Okay, folks, let’s dive into my little project of putting down some batten volleyball soft maple portable wooden flooring. I’m no expert, but I like to get my hands dirty and figure things out as I go. So, here’s how it all went down.

First things first, I gathered all my materials. I had the soft maple planks, of course, the battens (which are basically just strips of wood), a bunch of screws, a power drill, a saw (just in case), and some measuring tape. Oh, and don’t forget safety glasses! Gotta protect those peepers.

Getting Started

I started by laying out the battens. This is the under-structure, the thing that gives the floor its springiness, and something to screw the flooring. My space was a bit wonky, not a perfect rectangle, so I had to do some thinking about how to arrange them. I decided to go with a pretty standard grid pattern, spacing the battens about 16 inches apart. This seemed like it would give enough support.

I remember, there was a support column right in the center of my space. It was so annoying that I have to make sure that the space between the battens is well calculated and cut.

Once I had a rough idea of the layout, I started measuring and cutting the battens to fit. This part took a bit of time, just making sure everything was reasonably square and level. It didn’t have to be perfect, since it’s, you know, the under part of the floor, but I wanted it to be decent.

Building the Base

With all the battens cut, I started screwing them together. This was pretty straightforward – just lining them up and driving the screws in. I used a power drill, which made things go way faster. I’m not sure I’d want to do this with a hand screwdriver!

• Measure twice, cut once (an oldie but a goodie).
• Pre-drilling pilot holes can help prevent the wood from splitting, but I was too lazy for that. (Don’t tell anyone!)
• Make sure your battens are evenly spaced – this will affect the feel of the floor.

Laying the Floor

Now for the fun part – laying down the actual maple flooring! I started in one corner and worked my way across, carefully placing each plank and making sure it was snug against the previous one. The planks I got had this tongue-and-groove thing going on, so they kind of clicked together, which was nice.

I used screws to attach the flooring to the battens. I put a screw in every couple of feet, making sure to countersink them a bit so they wouldn’t stick up and snag anyone’s socks. This part was a bit tedious, but it was satisfying to see the floor taking shape.

The Finishing Touches

Once all the planks were down, I had to deal with the edges. My space wasn’t a perfect rectangle, remember, so I had some gaps to fill. I used the saw to cut some smaller pieces of maple to fit these gaps, kind of like putting together a puzzle. I also used my old jig-saw, cutting those curves was a real pain! But hey, jigsaw did a great job.

And that’s pretty much it! It’s not a professional job, by any means, but it’s a solid, springy floor that’s perfect for some casual volleyball. I’m pretty proud of myself for figuring it out, and it was definitely a good learning experience. I even sweated like I was playing volleyball! Plus, saved myself to hired some people to do this job.