Okay guys, let me tell you about the time I decided to build a pad basketball solid wooden floor in my garage. Sounds fancy, right? Yeah, well… it wasn’t all smooth sailing.
Getting The Stuff & Feeling Overwhelmed
So, the whole thing kicked off ’cause my old driveway concrete patch was straight-up awful for dribbling the ball. Found this “pad basketball solid assembled wooden flooring” kit online. Looked decent in the pictures. Figured, “Hey, how hard could it be?” Famous last words, man. Hit that order button. Boom.
A whole pallet showed up a week later. Driver dumped it right at the curb. Opening those boxes? Man, it felt like Christmas gone wild, but also kind of terrifying. There were just so many pieces of wood and bags of nuts and bolts and weird plastic bits. Laid it all out on the garage floor. Looked like a giant puzzle designed to break my brain. Felt like an idiot staring at it all.
Starting Assembly & Major Frustrations
First job? Getting the base pads down. These plastic jobbies needed snapping together. Easy enough, right? Wrong. They wouldn’t lie flat. Spent a good hour twisting, pushing, stomping on ’em like a crazy person. My back was already yelling at me. Finally got them mostly flat enough. Not perfect, but hey.
Now, the wood panels. The instructions were this tiny pamphlet with blurry pictures. Seriously useless. Started laying the first row. Needed to connect them with these tongue-and-groove things. Had to literally hammer them together. And I mean hammer hard. Broke a sweat just getting four pieces lined up. My knuckles hated me by then. Kept checking they were actually squared up. Every piece felt like a battle.
- Hammer… hammer harder… swear quietly.
- Check alignment… nope, still crooked.
- Shimmy it back… hammer again… sweat drips.
- Repeat for what felt like forever.
Locking It All In & The Final Stretch
After the first row, it got slightly easier. Or maybe I just got used to the struggle. Still hammering like mad, but finding a rhythm. Reached the middle, needed to start angling pieces for the freethrow line and key markings. Had to pay extra attention. Almost glued my finger to a panel using the adhesive for the markings. Focused real hard to get the lines straight. Didn’t want my court looking drunk!
The final pieces? Tightest fit ever. Had to practically stand on the last few boards to shove them home. Threw my whole weight into it. Got down on my hands and knees, banging those stupid metal clips into place underneath to lock it all down. My knees were screaming.
DONE! Well, Kinda…
Finally stood back. There it was. My own wooden pad court. Did a little bounce test. Felt solid underfoot! That part felt awesome. Real sense of achievement… mixed with serious exhaustion. Grabbed my ball. Took the first dribble. Pure music. But looking closer? Yeah, some of those gaps weren’t perfect. A few scratches from the hammer I swear I was being careful with. Not pro quality, but solid? Oh yeah, absolutely solid.
Key takeaway? Buying it “solid assembled” meant I was assembling it solidly! Should have worn knee pads. My back aches thinking about it now. But man, playing that first game of HORSE on it? Worth every single swear word and drop of sweat.
