Starting This Messy Project

Okay so, saw this basketball wooden flooring kit online that promised less shock, better bounce, made from Hevea rubber wood thingies. Figured I’d try installing it myself for the little concrete pad behind my garage. Always thought kids playing streetball over there needed something kinder on their knees. Big promises always mean big headaches though, right? First step was pure chaos.

The Confusing Buy Stuff Phase

Ordering parts was a nightmare. Website claimed “all inclusive assembly kit”. Yeah right. Clicked add to cart for what looked like everything. Showed up a week later in way too many boxes, all mixed up. Opened Box 1: just the Hevea shock pad squares, like thick rubber jigsaw puzzles. Opened Box 2: wood planks, kinda oily looking. Box 3? Wrong parts! Got metal track borders when my kit needed plastic clips. Called support, got bounced around three different people who sounded equally lost. Two weeks wasted waiting for replacement clips. Annoying!

Getting My Hands Dirty

Day finally comes. Concrete pad needed cleaning big time. Swept, sprayed with hose, let it dry completely. Started laying out the Hevea shock pads first. These are these spongy, black rubber things about a foot square. Supposed to fit together tight. Took forever clicking them edge-to-edge with this special tool that kept slipping. Sweat pouring down my face already. Got about halfway across the pad. Then realized the surface wasn’t perfectly flat – saw water pooling slightly in one corner. Ugh. Shoved some broken tiles under the low corner pads to level it out roughly. Good enough!

The Real Struggle: The Wood

Alright, time for the actual wood floor panels. These planks had grooves and tongues all around the edges. Instructions showed just clicking them together over the pads. Lies! Getting that first row straight? Impossible. Used a level, chalk line, my kid’s toy laser pointer. Still wobbly. Stuck the long groove side against the starter plastic clip track thing glued to the edge. Started slamming the tongue of the next plank into the groove of the first one. Whack! Whack! Whack! My rubber mallet got a workout. Didn’t want to go easy. Watching them slowly line up felt kinda good.

• First plank? Easy.
• Second plank? Took like five minutes of hitting, pushing, stepping on it.
• Third plank wouldn’t seat flat. Realized pad underneath wasn’t clicked right. Had to lift planks back out and fix the stupid pad.

Moving down the rows got slightly faster. But cutting planks for the ends? Marking and sawing wood in blazing heat. Sawdust everywhere. Used my old rusty circular saw. Edges turned out rough as sandpaper. Told myself “nobody will see the end cuts”. Assembled most of it over a weekend, felt like I was building Noah’s Ark.

Almost Done & Dealing with Nasty Surprises

Last row. Tightest squeeze ever. Had to rip planks narrower with the saw. Needed this special pull bar tool to drag the last piece into the clip and hook onto the tongue. Pushed, shoved, kicked it. Sweating buckets. Finally heard that satisfying CLUNK it locked. Sat down for five minutes feeling half-dead. Was it perfect? Nah. Then next morning, rain! Went back out. Humidity made the wood swell. Saw a bump along one edge where two planks pushed up slightly. Panicked! But after a couple sunny days? The bump went down. Guess the Hevea underneath flexed or the wood settled? Who knows. Dodged a bullet!

Is It Any Good?

Okay, verdict time. Had the neighbor kids bounce a ball. Definitely felt different than concrete. Less of that hard ‘THUD’, more like a softer ‘THUMP’. Ball bounced well, not dead. Took some running steps and jumped. Landing felt less jarring. Does it magically absorb all shock? Nah. Is it way better than concrete? Yeah, totally. Looks surprisingly decent too, if you squint past the rough end cuts. Was it easy? Ha! Pain in the neck most of the time. But seeing kids use it without wiping out as much? Worth the sweat and swearing.

Would I do it again? Maybe. But I’d bribe a friend with pizza to help wrestle those wood planks into place next time. And double-check every darn shipping box at the door!