Alright, so the other day I had this project to do – putting together some LVL basketball flooring. It’s this larch wood, pretty nice stuff, but I’d never worked with it before. Let me tell you, it was a bit of a learning experience, to say the least!

Getting Started

First things first, I unpacked all the flooring pieces. They came in these long planks, and man, were they heavy! I made sure I had enough space to lay them all out, which meant clearing out pretty much the whole garage.

Then, I checked the subfloor. It’s super important that it’s level, clean, and dry. Any bumps or dips would have messed up the whole thing. My subfloor was concrete, and thankfully, it looked pretty good, just needed a good sweep.

The Assembly

Now for the fun part – actually putting the floor together! This LVL stuff uses a click-lock system, so you don’t need glue or nails, which is pretty sweet. You just angle one plank into the other and push it down until it clicks. Sounds easy, right?

Well, it kinda was, but also kinda wasn’t. The first few rows were a bit tricky. I had to make sure everything was perfectly aligned, or else the whole floor would be crooked. I used a rubber mallet to gently tap the planks together, making sure they were nice and snug.

• Align the planks carefully.
• Angle and push to click them together.
• Use a rubber mallet for a tight fit.
• Repeat, repeat, repeat!

Once I got the hang of it, it went pretty smoothly. Just laying down row after row, clicking and tapping away. It actually started to look like a real basketball court!

Finishing Up

The last row was a bit of a pain. I had to cut some of the planks to fit against the wall. I used my best saw and mesured before. Not too shabby, if I do say so myself.

Finally, I installed some trim around the edges to cover up the expansion gap (you gotta leave a little space for the wood to expand and contract with the weather). I picked out some matching larch trim, and it looked pretty sharp.

And that was it! My very own LVL basketball court, assembled with my own two hands. It took a good chunk of time, and there were definitely some moments of frustration, but seeing the finished product made it all worth it. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna go shoot some hoops!