Okay, here’s my blog post about installing that basketball court flooring:

So, I finally got around to tackling that project I’ve been putting off – installing the new keel basketball soft maple assembled wooden flooring in my basement rec room. It’s something I’ve wanted to do for ages, and I figured, “Why not now?” I’m no expert, but I’m pretty handy, and I like a good challenge.

Getting Started

First, I cleared out the entire room. This was a workout in itself! I had to move a ping pong table, a huge old couch, and boxes of random stuff that had accumulated down there. It felt good to see the empty space, though – a blank canvas!

Next, I checked the subfloor. It’s concrete, and thankfully, it was pretty level. I used a long level and found a few minor dips, which I filled in with some self-leveling compound. It was messy, but it dried pretty quickly, and I was able to move on.

The Fun Part (Kind Of)

Then came the actual flooring. I’d ordered this “keel basketball soft maple assembled wooden flooring” – sounds fancy, right? It came in these pre-assembled panels, which was supposed to make things easier. I laid down a moisture barrier first, just to be safe. This was basically a big roll of plastic sheeting that I taped down.

Assembling the panels was a bit like putting together a giant jigsaw puzzle. They had this tongue-and-groove system, and I had to use a rubber mallet and a tapping block to get them to fit snugly together. It took some muscle, and my knees were definitely complaining after a while! I had to constantly keep the panels flat, so I wouldn’t break the tongue and grooves when connecting them.

The Tricky Bits

• Cutting around the edges: This was probably the most frustrating part. I used a jigsaw to cut the panels to fit around the walls and doorways. It wasn’t perfect, but I figured I could cover any gaps with baseboards later.
• Keeping everything aligned: Because the floor is assembled with multiple parts,I made a couple of mistakes early on where I didn’t quite get the panels lined up perfectly. I had to pry them apart and redo a few sections, which was a pain.
• Expansion gaps: making sure there were expansion gaps all around the edges of the entire floor.

The Finish Line

After a couple of long days, I finally got all the flooring installed. It wasn’t perfect, but it looked pretty darn good! I added some baseboards around the edges to cover up the gaps and give it a finished look.I stood back and admired my handiwork. It felt amazing to have transformed that dingy basement space into something that actually looked like a basketball court (a small one, anyway!).

My kids were super excited to try it out. They grabbed their basketballs and started dribbling and shooting. Hearing the sound of the ball bouncing on the new floor was music to my ears. It was definitely worth the effort!

I’ve been dribbling and shooting the basketball with my kids on it for the last few days now. It’s a real joy that I managed to figure it all out on my own.