Getting Started with My Court Project

So I’ve got this ugly concrete patio behind my garage – cracked and nasty looking. Figured why not turn it into a half-court? Saw folks online making “engineered hardwood” basketball floors, seemed doable. Ordered cheap-ass rubber tree wood planks from this southeast Asian supplier online, claimed they’re durable. Yeah right, we’ll see about that. Also grabbed these blue foam shock pads ’cause I’m cheap but not stupid – my knees ain’t what they used to be.

The Dirty Work Phase

First had to pressure-wash that cement slab like crazy. Found three ant colonies and what looked like fossilized chewing gum. Took all damn afternoon. Then the fun part – unboxing the wood planks. Half had slightly different shades, some warped like bananas. Supplier swore this was “natural character.” Whatever, just need something to bounce a ball on.

What I messed up:

• Forgot to measure the damn slope – nearly flooded it during first rain test
• Tried snapping chalk lines drunk at midnight – looked like spaghetti
• Used wrong adhesive first, spent hours scraping sticky crap off

The Puzzle Assembly Struggle

Laying down those shock pads felt like Tetris with jigsaw pieces missing. Had to cut the blue foam around drain pipes with my kitchen knife – wife’s still pissed about that. Then came the wood planks, clicking together like cheap Ikea furniture. That tongue-and-groove business is no joke. Busted three planks trying to hammer them too hard. Pro tip: rubber wood splinters hurt like hell.

Left expansion gaps like YouTube tutorials said, but damn there’s like 1cm gap near the hoop now. Whatever, adds character. Sweating buckets trying to align everything straight when the planks kept bowing. Ended up weighting them with my old college textbooks – finally put that economics degree to use.

Finishing Up (Mostly)

Sealed the whole thing with water-based crap that turned cloudy first coat. Sanded it down like a madman and did two more thin coats. Added some sand to the top layer for grip – nearly ate dust testing it. Still need to paint lines properly, but for now I’ve got a bouncy court that doesn’t murder my joints. Ball actually has good bounce back, shock pads work better than expected!

Whole thing took three weekends and probably about 600 bucks. Cheaper than professional flooring, though I’ve got like five extra planks that’ll probably warp before winter. Let’s see how long this rubber tree wood holds up against rain and my neighbor’s kids. So far, so good!