Last month I decided to finally build that backyard basketball court my kids kept bugging me about. Figured wooden flooring would feel best for dribbling, so I started researching how to lay it properly.

Prepping the Ground

First I cleared the whole area with a shovel, sweating buckets under the sun. Dug out about six inches of dirt to make space for the layers. Leveled it roughly with a rake, then rented a compactor machine from Home Depot. Ran that thing back and forth like a maniac till the ground felt solid as concrete.

Unrolling the Cushion Layer

Bought these big rubbery foam rolls meant for sports floors. Thought it’d be simple – just roll them out side by side. Wrong. Wind kept flipping the corners up like tortillas. Had to use duct tape to hold them down while cutting edges with box cutters. Pro tip: do this on a windless day or you’ll curse like I did.

Plywood Puzzle Time

Here’s where things got tricky. The plywood sheets were heavy as hell and didn’t fit perfectly. I measured twice but still had gaps. Ended up:

• Placing full sheets in the middle first
• Cutting smaller pieces for edges using a circular saw
• Hammering them together with deck screws every six inches
• Constantly checking with a level – so many adjustments!

Sawdust got everywhere, even inside my socks. Looked like a disaster zone for two days straight.

Final Flooring Installation

When the plywood base was finally flat, I started nailing down the maple planks. Used this special flooring nailer that rents for $40/day. Still managed to smash my thumb twice – turned purple for a week. The planks needed spacing for expansion, so I used plastic spacers between them. Took three weekends total because I kept running out of materials.

Lessons Learned

If I ever do this again (big if), I’d:

• Buy 20% extra plywood for mistakes
• Wear knee pads from day one
• Not try to “save money” by skipping professional help

The kids love it now though, so all that swearing and back pain was worth it. Just wish I’d known about the wind vs foam roll battle beforehand!