The Whole Messy Process

Right, so today I decided gotta tackle this project: putting together this removable wooden volleyball floor thing. Saw it advertised online, supposed to be easy assembly for like, community courts or whatever. Mine arrived in about a dozen big, heavy boxes. Hauled them all into my garage, sweating already. First mistake? Not checking what was in them properly.

Cracked open box number one. Nothing but long strips of this Hevea wood, packed tight. Okay, cool. Box number two? More wood, same deal. Box number three… wait, where are the dang parts? Poked around underneath the wood layers. Ah, found ’em. Plastic connectors, screws, little rubber feet, all jumbled together in small plastic bags. Looked like a pile of random hardware junk from a discount store. Sorted those out into little piles on my workbench. Already felt like an archeologist.

Figured I should start laying out the wood planks. Pulled them out one by one. Some were slightly warped. Nothing terrible, but annoying. Gave ’em all a good look over. Found one plank with a nasty-looking knot that might crack later. Set that aside as a spare. Just laid a few down on the clean garage floor, clicking them together end-to-end with these tongue-and-groove things they have. Felt pretty sturdy. “Okay,” I thought, “maybe this won’t be too bad.”

Then came the connectors. These plastic things snap onto the sides of the planks, linking rows together. Sounds simple. It wasn’t. Had to wrestle them on. Needed a rubber mallet for some, others went on easy. Super inconsistent. Sometimes the plank edge didn’t seat right in the connector clip. Had to lift the whole row, wiggle it, swear a bit, try again. Did maybe two rows like this and my back started yelling at me. Took a break, drank some water, glared at the pile of planks left.

The worst part? Measuring and making sure it was all square. My garage floor ain’t perfectly level, obviously. Laid down some string lines, checked diagonals… it was close enough for me. But keeping the rows straight while snapping them together? Pain in the neck. Slightest bump and things shifted. Spent ages tweaking rows four and five just to get them reasonably parallel. Strongly considered giving up halfway through row three. Seriously, patience running thin.

Finally got all the main floor sections snapped together. Big patchwork quilt of wood now covering half my garage. Time for the support legs. These screw into the bottom of the connectors. Found the screw bags, grabbed my drill. Started putting them on. Some went on fine, others… the pre-drilled hole in the connector didn’t quite line up right? Or the thread stripped super easy. Had to manhandle a few screws. Added the little rubber feet to the bottom of each leg – easy bit. Now the whole floor was raised about two inches off the ground. Pushed down on it, walked across. Felt surprisingly solid. No scary creaks or bends.

Last step: the volleyball net posts base plates. Heavy metal suckers designed to clamp onto the edge connectors on either side of the court. Had to position them just right. Getting the clamp mechanism tight enough? Needed serious wrench muscle. Nearly pinched my fingers twice. Finally got them locked on. Slotted the posts in temporarily just to see. Stood back and looked at it.

Took me the better part of six hours, honestly. Sweating, groaning, dropping screws, probably scuffed a plank or two hauling them around. But… it was done. Whole volleyball court section sitting there. Clicked a few planks apart just to test the “removable” claim. Worked, kinda stiff though. Clicked them back. Jumped on it a few times near the center. Held firm. Looks like a real court now, squint a bit. Guess it worked. Was it easy like the ad said? Hell no. Satisfied? Yeah, mostly. Might need a beer and a long sit down. Wouldn’t wanna do it again next week.