Getting Started

Okay, so I decided to put in some new flooring. Needed something tough, something with a bit of give for movement, you know? Ended up getting this stuff they called rubber dancing hard maple assembly wooden flooring. Sounded fancy, but basically, it’s hard maple with some kind of rubbery base system underneath, meant to be put together piece by piece.

First job, clear out the room completely. Everything had to go. Walls bare, floor empty. Then I checked the subfloor. It was mostly level, which was a relief. Swept it clean, vacuumed it twice. Didn’t want any grit messing things up later.

Prep and Underlayment

Unpacked the boxes. There was the hard maple, looking pretty good. And then the rubber underlayment system parts. Left the maple planks in the room for a couple of days, just let them sit there to get used to the temperature and humidity. Heard that’s important.

Laying down the rubber base was the next step. It wasn’t just a simple roll-out mat. It was more like these interlocking rubber pads or strips designed to give that ‘sprung’ feel, good for dancing they said. Took a bit to figure out the pattern, but the instructions were okay. Just followed them step-by-step, covering the whole floor. Made sure it was all flat and connected right.

Laying the Hard Maple

Then came the main event: the hard maple assembly. This wooden flooring looked solid. Started along the longest wall, like you’re supposed to. Used spacers against the wall for expansion.

The planks clicked together. It was tongue and groove, pretty standard assembly. First row was slow, making sure it was perfectly straight. That’s key. If the first row is wonky, the whole floor will be off. Second row went faster, clicking into the first. Had to tap them gently with a block and mallet to get a tight fit. Lots of getting up and down.

• Measure twice, cut once. That saved me some wood.
• Had to cut planks for the ends of rows. Used a jigsaw for that.
• Also had some tricky cuts around a doorway. Took my time there.

Worked my way across the room, row by row. It’s repetitive work, really. Click, tap, check alignment. Repeat. Some planks needed a bit more persuasion than others, but nothing major. The assembly part was mostly just patience.

Finishing Up

Once all the hard maple planks were down, it looked like a proper wooden flooring. Pulled out the spacers from the edges. Then I installed the baseboards around the room to cover the expansion gap. That really tidied things up, made it look finished.

Stepped back and looked. Yeah, pretty happy with it. The floor feels solid underfoot, but with that slight give from the rubber system underneath. You can feel the difference. Definitely feels good for moving around, guess that’s the “dancing” part they talked about. It was a weekend’s work, maybe a bit more, but doing the assembly myself saved some cash. Feels good, looks good.