Okay, here’s my take on the flooring project, written in the style of a casual, experienced blogger:

Alright, so I tackled this project – putting in some batten volleyball engineer board assembled wooden flooring. Sounds fancy, huh? It’s basically just a type of engineered wood floor, but the “batten” part means it’s designed to go over those wooden strips (battens) you nail down first. This is instead of gluing it straight to the concrete, you know?

Getting Started

First things first, I cleared out the whole room. Everything. Furniture, rugs, the whole nine yards. This gave me a totally blank canvas to work with, and believe me, you need the space.

Next, I checked the concrete subfloor. It was pretty level, thankfully, but I still used a self-leveling compound in a couple of slightly wonky areas. Better safe than sorry, always let it dry, maybe for one night.

Laying the Battens

Then came the battens. I used treated lumber for these – you don’t want them rotting or getting eaten by termites down the line. I spaced them out according to the flooring manufacturer’s instructions. This is super important; get it wrong, and your floor will be all bouncy and weird. Usually the space is 16 inches.

I nailed the battens down to the concrete using a hammer. My arms got a workout, seriously!

The Flooring Itself

Now for the actual floorboards. These were “engineer board assembled,” meaning they clicked together. Way easier than the old tongue-and-groove stuff. I started along the longest wall, leaving a little expansion gap – wood expands and contracts with temperature changes, so you gotta give it some room to breathe.

• Click, click, click. That’s the sound of progress! I used a tapping block and a rubber mallet to gently persuade the boards together. No forcing, or you’ll damage the edges.
• Also, I remember I have to use a saw to cut the boards,
• I staggered the joints, like brickwork. It looks better, and it makes the floor stronger.

As I went along, I kept checking that everything was straight and level. A long spirit level is your best friend here.

Finishing Up

Once the whole floor was down, I installed the baseboards (skirting boards) around the edges to cover up that expansion gap. A bit of caulk to fill any tiny gaps, and that was it!

It took me a full two days, but seeing the finished floor was totally worth it. It’s solid, it looks great, and it’s ready for some serious volleyball action… or, you know, just regular walking around.