The stage at New York City’s iconic Alice Tully Hall at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, frequented by renowned musicians, is known for melodious sounds—but the ”snap, crackle, pop” from the floorboards wasn’t supposed to be one of them. Enter Allen and Maxx Rapaport, the father-and-son team who run Englewood, N.J.-based J Rapaport Wood Flooring LLC. What started out as a demolition and floor replacement turned into an engineering feat, Allen says. The Rapaports and their crew removed about 2,000 square feet of madrone flooring on the three rising and lowering platforms that comprised the stage and uncovered an inadequate plywood subfloor that was “pieced together like a jigsaw puzzle.” The joists were also spread too far apart to handle the heavy pianos and seating frequently rolled across the stage. They worked closely with the union stagehands to rebuild the supporting structures. With amended plywood subfloor and joists were in place, the flooring team glued and more securely screwed in the new ⅝-inch-thick madrone flooring. Then they sanded and used five coats of water-based finish. The project took longer than anticipated, and toward the end the final touches were made in between musical performances. But ensuring the floor was done right was key to ensuring the show could go on. “This was a great example of just sticking to it and not running from something that we haven’t done,” says Maxx, “and just believing in the fact that we could get the job done.”
SUPPLIERS:
Adhesive, Finish: Bona | Big machine: Lägler Hummel
