Slip-sliding away

May 22, 2010 1:48 PM

How do I make [someone else's] wood floor less slippery?

I play table tennis in a fairly unused gym at a local college. It looks like a typical wooden gym floor, but it's dangerously slippy. It does not appear to have been waxed in the last year or two- it's not shiny. It has a dull, old look to it. Some days it's fairly dirty, but it actually seems to have a slightly better grip then. I don't know why it's so slippery.
We have tried sweeping, followed by a quick wet mopping, but that doesn't work for more than a minute or two. Obviously, we can't do anything permanent, but is there some kind of powder or liquid that will provide traction for a couple of hours (or until it's cleaned)?

posted by MtDewd to home & garden (13 answers total)

This may be too cumbersome, but can you bring your own rugs or mats to lay down in the area you'll be standing/moving? Or maybe even one of those rug gripper pads?
posted by hazel bites at 1:58 PM on May 22, 2010

Try different shoes. Something with more grip. (Grippier, grippiness, grippededness)
posted by fluffy battle kitten at 2:07 PM on May 22, 2010 [1 favorite]

try the rosin dancers use?
posted by mmf at 2:24 PM on May 22, 2010

Coca Cola mopped on, will wash off, is non slip.
posted by leafwoman at 2:32 PM on May 22, 2010 [1 favorite]

I have this problem when fencing on slippery wooden floors. The trick I learnt is to put down a damp towel and stomp on it a few times whenever your shoes get too slippery. You have to scuff your feet a few times to get rid of the excess water but then it's almost too grippy! YMMV, though.
posted by katrielalex at 3:57 PM on May 22, 2010

When dancing competitively, and the floor is too slippery, some athletes put castor oil on their shoes - it's grippier than using water, and the traction stays effective for longer. (This might not be as effective for you since dance shoes have a suede sole that can soak up a fair amount of water or oil, whereas sneakers have an impermeable sole.)
posted by -harlequin- at 4:34 PM on May 22, 2010

I had that problem on the stage in High School. I'd just put a piece of duct tape on the sole of my shoe. It helped a lot.
posted by TooFewShoes at 4:55 PM on May 22, 2010

Any soft (really soft) rubber shoe like Converse All-Stars will provide a lot more traction on slippery indoor floors. If you're serious enough that you're considering mopping junk onto the floor, just look around for shoes instead. There's Converse and all the knockoffs or, if you want to go hardcore, these Five Ten sneakers are from a climbing shoe company. Climbing shoes are ridiculously grippy and the specs say "high-friction rubber". Plus they look awesome.

Zappos return policy is blissful. So you could just pick a shoe and try it out.
posted by mindsound at 9:10 PM on May 22, 2010

1. There are mats that do that but they'd have to be huge (at least 40' x 20') and expensive.
2. I have found even table tennis shoes (which are designed with grip in mind) slip on this floor.
3. Rock rosin sounds promising. I wonder if you need dance (suede) soles for it to work. But it looks cheap enough to try.
4. This sounds even cheaper. I'm going to try this today!
5. Damp towels is our current method, but this sometimes doesn't even last a point.
6. If I find castor oil I'll try this.
7. I'm doubtful of duct tape, but I'll try it. Sticky side out or in?
8. I was wondering about climbing shoes. Not sure if they have the support for lateral movement. I had some classic Converse shoes a few years back and they (surprisingly) did not- they killed my feet. Also reluctant to buy shoes online, and all the store around here just have plastic soles.

Thanks for some good ideas!
posted by MtDewd at 3:39 AM on May 23, 2010

Duct tape: Sticky side to your shoe. The grey part to the floor. Cut the tape smaller than the sole of your shoe, the side of the tape helps grip too. I only put it on the ball of my foot since that's what I use most when I'm running around.

I'm not sure why it worked, but it did. Use the grey industrial kind, those pretty colorful ones look like they would be slick. If one layer isn't enough try two or three.
posted by TooFewShoes at 9:55 AM on May 23, 2010

Disappointed by Coke. It didn't make the floor sticky after it dried.
Note: I had Diet Coke lying around, so I used that. Would sugary Coke work better?
We tried it in the towels and it worked better than plain water, though.
Off to buy rosin...
posted by MtDewd at 7:29 AM on May 25, 2010

Duct tape made it worse.
Regular Coke a little better. Will have to see if it dries good.
Rosin- I used some powdery rosin (from the baseball store) and it did not improve my traction at all, although my fingers were stickier, and in a good way.
I got a pair of Five Fingers (Sprint), but have not tried them yet on the floor in question. They work better than I anticipated as a table tennis shoe. (At home, at least)
posted by MtDewd at 11:07 AM on June 7, 2010

The Five Fingers worked great. I have seriously grippy table tennis shoes, and the Five Fingers were grippier.

Still disappointed Coke didn't work here.
posted by MtDewd at 10:31 AM on June 15, 2010