Alright folks, buckle up because today I tackled this ridiculous project I found online: making a basketball pad thing out of those rubber floor tiles under a rubber tree, all on top of this wooden flooring I decided to assemble myself. Yeah, it sounded way cooler in my head before the sweat started pouring.

The “Brilliant” Plan

So, picture this: I wanted a little indoor hoop setup near my big rubber tree plant, but I didn’t want the ball wrecking my existing floor. Saw those interlocking rubber mats everyone uses for garages or gyms. Seemed perfect, right? Soften the impact, protect the floor underneath. Plus, found some “assembly required” unfinished wood planks super cheap. Double win, I thought. Oh boy.

Starting Simple… Or Not

First things first, I figured I’d assemble the wood base. Ha! “Some assembly required” should have screamed “hours of frustration”.

• Unpacked the wood planks. Looked straightforward with those tongue-and-groove edges.
• Started banging ’em together. First two went fine. Felt like a champion. Third plank? That groove felt tighter than my jeans after Thanksgiving dinner. Had to literally stand on the connected plank and jump to get the next one to even partially lock in.
• Got the hammer involved. Not proud. Gently tapped (okay, maybe not that gently) with a rubber mallet along the seam. Lots of grunting and shoving later, that plank finally clicked. Barely.
• Repeat steps 2 and 3 for the entire sheet. Took me almost an hour just to get the wood panels together properly.

Enter the Rubber Beast

Feeling confident with the wood base down, I started laying out the rubber puzzle mats. How hard could interlocking squares be? Apparently, pretty darn hard.

• Started snapping tiles together. First row went down easy-peasy. Feeling like this part might actually save me.
• Tried adding the second row. Suddenly, those simple interlocking tabs decided they hated each other. They’d either not connect at all, or they’d connect juuuuust enough to get stuck half-way, refusing to budge left or right.
• Got physical again. Ended up kneeling on the connected parts, yanking the misbehaving tile upwards while simultaneously shoving it sideways. It felt like wrestling an angry octopus made of recycled tires.
• Battle scars appeared. My fingers started getting raw from the rough edges. That rubber isn’t messing around. Needed gloves.
• Final tile was the devil. Of course, the last piece just didn’t want to fit. Tried forcing it. Tried trimming an edge slightly with scissors (bad idea, barely made a dent). Ended up taking out half the connecting row tiles again just to maneuver the stupid thing into place.

The Grand Finale (Mostly)

After way too much swearing and way too much effort for some foam and wood, I finally got the rubber pad fully assembled on top of the wooden base. Slid the whole shebang into place near the rubber tree. Looks… functional? Phew. Hoop is mounted above it.

Tested it with a basketball dribble. Bounce feels surprisingly good on the mats! Much better than on the bare wood. Haven’t tried a massive slam dunk onto it yet, but it seems like it might actually work.

So, did it work? Technically, yes. Would I do it exactly this way again? Hahaha. No. That rubber tile interlocking nonsense? Never again unless I have a hydraulic press handy.