Alright, so I recently tackled putting in a new floor in my workspace, specifically one of those wooden floors with rubber bits underneath – supposed to be better for dancing or just being on your feet a lot. Thought I’d share how I went about it, step-by-step from my own experience.

First job was prepping the existing floor. Mine’s a concrete slab in the basement. It wasn’t terrible, but needed a good clean. I swept it, then went over it thoroughly with a shop vac to get rid of all the dust and grit. You really want a clean surface to start with.

Then I checked how level it was using a long straight edge. Found a few low spots, nothing major, but enough to potentially cause issues later. Mixed up a small batch of self-leveling compound and filled those areas. Had to wait for that to cure properly – patience is key here, don’t rush the prep work.

Putting Down the Rubber Bits

Once the floor was prepped and ready, it was time for the rubber layer. I used these square rubber pads, maybe about 4×4 inches each. The idea is these give the floor its ‘spring’ or ‘dance’ feel. I laid them out in a grid pattern across the entire floor. Had to measure this out carefully, following the spacing guidelines that came with the pads. I think I aimed for about 16 inches between the center of each pad. Took a bit of time to get the grid lined up straight and evenly spaced.

I just placed them down initially, didn’t glue or fix them yet. Wanted to make sure the layout worked with the next step.

Laying the Sleepers (the Wooden Battens)

Next came the wooden sleepers. These are basically just strips of wood, I used standard 2×3 lumber. I laid these battens right on top of the grid of rubber pads. Made sure the sleepers ran perpendicular to the direction I planned to lay the final wooden floorboards.

Getting these sleepers level was important. I placed them carefully onto the pads and used my long level across several sleepers at a time to check for flatness. The rubber pads actually helped accommodate tiny imperfections in the concrete, which was nice. Where needed, I slipped a thin shim between a sleeper and a pad, but mostly it sat pretty well.

There’s debate on fixing sleepers down. Some leave it all ‘floating’. I opted to anchor mine lightly. I drove a few concrete screws through the sleeper, through the rubber pad underneath it, and into the concrete subfloor below. Didn’t go crazy, just enough anchors spread out to prevent the whole grid from shifting over time, especially near doorways or edges. Crucially, you don’t want to overtighten and fully compress the rubber pad where you anchor it.

Finally, the Wooden Floorboards

With the rubber pads and sleeper system in place, it was finally time for the visible part: the wooden flooring. I chose solid maple tongue-and-groove floorboards.

Started laying the first row along the longest, straightest wall. Remembered to leave an expansion gap between the wood and the wall – used some flooring spacers for this. This gap is vital, wood expands and contracts.

I rented a pneumatic flooring nailer for this job. Made things much faster. Nailed the first row carefully. For subsequent rows, I angled the nailer to drive nails through the ‘tongue’ of each board, down into the sleepers below. This hides the nails once the next board slots in.

• Kept checking alignment every few rows to make sure things weren’t drifting.
• Staggered the joints where the ends of boards met – this looks better and makes the floor stronger. Never line up end joints in adjacent rows.
• Lots of measuring and cutting boards, especially at the end of each row. Meant many trips to my chop saw setup outside.

It’s definitely repetitive work, slotting boards, tapping them tight, nailing them down. But seeing the floor grow across the room is quite rewarding. The last row against the far wall always requires some custom ripping to width and careful face-nailing close to the wall, where the nailer won’t fit.

And that was pretty much it. Took me a solid weekend plus a few evenings. The end result feels great. It has that subtle give, that ‘sprung’ quality, which is exactly what I wanted. Much nicer on the joints than plain concrete or even wood laid directly on concrete. Definitely worth the effort of building up the layers with the rubber and sleepers.