Man, that old concrete court behind my garage was brutal on the knees. Decided to build a shock absorbing basketball court with pine wood flooring. Here’s exactly how I butchered it together last weekend.
Gathering Supplies
First I grabbed like 60 pressure-treated pine planks from the lumber yard. Forgot to measure twice though – ended up making three extra trips ’cause I kept buying the wrong length. Got these thick rubber pads too, supposed to absorb shocks. Looked at the price tag and almost choked.
- Dump truck full of gravel (neighbor still mad about his lawn)
- Wood glue that claimed “industrial strength”
- Cheapest drill from Harbor Freight
- Box of screws shorter than my pinky
Leveling Disaster
Started scraping the dirt flat with a shovel. Thought I did okay until I dumped the gravel and realized it looked like the Rocky Mountains. Spent three back-breaking hours raking and stomping that mess. Threw down landscaping fabric like YouTube said – wind blew half of it into the next county.
Placed the first sleepers… crooked. Like seriously crooked. Had to rip ’em up and start over. When I finally got one row straight, jumped up and down like I won the lottery. Then noticed all the rubber pads weren’t touching the sleepers evenly. Cue massive swearing.
Wood Glue Apocalypse
Started laying pine planks diagonal like I saw at the Lakers game. Wood glue bottle exploded all over my jeans – now permanently crunchy pants. The drill battery died every fifteen minutes. Screws kept disappearing in the grass. At one point I screwed straight through the plank into the gravel below like a total clown.
When I finally finished like eight rows, tested the bounce with my kid’s basketball. Still felt like throwing a rock. Realized I forgot to stagger the joints. Ripped up half the planks while glue was still wet. What a sticky nightmare – looked like I murdered a maple tree.
Final Touch Trauma
After three days of misery, got all boards down somehow. Sanded the surface wearing a dust mask that kept sliding off. Took one step onto my masterpiece and got a splinter the size of a toothpick in my foot. Applied wood finish with a rag that kept unraveling. Now my court’s got fuzzy bits everywhere.
Played our first game yesterday. Still kinda bouncy? Maybe? The ball rolled funny on uneven spots. But when my kid drained his first jumper yelling “Kobe!”, the splinters and back pain didn’t seem so bad anymore.
