I saw the local volleyball court had those rubber tree floors all torn up from weather and use, so I figured I’d try making something removable. Wanted something quick to slap down but wouldn’t slide around.
First Steps: The Idea & Scrounging Stuff
Started in my garage, just sketching shapes on some scrap cardboard. Needed wood base, rubbery top layer, and a way for the pieces to lock together but also come apart easy. Didn’t want fancy complicated joints, way too much effort.
Found some leftover pressure-treated pine boards from building my shed – perfect for a base. They were rough but thick enough. Scrap wood pile for the win! For the top, I remembered an old sale at the local hardware store on those thick rubber horse stall mats. Super grippy and heavy, felt like overkill but in a good way. Grabbed my circular saw, a drill, some bolts I had lying around, and a giant tub of wood glue.
Cutting & Gluing The Base
Took my pine boards and cut them down with the saw into squares, aiming for roughly 2 feet by 2 feet pieces. Gotta admit, the measurements were more “that looks about right” than precise with a tape measure every cut.
Once I had a pile of squares, started building a simple frame for each one using shorter off-cut pieces. Just nailed the frame directly onto the base square. Messy? Sure. Sturdy enough? Yeah.
Slathered wood glue all over the inside of the frame where it met the base. Figured that plus the nails would hold.
Adding The Grippy Rubber Top
Rolled out the heavy rubber mats next. These things were beasts. Laid a wooden square on top of the mat, traced around it with a marker, and started cutting the rubber with a sharp utility knife. Required some serious elbow grease; that rubber did not want to be cut.
Used a trowel to spread a really thick layer of outdoor construction adhesive onto the top of each wooden base frame. Plopped the cut rubber square on top and pressed down hard, walked all over it. Let that glue set overnight with some cinder blocks piled on top for weight.
Making Them Connect (And Come Apart)
Next day, figured out how to connect the tiles. Simple bolts was all I wanted. Drilled two holes on each side edge, making sure the holes on adjacent tiles would line up roughly when pushed together.
Used wingnuts on the bolts instead of regular nuts. Why? So I could tighten them by hand without needing any tools later. Screw a bolt through Tile A into Tile B’s hole, slap a wingnut on the end inside Tile B. Give it a twist until it’s snug, holding the two tiles together.
Important bit: Made sure the bolts were long enough so the tiles weren’t super tight against each other – needed a tiny gap to handle expansion and contraction.
Testing It Out On The Court
Loaded up the truck with my new removable volleyball floor tiles – heavier than I expected! Hauled them down to the community court.
Process:
- Started in one corner, plopped down the first tile.
- Slid the next one up against it.
- Reached underneath (there’s space cause of the frame), stuck the bolt through the pre-drilled holes.
- Fumbled a bit getting the wingnut started, but once it was, a few twists tightened it up.
- Repeated the process tile by tile.
They locked together solid! Didn’t budge when people started jumping and diving around. Played a whole bunch of games, no slipping. Surface felt amazing.
Packing Up
Afterwards, just crawled under the tiles one by one, spun off the wingnuts by hand, pulled the bolts out, and picked up the tiles. Threw them back in the truck.
Super satisfying hearing them clank together loosely knowing they wouldn’t scratch. The wood base and rubber top held up perfectly to being stacked.
Best part? My sketch worked! Got removable grip without needing some fancy expensive system. Looks kinda rough and ready? Sure. Does the job perfectly? Hell yeah. Volleyball practice just got way smoother.
