Why I Started This Volleyball Court Project

So my backyard volleyball games were wrecking our knees on that concrete slab. Ball kept dying when it hit the ground too. After Googling “knee-friendly volleyball setups”, shock-absorbing flooring popped up everywhere. Found out larch wood’s naturally springy and weatherproof – perfect for outdoor use. Ordered the “level 1 larch shock kit” thinking it’d be weekend work. Boy was I wrong.

The Unboxing Nightmare

Crate arrived smelling like a lumberyard – good sign right? Ripped it open expecting numbered bags or instructions. Nope. Just three piles:

• Hundreds of tongue-and-groove larch planks
• Rubber pucks looking like hockey biscuits
• Random screws and plastic spacers

Spent two hours crawling around trying to match pieces to the tiny diagram printed on the crate. Felt like IKEA hell but without the cute Swedish names.

Ground Prep Chaos

Cleared the concrete slab thinking I could just slap this down. Nope. Instructions said we needed gaps for drainage. Grabbed my chalk line and tape measure – drew grid lines for the rubber pucks. Sweat pouring down my neck while positioning 156 of those damn rubber cookies. Half kept sliding when I turned my back. Finally duct-taped them in place like a maniac.

The Rubber Puck Dance

Each puck needed exactly 16″ spacing. Measured twice, placed once. Still messed up section 3. Had to pry up a whole row when the planks wouldn’t sit flat. My neighbor filmed me yelling at inanimate rubber circles. Probably viral on TikTok now.

Wooden Puzzle From Hell

Started clicking planks together over the pucks. First ten rows felt glorious – that satisfying “thunk” when tongues slid into grooves. Then humidity hit. Planks swelled overnight and section 5 bulged up like a speed bump. Had to disassemble half the court with a crowbar. Lesson learned: those little plastic spacers between planks? Use them immediately even when wood feels loose.

Tool Blunders

Thought I could gently tap planks with rubber mallet. Wrong. Needed serious force to seat the tongues. Upgraded to dead-blow hammer. Still wound up with bruises when the hammer bounced off and hit my shin. Dropped so many screws between gaps I could build another court with them.

The Final Stretch

After three weekends of swearing, it finally came together. Last plank needed trimming with my jigsaw. Blade wandered and cut crooked – typical. Slapped some outdoor wood stain on it to hide the sins. First test game yesterday: ball bounces like it’s on a trampoline, zero knee pain, and the larch grain looks killer in sunset light. Totally worth the blood/sweat investment – though my back’s gonna need shock absorption next.