Getting Started with the Dance Floor Project
So I saw folks complaining how permanent dance floors ruin their rental spaces. Got me thinking: what if we make boards that snap together but come apart easy? Dug through my garage stash and found these 1.5-inch thick maple planks leftover from last year’s shelving disaster. Perfect thickness for jumping around without cracking.
Step 1: Cutting the Puzzle Pieces
- Measured my living room size first – 10ft by 12ft, classic rectangle
- Chainsaw-chopped planks into 2ft squares (protip: wear earplugs, neighbors hate dawn lumberjack sessions)
- Sandpapered every edge like crazy till splinters stopped attacking my fingers
The Assembly Nightmare
Thought connecting boards would be simple. Ha! First try used metal brackets – total fail. Dancers slid like cartoon characters on banana peels. Scrapped that mess and tried router-cutting tongue-and-groove joints instead. Router bit caught fire on third board (oops), had to borrow neighbor’s tool.
Finally settled on this method:
- Cut grooves on two sides of each square with the router
- Whittled custom wooden tongues from oak scraps (harder wood = less snapping)
- Slathered carpenter’s glue into grooves before hammering tongues in with deadblow mallet
Removability Testing Chaos
My kid’s hip-hop playlist became the test soundtrack. First song: boards shifted apart like tectonic plates! Realized I forgot locking pins. Drilled holes through every tongue, shoved in birch dowels with rubber caps. Now they slide together click-clack and stay put until you stomp the release pedal I rigged from old door hinge springs. Rehearsal disaster turned into glorious modular dance tiles.
Final Tricks & Takeaways
Sealed everything with boat varnish so spilled beers wipe right off. Weird bonus: the grooved underside traps sweat drips instead of creating slip hazards. Still not perfect though – drunk people trip on edges, and my dog treats it like giant chew toys. Next version needs rounded corners and maybe bacon-flavored deterrent coating.
