Okay, let’s talk about this flooring job I just finished up. The larch wood one. Took a chunk out of my weekend, let me tell you.

Getting Started – The Clean Out

First thing, obviously, was emptying the room. You wouldn’t believe the amount of junk crammed in there. Took longer than I thought. Then, had to get the old carpet out. Pulled that sucker up, staples and all. Left with the bare subfloor. It wasn’t pretty. Some old stains, bit uneven in spots. You always find surprises, don’t you?

Spent a good hour just sweeping and vacuuming. Dust everywhere. You gotta get it clean, though. Any little bump under the new floor will drive you nuts later. Found a low spot near the window. Figures. Had to deal with that before anything else went down.

The “Rubber Dancing” Bit – Underlayment and Leveling

So, about that low spot. Used some self-leveling stuff. Messy business, mixing it up, pouring it just right. Had to wait for it to dry solid. Patience, right? Not my strong suit when I just want to get the job done. While that was setting up, I remembered why I was dreading this whole thing. It’s always something.

Then came the underlayment. Went with this rubbery kind. Supposed to be good for sound, bit of cushion. Rolling it out wasn’t too bad. Cutting it to fit the corners, though… that required some careful knife work. Taped the seams together nice and tight. This layer felt pretty solid, actually. Maybe that’s the “rubber dancing lvl” part someone mentioned? Felt like it evened out the minor stuff, anyway. Or maybe it’s just marketing nonsense. Who knows.

Laying Down the Larch

Alright, the main event. Assembled wooden flooring. Larch. Looks nice, smells kinda like a forest. Got my boxes acclimating in the room for a couple days beforehand. Supposed to help it not warp later. We’ll see.

Starting that first row is key. Get it straight, or the whole room looks wonky. Measured like five times. Used spacers against the wall. Tapped the first few boards together. Tongue and groove, you know the drill. Used a tapping block and a mallet. Maybe that’s the dancing part? Whacking away at the wood. Felt kinda good, honestly.

• Cut the boards with a chop saw outside. Sawdust city.
• Staggered the joints so it doesn’t look like weird stripes.
• Tapped each board snug against the last one.
• Had some tricky cuts around the door frame. Took a few tries to get those right. Lots of measuring and re-measuring.

It’s repetitive work, mostly. Kneeling, cutting, tapping, kneeling, cutting, tapping. My knees were screaming by the end of the first day. Reminded me of that time I helped my buddy move his entire concrete statue collection. Why do friends ask you to do these things? Anyway, kept going row by row.

Finishing Touches

Once all the main floor was down, just had the edges left. Pulled out the spacers. The gap around the edge looks ugly, but that’s what trim is for. Measured and cut the quarter-round moulding. Nailed that into the baseboards, not the floor itself. Gotta let the floor float, expand and contract, you know?

Cleaned everything up again. Dust was everywhere, somehow. But seeing that finished larch floor… yeah, okay. It looked pretty sharp. Way better than that sad old carpet.

So, that’s the story. The “rubber dancing lvl larch assembled wooden flooring” project. Bit of a mouthful, bit of a workout. But it’s done. Looks good. Feels solid underfoot. Now I just need to put all that junk back in the room… maybe later.