We’re all adapting our best to this new normal. With our favourite indoor spots closed, many of us are scrambling for places to rollerskate, especially if you live somewhere with wet winters *ahem* Vancouver.
Worried about scratching your hardwood floors? Is your home covered in carpet? Fear not! One of our amazing local skaters, Francine, is here to help you build your dream skate floor.
Here’s the inside scoop.
“When the lockdown happened, and I wasn’t able to skate unlimited at Rolla anymore, I knew something had to be done! I came across a YouTube video from @kev_and_jaz on building a skate floor. After watching the video, I thought, I can do this! Basically, the process was putting laminate flooring on top of 3/4-1inch plywood. So really you could do any size you want! I got hustling and found a free laminate floor on Craigslist. I mean, who cares what it looks like. Then I went to Home Depot and bought 3/4 inch MDF board (cheaper than plywood), and I got to work building my dream skate floor. It was 8x10ft floor, which served me well for months”
If you know Francine, then you probably also know how much she loves to skate. So she didn’t stop at 8x10ft. “Then I thought, well if I can do this small floor, why not my whole living-room! So furniture went into the bedroom, I found more cheap laminate floor and turned my living-room into a laminate skating dream floor!
Key Things:
- There is lots of flooring on Craigslist or Facebook marketplace! Cheap or free.
- MDF board is cheaper than plywood.
- Get Home Depot to cut your stuff into pieces for you (it’s free). That way, it doesn’t have to be one huge slab. It makes it a lot easier to bring home in a vehicle. I cut my 8×10 into 5 smaller pieces.
- When doing a smaller floor, the laminate does not have to be staggered like big spaces with laminate flooring are done.
- If you have a few minor gaps, buy filler at Home Depot. Cheap and easy to fix.
- Laminate can be slippery. So I usually don’t do much harder than a 95a wheel.
You can catch Fran living out her living room roller disco dreams on Instagram @fran_thelunchlady. If you’re interested in building your own dream skate floor, Fran has generously offered to answer questions, send her a DM.
