Okay, let me walk you through my weekend project. I needed dance practice space but didn’t wanna ruin my apartment floors or deal with permanent installations. That’s when this removable plywood dance floor idea hit me.

Digging Around For Supplies

First I hit up my local hardware dump spot – you know, the warehouse where they sell leftover materials cheap. Found:

• Fourteen beat-up plywood sheets about 60×120 cm each
• Bunch of mismatched velcro strips in clearance bins
• Foam exercise mats someone threw out (score!)

Dragged everything home smelling like sawdust. My cat gave me judging looks.

Making Those Panels Dance-Ready

Sanding was the messy part. Dust everywhere even with windows open. Took me hours just smoothing the splintery edges with this rickety hand sander. Pro tip? Wear goggles – wood chips in eyeballs suck.

Sealed them with this wood varnish I had leftover. Three coats later they actually looked decent. Slipped twice while varnishing though – almost became part of the floor myself.

The Velcro Puzzle

Thought attaching velcro would be simple. Wrong. First I stuck soft side up on all panels. Test assembly? Disaster. Folded corners kept catching my socks mid-spin. Redid everything:

• Hard hooks ONLY on bottom panels
• Fuzzy loops ONLY on top panels
• Double-sided tape + glue combo for extra hold

Had to trim so many fuzzy bits with kitchen scissors when I messed up placement.

Test Run Disaster

First dance attempt? Epic fail. Whole section slid apart during pirouette. Nearly faceplanted into my bookshelf. Realized the foam underlayer was bunching up like an angry carpet snake.

Fixed it by:

• Cutting foam EXACTLY to plywood size
• Supergluing foam to plywood bottoms
• Adding corner reinforcement brackets

What Actually Works Now

After like 8 hours total? Boom. Rolls out in under two minutes. Velcro holds surprisingly well for ballet jumps and hiphop shuffles. When I’m done? Just peel panels apart. Stack ’em behind the sofa where the cat naps. No scratched hardwood floors. No landlord complaints. Totally worth the sawdust lung.