OT- advice on backyard basketball court

[tecumseh18]

I would go farther than raptor realtor and say I would NEVER do anything that could impair resale value, and if I spend significant money it is only be to enhance value. I've known too many people who got stuck when the economy goes south, as it is occasionally does. Also, women generally make the buying decision on a house. The fact is, a court would impair resale value, or at least "resalebility". Of course, you may not care about that, but at least go into this with your eyes open.

With my typical downtown Toronto 18.5 foot lot, putting in a real court is not an option anyway. A few years ago, I had eco-Optiloc bricks installed in the backyard. As a green guy, I wanted the 100% self-draining feature (aka permeability). The contractor dug down about a foot or so. It looks something like this:

http://www.uni-groupusa.org/eco-optiloc.htm

There's a small gap where the water drains between the bricks, but you can certainly dribble a ball on them. It may not satisfy a purist, though. But it WOULD increase resale value, and that satisfies me.

[malachii]

Something to think about. There are limits to how much concrete "foundation" you can have on your lot as a percentage of the overall lot size. I got into this when I built my deck (instead of a concrete patio). You'd also need a permit to pour the concrete, and if it occupies a large % of your lot, you'd likely get rejected. So personally, I think the pure concrete method will likely cause you frustration.

[BillyBob]

Is this not an option?

[Duffman100]

I don't know anything about the court building process, but in terms of the expense, I can say this...

Will you get 5,000 to 7,000 worth of enjoyment out of it? I certainly would, but as a poster previously mentioned, it probably won't add any value to the house. If anything, it might subtract value as most people would probably want to tear it up and use the space for something else.

[KobeDwightPau]

I don't know anything about the court building process, but in terms of the expense, I can say this...

Will you get 5,000 to 7,000 worth of enjoyment out of it? I certainly would, but as a poster previously mentioned, it probably won't add any value to the house. If anything, it might subtract value as most people would probably want to tear it up and use the space for something else.

Pssh... Sell the house to a real gm'er

[KobeDwightPau]

I don't know anything about the court building process, but in terms of the expense, I can say this...

Will you get 5,000 to 7,000 worth of enjoyment out of it? I certainly would, but as a poster previously mentioned, it probably won't add any value to the house. If anything, it might subtract value as most people would probably want to tear it up and use the space for something else.

Pssh... Sell the house to a real gm'er. And if you got the money, why not. But theres tones of places to play ball, but i guess its not as convenient as having your own court.

[BIG match]

my buddy made a court in his backyard, 25x25 (waaaaaay to small). They had to knock off the price to remove it off the money they got when they sold the house. Not everyone wants a court in their backyard. The house wasnt in the best area and they had a hard time selling, the court made it worse.

[SirBounceAlot]

I cant believe no one has mentioned this but this guys house is MASSIVE. Dude's family must be ballin with those bandz

[Smitch]

I cant believe no one has mentioned this but this guys house is MASSIVE. Dude's family must be ballin with those bandz

The house is slightly bigger than the 2 car garage attached to it... I would assume between 1700 & 2000 sq f.
I just cant see a court near the pool - which is already a problem for the back yard. Who is going to go in the pool after the ball every time it bounces off your knee?

Still think it's a waste of money, when you can just go to any public school outdoor courts.

[andrew2good4u]

Don't be greedy OP. A pool AND a BBall court. Damn, you're living the good life!

[Just Win Baby]

I have a cement court in my backyard. It's great and have played on it for years. I'm not sure if cement would be a cheaper option than what you are planning to do. I didn't install the court, the house already had it when I moved into it. I'd look for a cheaper solution as opposed to paying up $7000, but that court does appear to be fairly high in quality.

[BIG match]

I have a cement court in my backyard. It's great and have played on it for years. I'm not sure if cement would be a cheaper option than what you are planning to do. I didn't install the court, the house already had it when I moved into it. I'd look for a cheaper solution as opposed to paying up $7000, but that court does appear to be fairly high in quality.

If youre looking at putting something like that in your backyard, money probably doesnt matter.

