Okay, here’s my take on the “keel volleyball hard maple wooden flooring” project, told in a casual, blog-style format:

So, I’ve been wanting to upgrade my home gym for ages. It had this sad, old concrete floor that was just killing my joints. I’m big into volleyball – play a couple of times a week – and I figured, why not try to make the home gym feel a little more… court-like? That’s where the idea for this hard maple flooring came in.

First things first, I cleared out the entire space. Everything. Weights, benches, that weird exercise bike I never use… all gone. This gave me a blank canvas to work with. I then did sweep the floor, make sure the concrete was clean.

Measuring and Ordering

Next up, measuring. This part was crucial. I wanted to make sure I ordered enough wood, but not too much. Measure twice, cut once, right? Or in this case, measure twice, order once. I grabbed my trusty tape measure and got to work, jotting down the length and width of the room multiple times, just to be absolutely sure.

After, I spent some time looking for the wood. After much comparison, I ordered a batch of hard maple – it’s supposed to be super durable and have that nice, classic look. I also made sure to get the “keel” system. It’s a great system and more easier to install.

Installation Time!

The wood arrived, and man, it was a lot of boxes! I enlisted a buddy to help me carry it all inside. This is where I found some small gift, so happy!

Then came the actual installation. I’m not gonna lie, this was the most challenging part. The keel system, at first I was so confused, but finally I installed the keel on the ground.

Laid down the first row of maple, making extra sure it was perfectly straight. This was the foundation for everything else, so any mistakes here would mess up the whole floor. Slow and steady was the name of the game. I had the first row.

Once the first row was in, the rest went a little faster. It was still a lot of work – fitting the boards together, and all that. My back was definitely feeling it by the end of the day!

The Finished Product

Finally, I get everything done! I stepped back to admire my handiwork. It looked… amazing! The hard maple had this beautiful, warm tone, and the whole room felt instantly upgraded. It was a huge improvement over the concrete.

My first “test run” was a quick solo volleyball practice session. The difference was night and day. The floor had just the right amount of give, and it felt so much better on my knees and ankles. It felt so nice, all of my friends want to come over to my house to play volleyball. I was pretty proud of myself for pulling this off. It was a lot of work, but totally worth it in the end.