Alright folks, time to share how I slapped together that homemade basketball pad with wood flooring. Woke up last Tuesday thinking my garage floor would destroy a real basketball, gotta fix that.

Digging Out the Junk

First thing, cleared a monster pile of junk from the corner. Dragged out: two moldy bike tires, half a broken lawnmower, and twelve plastic bins full of who-knows-what. Took three hours just to see the concrete floor again. Sweat dripping like crazy.

Board Shopping Chaos

Rushed to the lumber yard after lunch. Grabbed:

• Five bundles of those snap-together flooring planks (on clearance, score!)
• Cheapo foam underlay rolls
• Box of mismatched nails because the right ones were sold out

Forgot a tape measure. Borrowed one from some dude cutting plywood – nice guy, terrible cough.

Flooring Fight Night

Rolled out the foam padding first. Looked like a giant mouse pad. Started clicking planks together along the long edge. Row one easy-peasy. Row two? Warped board. Spent twenty minutes stomping on it like a maniac until it finally snapped in. Cut the last plank with a rusty hand saw – wonky angle but whatever.

Nail Gun Fiasco

Time to nail down the edges. My buddy’s nail gun spat three nails sideways into the wall. Switched to hammering. Missed twice – nice dents in the plank. Used pliers to yank out those wall nails later. Almost set off the smoke detector pounding near some old wiring too.

The “Three Point Line” Experiment

Wanted painted lines. Found white spray paint. Shook it for five seconds (impatient). Sprayed the free throw line. Wind blew it back onto my shoes. Second coat looked like a dying worm. Said screw it, drew the three-pointer with sidewalk chalk instead. Lasts until the next rain probably.

Dropped the ball at midnight – bounced like a champ. Took three Advil this morning for my shoulder though. Worth it? Hell yes. Would I use crooked nails again? Hell no.