So I got this crazy idea after my kid nearly broke a lamp trying to shoot hoops in the living room. Needed something to catch the ball indoors without wrecking the floor or furniture. Heard about portable floors, but man, they cost a fortune. Figured, why not try building one myself? Pad Basketball sounded perfect – something thick, bouncy, easy to stash away. Started searching for cheap materials.

The Hunt for Stuff

Hit the local hardware store first. Looked for rubber mats – the thick, squishy kind you put in gyms. Found some, but wow, expensive! Kept digging in the discount bins. Scored a couple of thick, recycled rubber tiles meant for playgrounds. Not perfect, but cheap. They felt kinda bouncy. Grabbed those.

Next stop: lumber section. Needed a base. Plywood seemed too heavy and splintery. Saw these packs of thin, interlocking laminate flooring planks. The wooden kind meant for quick flooring jobs. Lightweight, smooth surface. Seemed sturdy enough. Took the plunge and bought a pack. Also grabbed some heavy-duty double-sided tape. Had no clue how this would stick together yet.

The “Brilliant” Assembly Plan

Got home, cleared a space in the garage. Laid the rubber tiles down first on the concrete floor. Tried piecing the wooden laminate planks together right on top. Fit okay, but they slid around like crazy on the rubber. Pissed me off. Tried that heavy-duty tape. Stuck the planks to the rubber? Nope. Barely held for two seconds. Rubber surface was too rough. Felt dumb as a brick. My neighbor walked by, chuckled, said “Whatcha wrecking now?”

Back to the drawing board. Decided the rubber needed to be glued directly to the wood for any hope. Dug out a tube of construction adhesive I had left from fixing a fence. Squirted that crap all over the back of a rubber tile. Slapped it onto a laminate plank. Weighed it down with buckets of paint. Left it overnight. Next morning? Actually stuck! Felt a tiny bit hopeful.

Putting It All Together (Sort Of)

Did this for all four rubber tiles and four planks. Took forever. Messy. Glue everywhere. Once dried, tried interlocking the wood planks. Fit together okay-ish. Made a rectangle about half the size of my garage floor. Stepped on it. Felt solid! Had some bounce! Kid bounced his ball on it. Dunk! Okay, maybe not dunk, but he shot it. Sounded good, felt good.

The Testing Disaster

He played for maybe ten minutes. Started dribbling harder. Went for a rebound. Landed funny near the edge. CRACK. One plank snapped right at the joint. The glued rubber underneath held, but the thin wood? Shattered. Looked like cheap kindling. Shoulda known those laminate tongues were weak. My neighbor popped his head in again, “Told ya that junk was flimsy.” Jerk was probably right.

Going Ghetto Strong

Pissed, but not beat. Needed thicker wood. Remembered some old half-inch plywood scraps leaning against the garage wall. Too wide, but okay. Cut them into smaller pieces to match my rubber tiles. Sanded the edges rough. Glued the rubber to the plywood this time. Clamped it tight. Way heavier. No way to interlock this junk. Just laid the plywood/rubber squares side by side.

Used that heavy-duty tape again, slapped it along the seams where the plywood met. Reinforced the heck out of it. Looks terrible. Jagged gaps. Tape everywhere. But you know what? Kid’s been bouncing, running, jumping on it for a week now. No breaks. Zero. Picks up the whole mess – heavy as hell – and dumps it in the corner. Don’t get me started on the ball bounce – it’s okay. Not NBA court, but definitely protects the floor.

Pad Basketball? More like Ghetto Floorball. But hey, it works. Mostly. Cheap. Portable-ish. Kid’s happy, lamp’s safe. I call that a win. Would I do it again? Hell no. But I learned. Thick plywood beats thin laminate every time, glue is sticky magic, and duct tape fixes (almost) everything.