Hi y'all,
Anybody want to suggest a source for a small amount of 2 1/4 x 3/4 maple flooring for repairs to a sports floor? I'll only need maybe 60 linear feet, and only scrap lengths.
The problem is that it has to be somewhere between cheap and free. Located near Atlanta so I can pick it up and not pay shipping also helps.
Here's the deal: my sports fitness club has a damaged racquetball court, and they're too cheap to fix it. (No names please. I'm trying to work with these guys.) Anyway, the previous owners let a roof leak drip water on the court, with predictable results. The poor maintenance has driven away plenty of members. Those of us remaining have tried everything we can to get the corporation to repair the court.
Finally, I threw up my hands and said "All right. _I'll_ fix it." So I'm donating my labor, and I have no budget. I'm going to end up buying the materials myself, or raising the money amongst the members.
The floor was not done right in the first place, and this repair is going to be a patch job. Matching finish is irrelevant. We just want to be able to play on it without tripping.
The floor is laid directly on 16" oc sleepers which rest on concrete. The sleepers seem to be 1 7/8 thick oak (I have no idea why.) The ends of the flooring are not lined up on the sleepers. The water damage appears to be just rotted and split ends that wicked up water. The sleepers appear to be in good shape. (I haven't ripped up any large sections to look, but the floor is solid over the sleepers.) A large area of the maple is crowned.
If there was a budget, I'd replace a 12x20 foot area. Since there is none, I'll just replace the damaged wood. I plan to cut off the rotted and split ends between the sleepers. Then I'll use that opening to insert one or two small (12") supports that I'll turn parallel to the sleepers. Then I'll replace the flooring with a piece cut to length, groove removed, and glued down.
So you can see that what I'll need is really just scraps. If all else fails, I'll just use oak. (If the club wants their floor to look good, they can come up with some money to replace it.)
I don't know what to do about the large crowned area. Maybe just live with it. Anyway, I can make the patches first. Then if the crowning turns out to ruin racquetball play, I can go back and try to sand it flat. I know this sounds terrible, but the fact is that the court is closed right now and anything that makes it useable is an improvement.
So: Anybody got suggestions? Would you do it differently? Ideas about where I can get some scraps?
Thanks.
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