Tag Archives: tennis

Should I Close My Recreational Courts For The Winter?

One of the most frequently asked questions, especially in northern climates, is: Should I close my recreational courts for the winter? Once cured, acrylic court surfaces are very durable and require little maintenance. However, below are some items to consider.

Does ice and snow damage acrylic court surfaces?

Athletic courts, like tennis, pickleball, and basketball courts, should be built with a 1% slope to allow positive drainage without creating difficult playing conditions. This helps the court surface to dry quicker, but also to prevent water damage to the acrylic surfaces. Acrylic court surfaces do not like to be submerged in water for long periods of time. However, as long as the coatings have time to dry, water doesn’t affect the longevity. Since ice and snow is in a sold state, it would not soak into the surface and cause damage as quickly as puddled water may do.

Snow Management & Debris | Winter Court Maintenance

The biggest issue with keeping your court open in the winter is snow management. There is no problem with playing on courts when it is cold outside. However, if you have piles of snow on the surface, here are a few things to keep in mind:

Try to limit physical removal of snow and ice. (Metal shovels and tools with a sharp edge can damage the surface. Try to stick with plastic shovels or wait for snow to melt before playing.
Using salt or other granule-type snow melt products can lead to extra abrasion to the surface. When playing on the courts, any debris under foot can damage or shorten the life of the coatings.
Make sure to also remove any debris that has fallen, like leaves or pine needles. Not only does this minimize abrasion but it also prevents other organic staining or damage from wet rotting leaves.

Court Accessories During The Winter

If you decide not to use your court during the winter, you may want to take down and store any windscreen that you are using. This will help to prolong the life of windscreen. If you decide to keep the tennis or pickleball nets up for winter play on nice days, you may want to reduce the tension on the net a bit. Not enough to let it flap around in the wind, but a little tension relief can reduce extra strain on the net post footers and pavement during cold temperatures. If you do decide to close your court for winter, remove the net and slide the tennis/pickleball posts out of the ground and cover the surface holes with a cap/plug.

Maintaining Positive Court Drainage

As previously mentioned, it’s very important for court surfaces to drain and not hold water. During the winter, and really throughout the year, keep an eye on the court and make sure that nothing is stopping the flow of your court drainage design.

Make sure any drains around the court are not plugged with debris, like fallen leaves from the fall. This will prevent back-up of water onto the court surface.
Keep vegetation trimmed around the edges of the court, especially on the low end of drainage. Failing to do so can also create a dam for positive drainage.
The court should be built up a bit so that water can flow off the court to the drainage plan. Make sure dirt or other obstructions are lower than the court surface edge, as well.

Winterizing Your Tennis or Pickleball Court

Regardless of your decision to keep your court open for play during the winter, here are some court winterizing tips (recap):

Before the weather gets too cold, make sure to examine your court surface for cracks. Fill the cracks with an acrylic crack filler to minimize the flow of water into the base of the court. The less water that you have freezing and expanding under the base, the longer your court will stay in good condition. Make sure to make these repairs far before the nighttime lows dip past 50 degrees F / 10 degrees C.
Walk the perimeter of the court and make sure there is nothing blocking drainage on any side of the slab. Ensure that any visible drains are not blocked or plugged with debris.
Keep the surface free of debris, such as leaves, pine needles, and all other tree matter.
If you choose to close the court for winter, remove the net. Optionally, if your posts are removeable, you can slide them out and store them. If you do remove them, plug the surface holes with a cap (all post manufacturers make caps for the sleeves). If you leave the posts and nets up, take a little tension off the net during the winter.
Avoid using sharp or potentially damaging tools on the surface for snow removal. Salt and snow melting pellets may shorten the life of the surface, so use sparingly and make sure to blow or broom off excess particles to minimize damage.

