So I had this idea to make a padded basketball floor for my driveway using hevea wood panels, because the regular concrete was killing my knees. Heard hevea’s durable and has good bounce, so why not try?
First step, I measured my half-court space. Grabbed my tape and notebook – came out around 12×15 feet. Went online and ordered interlocking hevea wood tiles. Waited like two weeks for delivery, boxes showed up looking pretty beaten up.
The Unboxing Disaster
Opened the first box and immediately noticed issues. Some tiles had cracked edges, others had weird discoloration. Called customer service and they’re like “Oh that’s normal, wood has natural variations.” Fine, whatever. Started laying them dry on the concrete just to see.
- Tiles weren’t locking properly – had to hammer them in
- Weird height differences between some pieces
- Realized I was missing 6 whole tiles
The Padding Struggle
Ordered foam padding rolls meant for garages. Cut them into tile-sized squares with my crappy utility knife. Looked like a toddler did it – edges were all jagged. Laid the padding down first, then put the wood tiles on top.
Bad decision. When I bounced the ball, it felt dead. Like dribbling on carpet. Ripped everything up and tried putting the foam UNDERNEATH the tiles instead. Still sucked. Ended up using two layers of cheaper gym mats I found in my garage. Ball bounce improved but still not perfect.
Assembly Nightmare
Putting together those wooden pieces was harder than any IKEA furniture. The locking system needed serious muscle. Used my rubber mallet, still chips flew everywhere. Sweat dripping like crazy in the summer heat. Halfway through, noticed the pattern looked crooked. Had to disassemble a whole section and restart.
- Broke two tile connectors from hammering too hard
- Split one wood panel down the middle
- At one point just superglued a stubborn joint
Finished Product
After three weekends and like five trips to the hardware store, it’s playable. Ball bounce is okay, not NBA level but decent. Knees don’t ache anymore which was the main goal. Looks janky as hell with mismatched wood tones and that superglued corner. But whatever, it functions. Would I recommend this? Only if you hate yourself and got too much time.
