Preparing your base

The tiles are the easy part — they click together in a weekend. The base under them does the heavy lifting, and the good news is you may already own one.

Existing concrete slab or driveway

Usually perfect, and the most common base we see. The tiles bridge hairline cracks and minor surface imperfections that would disqualify a slab for acrylic coating. What you're checking for: the surface is sound (not crumbling), reasonably flat, and has no abrupt height steps between sections.

Asphalt

Fine — if it's sound and flat. Old asphalt that's potholing or rutting should be patched level first.

Compacted pad

A properly compacted crushed-rock / road-base pad works for casual play and keeps cost down. The honest trade-off: ball bounce is at its truest on concrete, and a pad needs to be genuinely well compacted or it will settle unevenly under the court. For a serious basketball court, concrete is worth it — see the slab guide.

What doesn't work

• ✓Grass, dirt or sand directly — the court needs a firm, stable plane
• ✓Loose gravel — tiles need consistent support under every module
• ✓Badly heaved or stepped slabs — bridging hairline cracks is fine; bridging a 20 mm step is not
• ✓Steep slopes — more than a gentle fall means cut-and-fill or a new slab first

The two numbers that matter

• ✓Flatness: within a few millimetres over a 3 m straightedge — tiles follow the base they sit on
• ✓Fall: a gentle 0.5–1% slope so water that drains through the tiles sheets off the slab