Preparation
Most of us will never see all the preparation that goes into a basketball game. Waking up for early morning workouts. Listening to the coach’s locker room talks. Spending hours on practice courts. All these little pieces have to come together to make a great game.
Building courts where these great games are played works the same way.
Beneath the shiny, finished beauty of hardwood is a complex system pieced together with care and expert precision. And no, it’s not building the floors in your house. Court installation is like going from a Sunday morning rec league to playing D1 basketball. It’s on a whole other level of difficulty, which means our teams have to perform on a whole other level, too.
To play college ball, you need to be locked in. You need strong communication, sharp shooting, and precise footwork on the courts. Building those courts demands the same discipline. Our crews have to communicate clearly, pay attention to every little detail, and execute each step perfectly before moving on to the next.
Before we lay any wood down, your court needs a strong foundation: a concrete slab. Its condition determines how well the final product will perform. Just like an athlete needs strong fundamentals, our court needs a strong foundation to build on. Our team starts by applying a vapor barrier beneath to prevent any moisture from rising through the concrete. Our team will divide the floor into sections and pour the concrete. Our team can hit any floor spec.
If the concrete has just been poured, it must cure before the court can be installed. This takes about 27 days, so the moisture fully escapes the slab. After that, the game really begins.
Precision
Spearscapes, a MMTH company, specializes in building places to play. From playground installation and putting greens to weight rooms and sports surfaces, we’re experts in all things play. But what sets our team, and all of MMTH, apart is our approach to construction. We are one team doing one project from start to finish. Each of our teammates works hard at their job to make the next teammates task work.
Building a court is a lot like a basketball running offense. The ball moves from player to player until the shot is taken. Our process works the same way. The concrete team prepares the foundation, and our hardwood specialists install the hardwood boards that become the court. Each member of our team is executing their step in the process with such precision, that the next person down the line has confidence to execute their own. We build off each other’s skills.
Once the concrete is ready, we need to make sure the temperature and humidity inside the gym is consistent. Our teams will leave the hardwood boards that will make up our court inside the gym and seal it off. This allows the wood to acclimate to the room’s temperature and humidity. Wood naturally expands and contracts depending on the temperature and moisture in the air. So, if the environment fluctuates too much during installation, the court’s floor can develop gaps or buckle.
After the wood is given time to acclimate, we can start installing the flooring system. We do two types of flooring systems: floating and attached. Many basketball courts use a floating floor system, which sits on top of the concrete slab instead of attaching to it. We install a layer of plywood to provide foot stability and cushioning. Then we lay the hardwood boards over that subfloor in the opposite direction of the plywood beneath them.
Then we sand.
And sand.
And sand.
We’ll sand until the floor is completely smooth. This can take several days. After that, we’ll apply a sealer to close the pores of the wood and prepare the surface for painting.
At this stage, our installers carefully measure and tape the court lines. Precision is critical because even a small measurement error can affect gameplay. Crews measure and recheck their layout multiple times before painting the lines for basketball and any other sports the facility may host. Once the paint dries, the entire floor receives protective finish coats that seal the wood and create the glossy playing surface seen in most gyms.
Performance
Great performance starts with great preparation. And it’s marked by precision. The best courts are built so well you never notice the work that goes into it. But, rest assured, athletes will feel the results. A well-built court will have better traction, which makes for fewer slips and falls, and no dead spots where the ball loses its bounce.
After the finishing coats are applied, the court needs time to cure. In a perfect world, the court should be empty for a week before anyone even steps foot on it. But during the busy school year, that can obviously be a challenge. So, at minimum, we recommend at least 36 hours of no activity. When everything is complete, you have a smooth, durable playing surface designed for consistent ball bounce, player safety, and years of competition.
