Started this weekend project after seeing the park basketball court looking all sad with cracks everywhere. Grabbed my tape measure first thing Saturday morning, walked over there real slow like I was inspecting some ancient ruins. Measured the whole pad area twice – man was my back killing me from all that bending down!
Running Around for Supplies
Drove straight to the hardware store after lunchtime. Told the dude at checkout I needed larch wood planks for outdoor flooring. Guy looked at me like I ordered pizza with pineapples. “For real? Basketball court?” he says. I just nodded while loading 40 planks into my rusty pickup truck. Felt every single bump on the road driving home, planks rattling like skeletons in a closet.
The Assembly Circus
Sunday sunrise found me sweating buckets already. Followed these steps:
- Laid out rubber base pads super crooked at first – had to redo twice
- Stopped halfway realizing I forgot weatherproofing sealant – ran back to store
- Neighbor Jim wandered over with coffee just to watch me struggle
The wood cutting part went wild. Sawdust flew everywhere – looked like chicken feathers exploded in my garage. Jim started laughing when I measured wrong and chopped a plank three inches short. “That’s why you shoulda hired me!” he yelled. Yeah right, like I trust that guy with power tools after he stapled his thumb last summer.
Almost Quitting Time
Around 2 PM everything sucked. Knuckles bleeding from splinters, right ankle swollen from dropping a plank, and surprise thunderstorm rolling in. Seriously considered torching the whole stack. But then neighbor kids peeked over the fence asking “Mister, when can we ball?”
Final Push
Said “screw the rain” and bolted the last boards down like a madman. Used two whole cans of sealant while getting soaked. Lightning flashed as I hammered the final nail – felt like Frankenstein finishing his monster. Tuesday evening I see twelve kids doing layups on that larch floor and man that felt good. Worth every splinter and bruised knuckle. Still finding sawdust in my hair though.
