Today I tackled that removable basketball oak floor project. Started by clearing out half the garage. Pushed the car outside, swept concrete clean, then measured exact space with my old tape measure. Took forever because corners weren’t straight. Wrote numbers down wrong twice – almost cut pieces too short!

Dang Plank Problems

Bought pre-finished oak planks from Lowe’s. Looked perfect until unloading. Three planks had ugly dents! Drove back immediately. Manager argued “it’s natural wood” but swapped them after 15 minutes of back-and-forth. Lesson learned: check every single piece at store.

Assembly Frustrations

Laid foam underpad first – stupid wrinkles kept showing up. Used duct tape like YouTube video showed. Mistake! Should’ve bought proper double-sided carpet tape. Halfway through, the foam shifted. Had to rip up six rows. Wasted three hours redoing it.

Locking system on planks fought me hard. Some snapped together easy “click”, others needed hammer taps. Hit thumb twice wearing gloves. Thought about quitting when this stubborn plank chipped at edge. Fixed it with wood filler during lunch break.

Clever Removal Trick

Wanted removable sections like promised. Came up with genius idea: cut tennis balls in half! Stuck rubber halves under joints where I want future cuts. Makes separating panels possible without damaging tongue-grooves. Tested on scrap pieces – worked shockingly well.

• Key materials: Oak planks, foam underpad, tennis balls, carpenter’s square
• Real cost: $850 (budget was $700, oops)
• Worst moment: Chasing runaway tennis ball while covered in sawdust

Final Look & Thoughts

After mopping off dusty footprints, that golden oak shine blew me away. Shot baskets for 20 mins – ball bounces like crazy! But man, the blisters. Worth it though. Next week I’ll try adding foul line decals. Maybe won’t tell wife I’m storing cut tennis balls in kitchen drawer…