Okay so last weekend I finally tackled that removable volleyball court flooring project I’d been eyeballing for months. Wanted something temporary for the backyard since the kids keep begging to play. Saw those interlocking wood tiles online and figured “how hard could it be?” Famous last words, right?

Getting Started

First thing Saturday morning, hauled all the boxes out to the driveway. Opened ’em up and dumped everything out – just a huge pile of these wooden planks and these little plastic connector thingies. Felt totally lost staring at it. Shoulda taken a picture before I messed with anything. Lesson learned there.

Started sorting pieces by edge type – some had tongue bits sticking out, others had grooves. Got maybe fifty tiles spread out making the whole driveway look like a jigsaw puzzle gone wrong. Took me like twenty minutes just grouping ’em properly.

The Assembly Struggle

Alright, here’s where things got annoying. Thought these things would just snap together like Lego. Nope. Had to angle each tile just right to get the tongues into the grooves. First row took forever cause everything kept sliding apart. Ended up using my knee to shove one piece sideways while hammering the dang connector with a rubber mallet.

• Nearly smashed my thumb twice
• Sweat dripping in my eyes by tile #10
• Realized half the connectors weren’t seated properly after three rows

Had to backtrack and whack every single connector again with the mallet. Back was screaming at me by noon. Stopped for lunch feeling halfway defeated.

Figuring Out The Perimeter

After food things clicked better. The middle sections went smooth since they locked from all sides. But the edges? Total nightmare. Those outside pieces needed special border tiles I almost threw away with the packaging. Had to flip them weird and hammer sideways while standing on two tiles to keep everything from shifting.

Pro tip: recruit bystanders. My neighbor walked by walking his dog just as I was cussing at a corner tile. He held two pieces steady while I malleted. Took us five minutes to fix what would’ve taken me half an hour solo.

The Grand Finale

By sunset, all sixteen squares were connected. Whole thing kinda… floated? Like a giant wooden raft. Kiddos ran out and started literally bouncing on it before I could even sweep the wood dust off. Felt pretty good watching them spike a volleyball over the net we set up.

Best part? When rain threatened Sunday evening, we just popped up the edges, slid the sections apart, and stacked ’em in the garage. No permanent concrete pouring, no grass killing. Messy process? Absolutely. Worth the hassle? Seeing the kids play? Hell yeah. Back still hurts though.