Okay, here’s my blog post about installing LVL dancing soft maple wooden flooring:

So, I decided to put in some new flooring in my spare room – I’m turning it into a little dance practice area. I went with this LVL dancing soft maple, mostly because it looked good and I heard good things about it being springy, which is perfect for what I wanted.

First things first, I cleared out the room completely. I mean everything. Furniture, rugs, the old dusty curtains – all gone. This gave me a nice, clean slate to work with.

Then came the prep work. The existing floor was some old, sad-looking linoleum. I ripped that stuff up – and let me tell you, that was a workout! Underneath was the subfloor, which thankfully looked pretty level. I checked it with a long level, just to be sure, and filled a couple of tiny dips with some leveling compound. Nothing major, just wanted to make sure everything was smooth.

Next up, I rolled out an underlayment. I chose a type that’s supposed to help with sound dampening (gotta be considerate of the neighbors, right?). I taped the seams together so it wouldn’t shift around.

Now for the fun part – the actual flooring! I started laying down the LVL planks, starting along the longest wall. The planks had this click-lock system, which was pretty neat. You just angle one plank into the other and snap it down. It took a little bit of getting used to, but once I got the hang of it, it went pretty smoothly.

• Used a tapping block and a rubber mallet to tap planks into place.
• Use a pull bar tool help planks lock into place.

Of course, I had to cut some planks to fit around the edges of the room and the doorway. For that, I used a jigsaw. Measure twice, cut once – that’s what they always say, and it’s true!

I kept going, row by row, making sure to stagger the seams between rows. This makes the floor look better and also makes it stronger, I think. It took a while, spread out over a couple of days, working in the evenings after my day job.

Finally, I installed the baseboards around the edges of the room to cover the gap between the flooring and the wall. This really finished it off nicely.

And that’s it! My new dance floor is done. It feels great underfoot – nice and springy, just like I hoped. I’ve already had a few practice sessions, and I’m loving it. Definitely a worthwhile project!