Got this wild idea after seeing the community center volleyball court wrecked again. Those heavy duty plastic tiles? Total trash after six months. Kids tripping, balls bouncing weird… needed something solid but easier to replace. Stumbled onto beech wood – hard like a baseball bat, figured it might hold up. Called it “removable” ’cause ain’t nobody got time for permanent glue-down nonsense.

The Hunting & Gathering

First, I dragged my buddy Dave to three lumberyards. Beech ain’t cheap! Settled on pre-finished planks, tongue-and-groove type. Grabbed a bunch of samples – soaked ’em in water overnight, dropped weights on ’em, scratched like crazy with keys. Beech passed. Also snagged these rubber pads for underneath, kinda like big mouse pads. Whole plan was floating floor, no nails.

Cutting Room Chaos

Cleared out my garage, borrowed a table saw. Measured the court dimensions – standard volleyball size. Simple math, right? Yeah, no. Forgot about the stupid pillars smack in the middle. Had to recut half the planks. Damn knots ruined three boards! Got splinters everywhere too. After a week of cursing, had stacks of 3-foot by 1-foot boards ready.

Locking It Down (Without Locking It Down)

The big trick was making it hold together during play but easy to pull apart for fixing. Saw online about these plastic brackets. Tried screwing small metal L-brackets to the ends… disaster. Boards wobbled like Jello. Found heavy-duty sliding bolt latches instead. Screwed one side to the end grain of one plank, the latch bit to the side of the neighbor. Sounds weird, looked kinda janky, but…

Test Run:

• Slapped the rubber pads down flat on the concrete.
• Laid the first row of boards snug against the wall.
• Whacked the next row into the tongue-and-groove with a rubber mallet.
• Clicked the bolt latches at every third seam – click, click, click.
• Repeated row after row, sweating buckets.

The Moment of Truth (and Ball Bounce)

Finished late Friday. Let the high school team try it Saturday morning. Held my breath. Kids jumped, landed hard. Served spikes straight down. Floor didn’t buckle! No splinters! And the ball? Bounced true and fast – way better than plastic junk. Best part? Tuesday, some kid puked near the end zone. Unscrewed four latches, popped out two boards, cleaned the concrete underneath, popped fresh boards back in. Ten minutes flat. Dave still whines it ain’t “real” hardwood, but hey? It works.