e.g. urethane) or
      the wax was applied over a coat of finish that was
      never allowed to wear down to the wood.

    * The waxing was done with permission of the floor owner.

Also, the people doing the waxing had researched brands of
floor wax that would give an appropriate level of slipperiness
for dancing without being too slippery.  (Note, however, that
a puddle of spilled water on any waxed floor can be extremely
slippery.)

--Jim