Learn best practices for starting and running a float center:
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Four Simple, but Important Lessons We’ve Learned About Float Room Construction

by | Building

Four Simple, but Important Lessons We’ve Learned About Float Room Construction

1 – Put your shower directly next to the float tank.

Float tank showerDon’t leave even an inch of room. Essentially you want an airlock but for salt- a  saltlock. That way they go from their shower directly into the float tank and (more importantly) from the salty float tank straight into the shower.

Doing this will prevent hours of cleaning, tens of thousands of dollars of salt damage, and the loss of your sanity. Whenever we hear from a float center going into construction, this is the first thing we tell them.

2 – Tear everything out first.

Unless it is obscenely beautiful or of historical significance, tear it out. Yes this means the ceiling. Yes, this means the flooring (in most cases). Yes, this means the walls, the ventilation, the pre-existing bathroom, the pre-existing anything.

Float tanks have unique demands for sound, moisture, and salt control. It’s also quicker, cheaper, and easier on the construction side to start from scratch instead of saving old work. I know it seems like this might not be the case, but trust us… tear it all out.

3 – Drains in your non-porous floor.

There’s several non-slip, non-porous flooring options out there. The non-porous part is important because any porous surface will let the salt in and slowly (often not so slowly) get destroyed. This goes for more than just your floors.

Whatever option you elect to go with, just make sure to put drains in it.

4 – Work with professionals.

There are things you can do yourself, but soundproofing, electrical work, waterproofing, and some other things you simply should not (and you don’t want to, anyway).

At the very least, pay for a couple hours of someone’s time to review your plans and give you advice. Simple mistakes (like not putting your shower right next to your float tank) can cost a lot of money, and make the rest of your work worthless.

If you’re beginning to break ground and have questions, the man who has literally put hundreds (maybe close to thousands) of hours into building Float On, Jake Marty, is available for consulting with you and/or your contractor.

If adopting Jake into your float family isn’t an option, our Float Center Construction Packet contains over 180 pages of every step in building a float tank center.

—

Graham Talley, Co-Founder Float On