Alright, so I’ve been wanting to redo my floors for, like, forever. I finally decided to take the plunge and go with this batten dancing parquet thing. It looked cool in the pictures, you know? All those little wood pieces forming a pattern. Figured it’d be a fun weekend project. Boy, was I wrong about the “weekend” part.

Getting Started (and Immediately Hitting a Snag)

First things first, I cleared out the room. That was the easy part. Then came the prep work. My old floor was… well, let’s just say it had seen better days. Lots of uneven spots. So, I spent a good chunk of time leveling the subfloor. This involved a lot of patching compound and sanding. Seriously, a lot of sanding. My arms were killing me!

The Actual Laying of the Wood

Once the subfloor was (mostly) smooth, it was time to start with the actual parquet. I’d ordered these pre-made panels of the batten dancing pattern, thinking it would save me time. Which, it probably did, but it was still tricky.

• Dry fitting: I started by laying out the panels without any glue, just to get a feel for the pattern and see how things would fit. This is where I realized my room wasn’t perfectly square. Ugh.
• Cutting: This meant I had to make some cuts. I borrowed a jigsaw from my neighbor (thanks, Bob!). Cutting those little pieces was a pain, let me tell you. Lots of measuring, re-measuring, and then usually messing up the cut anyway.
• Gluing: Once I had a layout I was (sort of) happy with, I started gluing the panels down. I used this construction adhesive that smelled awful. Note to self: wear a mask next time. The instructions said to use a notched trowel, which I did, but I still managed to get glue everywhere.
• Pressing: I put some heavy stuff(books, weights, anything i find) on top of it. To make sure that wood stick to ground perfectly.

Finishing Touches (and a Lot of Swearing)

After the glue dried (which took way longer than I expected), I had to fill in any gaps between the panels. I used this wood filler that was supposed to match the color of the wood, but it ended up looking kind of…off. Oh well. Then came the sanding. Again. More dust, more arm pain.

Finally, I applied a few coats of polyurethane to protect the floor and give it a nice shine. This part was actually pretty satisfying. Seeing the finished product (almost) made all the hassle worth it.

The End Result

So, is it perfect? Nope. Are there some wonky cuts and uneven spots? Yep. But you know what? I did it. I laid my own batten dancing parquet floor. And it looks pretty darn good, if I do say so myself. Would I do it again? Maybe. But I’d definitely allow more than a weekend. And I’d probably invest in a better saw (and a mask).