Sprung Floor with Tires ::: Open Source Jiu-Jitsu

At Open Source Jiu-Jitsu in Asheville, NC we've constructed a sprung floor system for our mats using re-purposed tires. It's easier on your body and on the environment! We're happy to share specs and instructions. Email [e-mail] or visit our website www.opensourcebjj.net for general info about training with us.

[@souldancersbyjennifer]

I love that you are repurposing this amazing material that are tyre rubbers for something so useful and so right for it. Great job...

[@oraclebjj]

Thanks bro for sharing that. I was just wondering how to go about doing a floating floor. Looks great. Theres give. Sweet.

[@serpentesbjj]

Hi, I want to make a sprung floor for my jiu-jitsu mat. I am considering two options. Floor on tires or floor on cut pool noodles. From your experience, what do you think will be better?

[@RobertMcMasters]

I think tires would be the easy choice, given the two. It gives you the chance to re-purpose something that would otherwise go to the landfill, and they're free. I think if you wanted to use pool noodles, the weight of the floor would all but completely eliminate the "give" of the pool noodles. If you're just wanting to buy some foam, you should just go with the tried-and-true gymnastics foam; it's probably similar in price to buying dozens of pool noodles, plus it's made specifically for what you're trying to do with it.

[@MrBradWest]

Have you experienced any off-gassing? Are there any bad smells in the room?

[@AmandaMcMasters]

Hi Brad - great question. We were concerned about this as well. Surprisingly enough, there is zero smell from the tires. We didn't wash them, but they were also not tires that had been left outside very long, nor were they mixed in with garbage (they were directly from a tire place rather than a landfill). We haven't experienced any smell in the winter, when the gym is all closed up, or in the summer when it gets pretty toasty (doors open, but no AC).

[@Nicolopez98]

Awesome mat! The doubts that Im having are what’s the space between every 2”x4” and if you added also crossed members or just longitudinal ones? Thanks for sharing! Oss

[@RobertMcMasters]

Hey Horacio, I responded to you via email a few days back, but just wanted to post on here for others. Here's a copy of the message I sent you: To answer your questions, no, there was no cross bracing other than the border of the platform itself. So, in other words, there were just longitudinal 2x4's, but it's important that you don't have parallel seams from one row of 2x4's to the next (hope I'm making myself clear). I've included a diagram to show how to overlap the 2x4s so that you don't have any parallel seams. Basically, each 2 rows of 2x4's is resting on a row of tires (so it's important that you get tires wide enough to span the gap). The space between the line of 2x4s on the floor we made is 24". One thing I would really like to strongly emphasize is that all of your tires should be of very similar height off of the floor. We used a couple of tires that were either way too low or way too high off of the ground and after 3 years of using the sprung floor, you can see a bit of a difference. It's really not that big of a deal overall, and I think I'm the only person who notices but if you are OCD then this will be important. Lol. Anyway, good luck and please let me know how it turns out or if you have any other questions!

[@Nicolopez98]

Robert McMasters Dear Robert, thank you for taking the time to answer my questions!

[@cesarenriqueguerreroespino2079]

Excelente idea con poco presupuesto.

[@paulorgcarvalho]

Hi there! Thanks for sharing! A friend of mine told me about using tires on a floating floor, to build a "room within a room" (that's a concept used to soundproof a room). After that floor, all the room (walls and ceiling) is built under the floating floor to avoid the contact with the existing walls and ceiling. My existing space/room is 2.91x4.25m and 3.45m height (9.55x14Ft / 11.30Ft height), in the basement of my building. I'd like to ask you if your floor is stable after a few years. I'm looking for some info if this option (tires) would be strong/stable enough to hold the structure. Thanks in advance for your time.

[@RobertMcMasters]

Thanks for asking, and glad you enjoyed the video! The short answer is that yes, it is still in great shape after 3+ years of hundreds of people falling on it, and it being used almost every day. There are some obvious (or maybe just obvious to me) peaks and valleys caused by some of the bigger/smaller tires underneath, but you don't notice unless you look really hard. Your space seems fairly small, so it should be fairly easy to assemble (my guess is maybe a minimum of 9) tires of the same width. Let me know if you have any more questions!

[@cdt6857]

Hey Robert, check out cutting down pool noodles (with a stop so all the same size) for a more even floor. Probably make money on the transition after tire recycling. Hope this helps 🎉

[@StillRolling]

How thick of osb did you use 1/4, 7/16, or 1/2 ?

[@RobertMcMasters]

I went with 3/4" thick, tongue-and-groove. You might be able to get away with 1/2", but that's cutting it close.

[@StillRolling]

Robert McMasters bet that was $$$. I gotta cover about 1500sqft.

[@tonycaito7116]

About how much did you spend on tires and separately the lumber?

[@karlarodrigues9701]

6 years later I believe you had a good experience, did you have any problems with the tires or maintenance? Do you still use it? 🇧🇷 here

[@RobertMcMasters]

7 years later now, we still have the sprung floor! We should probably do another video, but we would highly suggest securing the 2×4's to the tires. Otherwise, it's a solid model.

[@fluw]

how much sqft is your floor? also, do you think this would work for a Basketball court...or is it too squishy/bouncy?

[@RobertMcMasters]

The mat surface measures 128 square meters, which is about 1378 square feet. I don't play basketball, but I'd make an educated guess that this floor wouldn't be optimal, especially over time, as it would eventually become uneven, which I would assume would be super annoying when you're trying to bounce a ball on it.

[@RobertMcMasters]

Sorry for the late responses everybody. I will try and pay a little better attention!

[@Sofu1970]

Brilliant! ❤️👍🏼

[@pmaabjj]

how did you go about securing the tires?

[@anarchist]

Ask local tyre shops, I think they may have to pay for disposal so are happy to give them away.

[@RobertMcMasters]

Most tire shops are very happy to give away their old tires for free, as they otherwise have to pay to dispose of them. There was only one tire shop in town that wasn't willing to give them to me as they had some sort of corporate policy for getting rid of them.

[@massivojohnson]

Did you attach the wood to the tires? What stops them moving about below as a result of all of the impacts above?

[@RobertMcMasters]

Yes, we screwed the platform itself into the tires below. The sprung floor is HUGE! Even a class full of heavyweights wouldn't be able to move it.

[@pmaabjj]

finding them I mean

[@kalilmsn]

what the mat spec ? 10mm ?

[@kalilmsn]

Please sendo spec tô [e-mail]

[@RobertMcMasters]

Are you asking how thick the mats are? They're ~3.8cm thick.

[@sergioramio]

i had the same idea brah