Concrete Sport Surfaces

Shot Blasting Concrete Sport Surfaces | Tennis – Pickleball – Basketball

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A shot blaster is a machine that is commonly used to create a texture, or profile, on concrete. There are various sizes of “shot” that can be used in these machines. Shot blasters propel the shot particles, or media, onto the surface and suck it back in to create texture. Our coating systems, and many other coatings, need some texture on the surface to create a good physical bond. We recommend concrete being finished with a medium-broom finish, as opposed to a smooth trowel finish. Sometimes this doesn’t happen, so the best way to get a good texture profile is to shot blast the smooth surface.

Shot Blasted Area Concrete — Shot Blasted Concrete Area

This is also a good way to “open up” the concrete and remove potential curing compounds or surface residue that can cause bonding issues.

Shot Blast Profile For Tennis, Pickleball, and Basketball Court Surfaces

The shot blast industry has a shot blast profile chart that lists various levels of texture, created by the shot blast. It also ties each of the texture levels to a recommended thickness of coating system. In other words, the thicker the coating system build, the more texture needed on the surface. Our sport coating systems, based on the average thickness and factoring in multiple resurfacings over time, work well over a shot blast profile of CSP3 or CSP4. Don’t worry, if the shot blaster profile turns out with a little too much, Acrylic Resurfacer will fill in and hide the voids. This may require extra coats, but better to have more than less for good physical adhesion.

Where To Find Shot Blasters For Court Surfaces

Shot blasters come in various sizes and are commonly rented at equipment rental stores. Many times, flooring contractors that apply epoxy and polyurethane (industrial coatings) own these machines. It may be best to hire and/or subcontract this work to contractors with experience to get past the learning curve. They usually have larger ride-on models that get it done quickly, too.

Applying Sport Coatings on Concrete Surfaces | Specifications

To see the SportMaster engineering specification, which includes the basic steps of the process, click on the link below. This will open a .pdf version of the document.

Applying Sport Surfaces On Concrete

Visit our full page for more information on proper preparation of concrete sport surfaces.

Concrete Sport Surfaces, Court Surface Preparation

Acid Etching Concrete Sport Surfaces

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Sport and game courts are as popular as ever, especially with the extreme growth of sports like pickleball and continued popularity of basketball, tennis and multi-sport games and courts.

SportMaster has a multitude of durable and vibrant acrylic surfacing systems that are designed for asphalt or concrete courts. Each substrate has a somewhat different approach to preparation, prior to application of the sport surfaces. We are going to discuss a common step that is required when coating concrete courts for the first time. This process is called acid etching or acid washing.

What Is Acid Etching? | Concrete Court Surfacing

Acid etching is the process of pouring a mixture of water and acid on a fully cured concrete slab. Generally, either muriatic or phosphoric acid is used, but muriatic is a bit easier to find. In a nutshell, acid etching promotes an ideal environment for chemical bond of coatings to concrete. If done properly, acid etching only has to be performed once. If a concrete slab has not been acid etched or coated, even years after it was built, it’s always a good idea to do it.

Why do I Need To Acid Etch My Concrete Court Surface?

Concrete goes through a chemical curing process after it is poured. It takes 28 days for a concrete slab to completely cure. There is a good bit of water in the concrete mix and as the concrete is curing, water is continuously wicking and evaporating upward and out of the slab. As the water is migrating upward, it brings efflorescence, or salts, that reside in the concrete. After the initial curing phase is complete, there is a crust of efflorescence on the surface of the concrete.

Lesson In PH & Surface Chemistry

PH, or “potential of hydrogen” is the scale of acid vs base. The PH scale goes from 0 to 14, whereas 0 is very acidic and 14 is very basic (alkaline). For ideal chemical adhesion, coatings prefer a neutral environment. This would be 7 on the PH scale. When concrete cures, the surface crust or salt deposits, are very high in alkaline (a PH around 13.5). The process of acid etching neutralizes the high alkaline crust and brings the surface PH back to neutral. The acid washing process also helps to break down and rinse away the powdery efflorescence. This also prevents flaking or peeling of coatings & migration of powder into the color coatings resulting in a cloudy appearance.

