So I was fixing up the backyard basketball court last month. The old one turned into a wavy mess after winter rains, total garbage. Needed cheap but solid stuff that wouldn’t break my wallet.
Digging into wood options
First, crawled everywhere searching oak deals. Oak’s stupid expensive normally, right? Saw ads for “assembled wood flooring” kits. Sounded perfect – pre-cut pieces, lock together like puzzle toys. Messaged suppliers asking for rubber-backed oak samples. Two ghosted me, one sent samples smelling like burned tires. Pass.
Hunting bargains & near-disasters
Checked three lumberyards. One guy tried selling me teak wood flooring like I’m building a yacht court. Hell no. Found a warehouse dumping “factory seconds” oak planks – dings and scratches but half-price. Grabbed 40 boxes. Rubber sheets? Scored rolls from a closed-down gym liquidation sale. Still had shoe marks on ’em.
The slapdash assembly circus
Laid weed fabric first. My cousin showed up with beer instead of tools. Dumbass. We unrolled rubber sheets at 2pm July heat – sweated buckets, edges curled up like bacon. Had to weight them down with bricks overnight. Next day, started clicking oak planks together. Box 3 had mismatched grooves. Nearly threw my hammer through the garage window.
Fixed it by:
1. Sawing off the warped tongues
2. Gorilla-gluing the seams
3. Cursing the manufacturer’s family tree
Final costs & reality check
After patching holes with scrap wood:
- Oak planks: $1,100 (clearance chaos pricing)
- Rubber sheets: $300 (smells faintly of dead gym socks)
- Glue/screws/tools: $140
- My sanity: Priceless. Gone.
Total $1,540. Not pro-league smooth but ball bounces true. Cheaper than divorce therapy when the wife saw grass stains vanished. Kids play daily – worth every penny and tetanus scare from those rusty gym rubber sheets.