[Just Win Baby]

I have a cement court in my backyard. It's great and have played on it for years. I'm not sure if cement would be a cheaper option than what you are planning to do. I didn't install the court, the house already had it when I moved into it. I'd look for a cheaper solution as opposed to paying up $7000, but that court does appear to be fairly high in quality.

If youre looking at putting something like that in your backyard, money probably doesnt matter.

He asked for feedback. Why pay more than you have to?

[supra2k8]

@GhostX - not planning to play during the winter, but I have played ball April to October most years, which is 7 months, that's good enough for me, I remember when I was younger we used to play during March break, courts were usually wet but it was warm enough to play.

@LifeBaller11 - I didn't know sportscourt was available in Canada, didn't see their .ca site, so thanks for the link.

@DarkKnight - thanks a lot for those links, we'll contact all of them for sure.

@TheAlchemist - we're hoping to use the court for about 7 months April-Oct, each year, and the these courts are softer so not as bad for your joints. As far as L.A fitness and hoopsdome, there is no hoopsdome in K-W area, and no basketball at the L.A fitness here. Even if there was, it would be aprox $1200 per year for myself and 2 younger brothers. We were willing to pay that but the College close to us won't accept non students.

@J-Roc - from our research corner lots are allowed to move their fence 5' from the road/sidewalk in the K-W area, I will ask for permission before anything starts though.

@ender - thanks for posting a picture, your court looks pretty good, I don't know how well the ball bounces off that surface but I'll take your words for it.

@ForeverTFC - thanks for the detailed post, your post will definitely help us a lot. I will ask the company what they will do for the foundation. We will look for a contractor as well, and tbh we're not building this to add value at all, we just don't want to do poor job where it will take off value from out house. I don't even want this court to stand out too much, or change the landscaping too much since a lot of work/money has been put into the backyard.

Do you know aprox how much it would cost to level/pour concrete slab 30x'25' or so?

@Smitch - the schools/courts around my area is in really bad shape, it's almost not worth even going, but we still do go sometimes, I actually played on one yesterday, half of them have low double rims, it's just not fun at all.

@tecumseh18 - we definitely won't do anything to impair the resale value of our house. We are lucky to have a big yard, and this court will be in a small corner, but you do make great points. Also we're not planning to sell this house anytime soon.

@malachii - didn't know anything about concrete foundation limits, either way we have to pour concrete for the foundation, I guess we have to get permission for a lot of things before we start anything.

@BillyBob - your option looks good from the aerial shot but in person it's almost impossible, there is about a 3' to 4' drop from the pool level to that corner and there is a big tree in that corner plus we're close to the neighbour's front lawn. There is also bigger rocks and more trees in that corner, but thanks for posting it, for a second I thought I missed a good spot, so I had to go and take a look at that corner again

@Duffman100 - I think we will get $5000 to $7000 enjoyment from it, we played on a narrow slanted driveway for 8 years in our old house, so if we get anything close to what I'm hoping it will get used a lot.

@BIG match - yea small space is a huge problem, the last thing we want to do is, spend the money and realize this is too small. I measured everything again today, and it's not looking too good. I will post some diagrams soon, but this court will only work if it's leveled with the area around the pool.

@Smitch - not sure about exact square feet, but I think it's 3400, and 5000 living space, it's actually triple garage. As far as the court being close to the pool, they sell portable nets that you could place, up to 20' feet high if you wanted that high, but even 5' should be enough. If there was any good courts in my area I wouldn't be looking at this. Our first option was the college but they won't accept non students/alumni's so not many options left.

@andrew2good4u - not much of a swimmer I would take a nice court over that pool any day. Believe it or not and you guys might laugh at this but we thought about digging down 15'+ in our garage to make it into an indoor gym. There is a company that does it for aprox $40,000. They dig down in your garage so you have a higher celling and it's cool in the summer and warm enough in the winter. Since we had aprox 15' ceiling and lots of room we seriously thought about it, but it's not available in Canada. Now that idea might make it hard to sell your house, since you won't be able to use your garage for your car

@Terrible1 - we might hire a contractor that does playgrounds and just start off with that, then add the rubber surface later on, it just looks/feels nicer to play on. I'm not sure if you have seen those NBA 3 on 3 courts they are pretty nice, plus their rims are pretty nice as well. Tempered glass that's used in the NBA and 5 feet overhang.

