Man, I really wanted a good spot for dancing at home without wrecking my main floors. Saw these fancy removable floors online, thought yeah right, probably super expensive or hard to install. Figured I’d try making my own version instead, ’cause why not? That’s how the whole removable dancing hevea portable wooden flooring thing started.

First things first, went hunting for the wood. Hevea kept popping up – supposed to be tough and have a nice bounce for dancing. Sounds perfect. Found some solid hevea tongue and groove planks at the local lumber place. Grabbed a couple of bundles, figuring I’d need extra for mess-ups. Knew I needed some underlayment too, that foam stuff that cushions each step. Snagged that while I was there. Oh, and glue – the waterproof kind. Big tube of it.

Got it all home, dumped the wood planks right there in my main room. Left ’em sitting out for a couple days, just letting ’em get used to being inside, not all humid from the warehouse. Didn’t want them warping later.

The Assembly Headache Phase

Started laying down the foam panels first, connecting those puzzle pieces together. Easy enough. Then came the wood. Thought it’d just snap together smooth. Ha! Wrong. First few rows went okay, tapping them gently with a rubber mallet. But man, some planks just would not sit flush. Gaps big enough to trip over. Cursed a few times.

Had to get serious and get the tools out:

• Level: Laid this across every few rows. Some spots dipped, used shims under the foam to bump it up.
• Handsaw: Couple planks were stubborn at the ends, sawed off the rough bits.
• Clamps: Oh man, these saved me. When the tongue and groove fought back, I clamped two planks tight side-by-side and then whacked the end plank in. Way less gap-tastic.

Glue… that was messy. Put a thin bead along the groove before joining. Squeezed out everywhere, had rags ready to wipe it quick before it dried funny. Took it slow. Real slow.

Got it all down finally, nice smooth surface. Cut the edges neat against the wall. Stepped on it. Yeah, nice bounce, real comfortable. Exactly what I wanted.

The Big Question: Making it Come Apart

But this was supposed to be removable! Hadn’t glued it to the subfloor, just the planks to each other. Problem was, if you just un-clicked one plank now, the whole section would probably stay stuck together from the glue along the sides. Definitely not portable.

Realized I needed sections I could actually pick up. Here’s how I fixed that:

Took my saw again and carefully cut right between the joints I’d glued. Made long, straight cuts across the width, splitting the big floor into smaller sections, like four big tiles. Each section stayed solid ’cause the glue held all its own planks together tight. Edges got kinda rough from the cut.

Sanded the cut edges down flat and smooth, didn’t want splinters catching. Then, glued special edge banding all around each section – those plastic edge strips you see on plywood. This sealed the cut edges and made ’em look finished. Sanded those edges again lightly so everything felt smooth.

For putting the sections back together? Left the tongue and groove profiles exposed on the cut sides. Push one section tight against the next – tongue slides into groove. Snaps together firm! To hold ’em even tighter side-by-side so they don’t wiggle apart while dancing, I drilled little holes near the edges of adjoining sections and hammered in these locking dowel pins. Simple wood pegs. Works great, hides in the seam.

Taking It For a Spin (Literally)

Cleaned the whole thing up, swept it good. Felt pretty chuffed with myself. Time to test it! Put on some music and just danced right there in my living room. Did a spin, some hops, slid around. Felt fantastic! Solid, no squeaks, nice bounce. Didn’t slide around on the foam underneath.

Best part? When finished, I just popped out those hidden dowels, carefully pried the sections apart where the tongue met the groove. Lifted each big tile section straight up. Easy! Stacked them neatly in the corner, foam rolled up underneath them. Took minutes. Whole floor practically vanished. Boom.

Total cost? Way, way less than buying a pre-made fancy portable floor. Messy? Oh yeah. Frustrating? For sure. But now I’ve got this awesome dance floor I can roll out whenever the mood strikes. Looks decent, feels pro, comes apart easy. Perfect.