Alright, let’s talk about putting down this rubber dancing soft maple assembly wooden flooring. It was quite a weekend project, let me tell you.

Getting Started – The Prep Work

First things first, the room needed clearing out completely. Moved all the furniture out, which was a job in itself. Then, the old flooring had to go. Pulled that up, dealt with the staples and bits left behind. The subfloor underneath was concrete, mostly okay, but needed a good sweep and vacuum. Found a couple of low spots, nothing major, just filled them quick with some leveling compound I had lying around. Let that dry properly, of course.

The flooring itself – this soft maple stuff – had been sitting in the room for a few days. They say you gotta let the wood get used to the temperature and humidity, so I did that. Just stacked the boxes open in the middle of the room.

Tools gathered:

• Tape measure
• Pencil
• Utility knife (a sharp one!)
• Saw (used my trusty mitre saw for clean cuts)
• Rubber mallet
• Tapping block (just used a scrap piece of the flooring)
• Pull bar (for the last pieces near the wall)
• Spacers

Laying Down the Rubber Bit

Now, this “rubber dancing” part. It’s basically a thick rubber underlayment. Came in rolls. I started at one end of the room and just rolled it out. Had to cut it to length with the utility knife. Made sure the edges butted up against each other nice and snug, didn’t want any overlaps. Used some special tape, the kind they recommended, to seal the seams between the rolls. This stuff is meant to give the floor a bit of bounce, make it quieter too. Felt pretty springy walking on it already.

Putting the Maple Planks Together

Okay, the main event. The soft maple planks looked nice. Lighter color, pretty grain. Started along the longest wall, like you’re supposed to. Put down spacers against the wall – really important, wood needs room to expand, learned that the hard way on a previous project.

Laid the first row. These were tongue-and-groove style planks, made for assembly, so they kinda clicked together. Made sure that first row was super straight. Measured like three times from the wall just to be sure. Cut the last piece of the row to fit using the mitre saw.

Used the leftover piece from the first row to start the second row (as long as it was a decent length). This automatically staggers the joints, which looks way better and makes the floor stronger. From there, it was just repeat, repeat, repeat. Lay a plank, angle it in, tap it snug with the mallet and tapping block. Cut the end piece, start the next row.

It got faster as I went. Some rows went quick, others needed more cuts around doorways or weird angles. That’s where the patience comes in. Measure twice, cut once, right? Mostly worked out. Had a few miss-cuts, but had ordered extra flooring just in case.

The last row was a bit fiddly. Had to rip the planks lengthwise to fit the remaining gap. Used the pull bar and mallet here to lock them into place against the second-to-last row, since there wasn’t room to swing the mallet properly.

Finishing Touches

Once all the planks were down, I pulled out all the spacers from around the edges. Felt good to see the whole floor laid out. Then it was time for the trim. Installed baseboards all around the room to cover the expansion gap. Looks much cleaner with the trim on.

Put in some transition strips at the doorways where this new floor met the tile in the hallway. Gave the whole thing a final sweep and clean-up.

And that was pretty much it. Took the better part of a weekend, quite a bit of kneeling and bending, but seeing the finished floor made it worth it. The soft maple looks great, really brightens up the space. And walking on it? Yeah, you can feel that rubber underneath. It’s got a slight give, feels solid but comfortable. Happy with how it turned out.