Okay, let me tell you about this floor project, man. Took way longer than I thought.

Why Bother?

Got this room I use for practicing my moves, right? You know, pad dancing stuff. Old floor was this cheap foam stuff – felt like dancing on wet sand. Barely any grip. My feet kept sliding when I tried faster moves. Needed something solid, something real.

Started looking around. Saw those plastic interlocking tiles… easy peasy. But you know what? That sound! Every stomp, every slide, felt and sounded cheap. Plus, they wobbled a bit. Not good. Found out about these wood parquet tiles, the kind you assemble yourself. Real wood, click together. Sounded promising. Said screw it, let’s try the wood.

Getting Stuff

Ordered a bunch of boxes online. Measured my room like five times, kept adding one more box just in case. You always run short, right? Boxes showed up. Heavy! Hauled them upstairs. Let them sit in the room for a couple days. Gotta let the wood get used to the room’s air, or so people say. Moisture, temperature, blah blah. Didn’t wanna risk it buckling later.

Needed tools:

• A good knife for cutting box corners
• A rubber mallet (hammer would dent it)
• Measuring tape (obviously)
• Chalk line thing for straight lines
• Spacers (came with the tiles)
• A pencil
• A saw. Ended up using my buddy’s little hand saw.

The Prep

Old floor was dirty. Sweat, dust, you name it. Swept it good. Really good. Then got the vacuum out. Clean as possible. Didn’t want grit under the new floor causing bumps. Found a spot near the wall where the old floor seemed uneven. Grabbed some leftover wood shims from my garage and tapped them under the old foam to level it out a tiny bit. Not perfect, but better than nothing.

Laying It Down

Opened the first box. Tiles looked nice! Smelled like wood. Had these tongue and groove sides. That’s how they click together. Found the center point of the room using the tape and chalk line. Placed the first tile right there.

Put the spacers between the tile and the wall – maybe half an inch gap all around. Apparently wood moves and needs room to breathe or it’ll buckle. Started clicking the next tile to the first one. Lining up the tongue and groove. Give it a gentle tap-tap-tap with the rubber mallet. “Snap!” Nice sound. Did a whole row this way.

Next row was trickier. Tiles are staggered, like brickwork. Means I gotta cut one to start the row half the time. Measuring every piece, mark it with pencil. Grab the tile, clamp it, saw it – dust everywhere! Fit the cut piece. Tap-tap-tap.

Stuff that slowed me down:

• Getting the tap strength just right. Too hard? Might chip the groove. Too soft? Didn’t click. Took practice.
• My cuts with the saw weren’t factory perfect. Had a few gaps. Not huge, but I notice them. Used some wood dust mixed with glue later in a few spots to kinda hide it. Shh.
• Ran into a weird corner. Had to cut two angles. Total pain. Measured wrong first try. Wasted half a tile.

Boxes had slight variations in colour. Some tiles darker, some lighter. Tried mixing them as I went, pulling from different boxes, to make it look more natural and less stripey. Looked alright in the end.

Finished laying all the full tiles. Took a whole weekend day. Back hurt.

Edge Pain

Now came the edges, where the room isn’t a neat square. Walls go in, go out. Had to measure every single gap. Every tile near the wall was custom cut. Mark it, saw it, pray it fits. Some places were narrow. Tricky to hold the tile in place and tap it without hitting the wall. Broke one piece trying.

Biggest headache: The doorway. Needed an end cap trim. Didn’t buy one. Forgot about doors! Rushed out to the store next morning.

Done!

Finally, got the last piece in. Pulled out all those wall spacers. Swept up the sawdust mess. Wow. Looked… solid. Walked on it. Such a difference! Nice, firm feel underfoot. Much better grip when I tried a slide. And the sound? Thud-thud. Deep. Satisfying. Not that plastic clack.

Not factory-smooth perfect – I see where my cuts weren’t ideal if I look hard. But it feels great. Feels like a real floor for dancing. Sweated for it, ached for it, but totally worth it for that feel and sound.