I had this volleyball court in my backyard with wooden flooring made from beech planks. Lately it felt like walking on a trampoline – boards were popping up everywhere. Almost twisted my ankle last Tuesday when I went to grab a ball. Enough is enough, time to fix this mess.

The Disaster Zone

First I cleared all the loose dirt and leaves between the planks using a stiff broom. Then I started poking around with a screwdriver. Found at least ten screws completely missing! No wonder the planks were doing the wave every time someone jumped. Some planks had cracked edges too, probably from people stomping around in cleats.

Gathering My Arsenal

Ran to my garage and dug out:

• A bucket of outdoor wood screws
• My rusty but trusty cordless drill
• Wood filler that expired last year (hopefully still works)
• Sanding block and gloves
• Spare beech planks leftover from the original build

Almost tripped over my dog’s toy carrying everything back. Note to self: never leave tennis balls lying around a construction site.

Operation Screw-it-tight

Started kneeling at one end, drilling new screws where the old ones vanished. The drill kept slipping off the damn wood surface – beech is harder than I remembered. After scratching two boards, I realized I needed to make pilot holes first. Wasted like twenty minutes redoing the first three planks.

Found four cracked pieces that wobbled like crazy. Pulled them up and swapped them with my spare planks. Had to cut one to size with a handsaw since it was too long. Sawdust got everywhere, even in my coffee cup. Great.

Filling the Battle Scars

All the gaps and scratches got stuffed with wood filler using my fingers. Messiest job ever – that gray paste got under my nails and stained my jeans. Let it dry while I ate lunch. Came back to find my dog licking the filler! Pushed him away and sanded everything rough. Still see some uneven spots but whatever, it’s a volleyball court not a damn art exhibit.

Test Run

Dropped a basketball from shoulder height – bounced fine. Jumped up and down like an idiot. No creaking! No planks trying to escape! Then made my nephew run laps across it. Kid’s 90 pounds but the floor held up solid. Victory! Took me five hours with breaks but no more ankle traps.

Leftover problem: wood filler tastes awful according to my dog. Now he’s sulking in the corner.