So last Tuesday I decided to tackle this DIY project: putting together wooden flooring for my backyard pad basketball setup. Grabbed the cheapest oak stuff I could find at the local hardware store. Figured, how hard could it be?
Getting Started
First, dumped all the boxes in my garage. Opened ’em up and spread the planks everywhere. Big mistake. Took forever just to sort through the pieces. Some looked crooked straight outta the box. Typical.
Tried measuring the space first. Pulled out my tape measure, wrote some numbers on a ripped cardboard box. Forgot half the measurements before I even cut anything. Damn.
The Real Struggle
Started laying the first row near the garage wall. Hammered the tongue-and-groove joints together. Smashed my thumb twice. Hurt like hell. Had to keep shoving shims under the planks ’cause the concrete floor ain’t level at all.
Cut some planks with my jigsaw. Blade wobbled like crazy – edges looked like a dog chewed on ’em. Sawdust covered everything. My garage looked like a woodchip factory exploded.
Big problem: Ran out of planks halfway. Had to drive back to the store. They didn’t have the same batch. New planks were slightly lighter. My court looks like a checkerboard now. Crap.
Finishing Touches
Two days later, finally got all pieces down. Mostly. My “helpful” neighbor walked over and pointed out:
- Six planks facing the wrong direction
- Gaps wider than my thumb in three spots
- One corner sticking up like a skate ramp
Tried fixing the warped corner with weights. Stacked every heavy thing in my garage on it: old encyclopedias, broken printer, my dumbell set. Made a creaking sound all night. Probably worse now.
Lessons Learned
Should’ve paid extra for installation. Or just painted concrete instead. Whole weekend gone. Back hurts. My kid dribbled the ball yesterday and it bounced crooked off my “smooth” surface. Yeah, screw DIY flooring.
