Alright folks, today I tackled this thing I’m calling a removable dancing engineer assembly wooden flooring. Sounds fancy, right? Basically, I needed a decent spot to practice in my garage without wrecking the concrete or having a permanent setup.
Getting Started
First step, I dragged out all my leftover oak wood strips from an old shelf project. Looked like a pile of kindling, honestly. Measured my garage space – kinda awkward, maybe 10 feet by 8 feet where I could clear stuff.
- Problem: Needed it removable, sturdy enough for dancing, but NOT glued/nailed down.
- Idea: Make big panels I could hook together, then pull apart later.
The Actual Building Mess
Cut those oak strips down to uniform lengths – took forever getting them sorta even. Sanded them roughly; still got splinters later, ouch. Laid them out flat on the garage floor, side-by-side, trying to make a square panel.
Then came the tricky bit: how to connect them underneath without making one giant immovable slab. Grabbed some cheap, thin plywood scraps I had. Cut those into strips shorter than the oak panels. These would be my ‘backing plates’ or whatever.
Screwed these plywood strips perpendicular across the underside of the oak strips, near each end. Felt like wrestling an octopus holding everything flat. Used short screws – didn’t want them poking through the dance surface! Ended up making three panels this way.
The Connection Headache
How to hook the panels together? Tried metal brackets first – too stiff, couldn’t get them aligned. Disaster. Duct tape? Embarrassing and useless. Then it hit me: heavy-duty drawer slides! Found some wide metal ones in a junk drawer.
- One part screwed onto the plywood edge of Panel A.
- The matching part screwed onto the plywood edge of Panel B.
It actually worked! Slid them together. CLACK! Felt solid. Did the same for all connecting edges. Third panel hooked right on.
Testing… And Dancing!
Pushed the whole thing flat. Stood on it – no creaking! Did a stupid little test shuffle. Felt good underfoot, no shifting. Then my kid ran on and jumped. Held firm! The real test: actually practicing some steps. Smooth sliding across the oak. Solid feeling, no bounce or separation.
Taking It Apart (The Whole Point!)
Unhooked the drawer slides – simple lever flip on each one. Lifted Panel A off. Then Panel B. Then Panel C. Stacked them against the garage wall like bulky paintings. Garage space was free again! Perfect. Felt like a total gearhead victory.
Final thoughts? Messy process, figuring out the clips was annoying, but man, it works. Solid dance surface that vanishes when I need the garage back.
