Alright, so I finally tackled that shock absorbing basketball floor.

Honestly, the old concrete in my garage just wasn’t cutting it anymore. My knees started yelling at me after every pickup game, and bouncing that ball sounded like gunshots echoing around the neighborhood. Saw folks online talking about plywood setups for basketball, specifically ones with a bit of bounce to ’em. “Shock absorbing basketball plywood assembly,” they called it. Sounded fancy, but maybe worth a shot.

First thing, I had to clear that garage out. Man, that took way longer than I thought. Moved bikes, bins, that stupid treadmill we never use… felt like digging through layers of forgotten stuff. Once I finally had a big empty patch of concrete, I swept like crazy. Didn’t want even a tiny pebble messing things up underneath.

Next up, the materials. I went down to the big box store, grabbed a bunch of those thick, tongue-and-groove plywood boards specifically listed for subfloors. Also got a giant roll of that squishy, rubbery underlayment foam – the kind supposed to absorb impact. Grabbed boxes of heavy-duty deck screws too, figured they’d hold better than nails.

Got home, rolled out the underlayment foam right on the concrete. Felt like wrestling an angry carpet snake. Tried to keep it smooth, no wrinkles. Cut it roughly to fit with my box cutter.

Now the real fun began: laying the plywood. Started in one corner. Laid the first board down, tongue facing out. Laid the next one, tried sliding its groove onto the tongue of the first one. It didn’t want to play nice. Had to whack them together with a rubber mallet, like some kind of awkward carpentry dance. Sweating buckets already.

Kept going, board by board. Made sure the staggered the seams between rows, like laying bricks. Used some wood shims here and there against the walls to leave a small gap for expansion. Once a board felt roughly in place, crawled around like a crab screwing it down into the concrete below. Aimed the screws mostly into the concrete slab, putting extras along the plywood seams where one board butted against the next.

• Measured (roughly)
• Put board down
• Whacked it together
• Screwed it down

Repeat like fifty times. My drill started feeling like a brick in my hand.

Had to cut some boards to fit around support poles and at the ends. My circular saw threw sawdust everywhere. Made some messy cuts, I ain’t gonna lie. Just made sure the cut ends were snug against the wall or the adjoining piece.

The last piece to fill in the middle was the toughest. Had to measure the gap very carefully from multiple points. Cut it slightly too big first time. Flipped it over, shaved a bit more off. Finally got it jammed in there after some serious mallet encouragement.

After what felt like days of crawling, screwing, and cursing mildly under my breath, it was all down. Dropped the basketball right in the center. It didn’t sound like a gunshot anymore! Instead, it made this satisfying, deep ‘thump’. Walked on it, jumped a little. Felt way better than concrete, definitely softer. Not bouncy like a trampoline, just… less harsh. Maybe saved my knees a little? I guess the proof will be after the next game.

Thoughts after

It was way more work than ordering a kit, but cheaper, I guess. The shock foam layer underneath seems to do its job just by taking the absolute worst bite out of the concrete. Definitely feels way more forgiving. Just hoping those screws hold tight and the plywood doesn’t try to warp over time. Still gotta tape the seams and probably put some finish on it later, but that’s a problem for Future Me. For now, time to test it with some actual basketball!