@BIG match - my family isn't rich at all, 2 of my brothers and I work hard and we pay for everything, including mortgage. There is no "my money or your money" in our family, we just work together and spend it wisely, buying a big house was a big investment. Building a court might not be a smart idea, but it's just something for us to enjoy.

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Remeasured again today, seems like we have a lot less room than I originally thought, but it looks like we can move our fence at least 4' towards the road and 7' on the left side since it's a corner lot and by leveling it to the pool surface we should have close to 30' from the rim and 30'+ horizontally.

Option #1 = wider court, will work well if the court is leveled with the pool surface to give us aprox 10-12' more room which is flat enough that you can dribble the ball without any problems.



Option #2 = very narrow, about 20' but you can make the court 30"+ long

[pkiskool]

Pretty much my dream house back yard.
But by the time I have enough money to blow on a project like this, I will probably be in late 30's or 40, and probably won't be playing ball anymore lol
I'm 28 now and this would make me want to come home early every single day.

[Rawker]

larry bird grew up playing on a rim with no mesh on the side of a barn on dirt because the grass was worn out.

[VC-INJURY]

Why not just go play at the park if you're going to play outdoors?

You live in Canada.....no one will ever be using the basketball courts at the park

Edit: If you are going to do it, I would definitely go with option 2.

A HS 3pt line is 19.75 ft and it's better to lose that space on the width, mainly in the corners of the court, rather than the length of the court.

[supra2k8]

Why not just go play at the park if you're going to play outdoors?

You live in Canada.....no one will ever be using the basketball courts at the park

Edit: If you are going to do it, I would definitely go with option 2.

A HS 3pt line is 19.75 ft and it's better to lose that space on the width, mainly in the corners of the court, rather than the length of the court.

Most people here live close to the GTA area and you guys have a lot more courts, anything close to my house is not even worth playing, nets are like 9' high, loose backboards attached to the wall, and most have double rims or they take off the rims during the summer when schools are off. Any decent park is too far and usually packed. Having a private court with that kind of quality is what I wanted for years.

As far as the option 2 goes, you might be right, HS 3pt is basically 20ft and the grass ends at 18.5ft so we would have to use the stamped concrete around the pool which isn't bad at all, but maybe part of the court surface can be on top of it? That would make the surface around the pool look ugly though, see pic below.

The only problem with option #2 is we only have 20ft to work with in width, and even if we manage to move the fence 4 to 5ft back we won't have more than 25ft. Is 25ft enough of a width? it just seems way too narrow, I have played on a double garage drive way for about 8 years and only had 6-7ft per side which is pretty tight.

This is what I'm hoping the court will look like, size and position wise, should have 30ft if the fence gets moved 4ft back and some of the rocks are moved and the court is level with the stamped concrete, part of the court rubber surface can be on top of the pool surface if it comes to that.

[JV4MVP]

You won't add any value to your house. You're installing 7k of a depreciating asset. Also, what is the likelihood that a future purchaser will want a basketball court in the first place? I would guess that the more likely scenario will be for them to remove it and plant a garden or something.

If you want a court then do it for your own enjoyment but expect almost 0 value added to your house. We're also only in 5 years after a 20+-year housing bubble so don't try to expect to sell your house for good $ any time soon. When interest rates rise the cost of mortgages will follow leading to another downtrend in housing.

[supra2k8]

You won't add any value to your house. You're installing 7k of a depreciating asset. Also, what is the likelihood that a future purchaser will want a basketball court in the first place? I would guess that the more likely scenario will be for them to remove it and plant a garden or something.

If you want a court then do it for your own enjoyment but expect almost 0 value added to your house. We're also only in 5 years after a 20+-year housing bubble so don't try to expect to sell your house for good $ any time soon. When interest rates rise the cost of mortgages will follow leading to another downtrend in housing.

I agree with most of your points, we are not doing this to add value, if it does then it's a bonus, only doing it for our enjoyment.

One thing it could do is attract buyers who want something like this, and the court could be a multi purpose area, take off the rim and you have enough room for your kids to play hockey. Like someone else mentioned, I'll sell the house to a realgm'er