Building works

Any building you find will almost certainly need modifications. If there are no interior walls you will need to put up partitions. Studding and plasterboard partitions are cheap but have poor sound insulation even if stuffed with fillers. If you do use them, make sure the plasterboard stops well above the floor with a skirting board. Otherwise when you wash the floors the water will seep up the plasterboard. We recommend using sound proofing materials such as “Durox” blocks which are made of aerated concrete.

Each float room will need its own shower and powerful ventilation system for the entire room as well as bright lighting for cleaning purposes. All our products come with a subdued light both on the inside and outside of the product, which turns on when a session is started and is controlled by the floater with the same internal float pool light button, ensuring that the entire room is dark during the float session (as long as there are no windows in the float room).

The flooring is very important. It must be waterproof and this means bunded to form a shallow lake in the event of a leak from the pool (or shower). The surface must be non-slip and we recommend welded vinyl floors using Altro Marine 20. The floor must have a floor drain, or where this is impossible, an automatic pump system to a drain or a bunded volume equal to the total volume of the chosen float pool. Leaks are exceedingly rare but these precautions are necessary because a leak of Epsom salt solution can cause damage outside the float room. The bunding details may take the form of raised humps in the floor at doorways and vertical portions at least 10cm/4” high at walls. Please note that other surfaces are often very slippery for wet feet. Automatic pump systems can work with 1 cm of water but we recommend a minimum bunding of 25mm. If the floor is not level, the bunding must take account of the lowest point.

We strongly recommend that any existing floor without bunding, such as a floor leading through a door to a non-waterproof corridor, be upgraded. One method of upgrading (among many possible) is to add raised humps in the floor at doorways outside the arc of door movement, or with raised door edges sealed with mastic to the waterproof floor approximately 25mm deep.

Please read our extensive technical notes for preparing a room for a float pool.

In addition, your local fire department may insist that you have a fire alarm inside each float room – some may only require the alarm to be in the corridor outside the float room. You will also need a fused spur for each pool, emergency lighting, and possibly heating and air conditioning. The doors will need to be fire doors which will also be excellent for sound insulation. Good quality door closers will eliminate the sound of doors slamming.

We suggest that a space be made available with mirrors and hair driers (we like to call this area the Beauty or Vanity Room) outside the float rooms to allow floaters to dry their hair, etc. It would be preferable not to allow floaters to do this inside the float rooms as this will lengthen the total time each person spends in the float room, thus limiting the total number of float sessions available per day.

Most of our clients include a comfortable lounge area for floaters to relax before and especially after floating where a cup of tea or water can be served.

In our experience, ventilation is the area most often neglected. We cannot stress enough the importance of a powerful ventilation system due to the high humidity in the float rooms. Nevertheless, the ventilation requirements are only the same as required for any windowless bathroom.

To lessen the amount of time needed to clean the float room between each float session, we recommend turning the float room into a “wet” room with a drain in the floor and an “open” shower. The amount of time needed between each float session just to clean a glass shower is enormous! If you install an open shower against a tiled wall all you will need to do between each float session is to spray a bathroom disinfectant on the shower wall and on the floor and push all the water on the floor down the drain. This set-up drastically reduces cleaning time between each float session. Just be sure that the slope of the floor is at least 3cm/1.4” so that all the water runs easily down the drain.

Once you have found your building, if you have any doubts about whether we can physically get a float pool into any given room, please send us a copy of the floor plan so that we can check this point before you commit yourself to a location. So far, we have never not been able to install one of our products, but we have had to remove windows, door frames and on one occasion have had the builders drill a massive hole through the side of the building to get the pool inside!

You will find on our website various suggested room sizes but the smallest is 3m50 x 3m/12’ x 10’ for the Tranquility. In any small room there is an important design principle: the shower must be at the same end of the room as the door into the room in order to allow space for the float pod. It is also a very good idea to keep the shower entrance as close as possible to the float pool entrance to minimise cleaning.

If you are considering purchasing a Floataround, the smallest room size is 4m x 4.5m (16’ x 17’4”), but more space is always better!

Your building will need a reception area with storage for forms, the telephone, a position for the remote control units for each pod, the CDs or iPads (one per pool) and a chair. Your electrician will need to install the LAN cables before installation. This is covered in detail in our technical information - be sure to show this very detailed document to your plumber, electrician or general contractor.

We have found that 99% of all our clients have had serious delays with their building works. Everyone underestimates the time it takes to complete the works. It is even possible that construction workers and architects tell their clients a shorter period of time than is likely to be achieved so as to get the job. Once the works have begun, the number of hold-ups which arise is staggering! So PLEASE, do not organise your opening event until AFTER all the works have finished or you may find yourself having to postpone which means reprinting and resending all your invitations and cancelling the original event which can be a costly and embarrassing operation!