How To Acid Etch A Court | Pickleball – Basketball – Tennis

In this section, we will outline how to acid etch a concrete court surface. But first, here are a few pointers:

Make sure to acquire and wear adequate safety gear, when working with acid. Thick rubber gloves, safety glasses, and relevant clothing and boots. Avoid breathing in the direct fumes of concentrated acid and ensure that you have plenty of air flow when inside.
As a general guideline, it should take around 2 to 3 gallons of acid to etch a smaller court, like a 30′ x 60′ pickleball court & around 8 to 9 gallons for a full tennis court (60′ x 120′).
Protect any sensitive plants or surrounding materials around the border of the court. Even though you will be rinsing off acid that is very diluted and has already reacted with the surface, it’s a good idea to minimize contact as much as possible.

Step 1: Spray water on the court to dampen the surface. This helps the mixed acid and water to flow and better penetrate the surface.

Step 2: Properly mix the acid and water, following the dilution measurements on the acid bottle. There should be directions for “masonry etching” on the bottle instructions. Remember to fill the empty bucket with water first and then pour the correct amount of acid into the water. This helps to prevent splashing of acid.

Step 3: Pour the acid & water mixture onto the concrete, working in small areas or sections at a time. If you’re able to have a helper, have the 2nd person immediately broom the solution around with a push broom to make sure the acid comes into contact with every square foot of concrete. Make sure that you don’t pour the acid mixture and expect it to span a long distance. Instead, pour around a small zone in a tight “s” pattern to ensure direct contact with the surface. Since the acid mixture reacts instantly with concrete, the potency diminishes as it spreads.

You will notice a cloudy appearance in the liquid and minor bubbling reaction, which means the acid is working to neutralize the surface salts.

Step 4: As you move on from section to section, you will notice the reaction dissipates in the previously treated area. At that point, you can rinse those areas off to flush surface contaminants and move the neutralized acid solution off the court surface. If possible, it’s best to start on the high end of the court and slowly move all of the water toward the low end of drainage. If possible, try to keep the entire court damp throughout the process, which keeps the sediment from sticking to the surface.

Step 5: After you have etched the entire court surface, and rinsed away most of the remaining acid mixture and sediment, it’s always good to do a final rinse of the entire surface. This ensures a completely clean surface, free to any potential acid or other contaminants. If you’re indoor and don’t have available drains, a floor cleaner machine can be used for a good final cleaning.

*Remember to protect and avoid adjacent concrete areas that are not receiving the sport coatings, as the acid can create a different color or appearance to exposed concrete. This is hidden when coatings are applied over the acid etched play areas.

Common Misconception About Acid Etching

Many people think that acid etching creates a physically textured surface for the coating to adhere. This is not the case, as the actual purpose was established earlier in this bulletin. It is still very important for the concrete surface to have a medium-broom finish or similar. That is very important for physical adhesion of coating systems. Remember, the two most importance factors for good adhesion of sport coatings is:

A good surface texture/profile for physical adhesion
Neutral surface PH for excellent chemical adhesion

Multi Sport Backyard Courts, Pickleball Court Surfaces

Multi Sport Backyard Courts

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Multi sport backyard courts are a great way to optimize space in your backyard, driveway, or playground. With the onslaught in popularity of Pickleball, there has been a demand for smaller courts and combination courts to accommodate players. In areas where the interest in Pickleball exceeds tennis, blended lines are added in another color so that the courts can be used for both sports.

Another option is to use your driveway for double duty, as you may already do for basketball, and add coatings and blended lines for pickleball and you’ve really got a multi use court.

Playgrounds are also underutilized. Many times, there are large areas behind schools that are plain asphalt blacktop. Acrylic sport surfaces can provide a lighter, cooler surface to play basketball, volleyball, pickleball, and many other games. The lightly textured surfaces are also safer, especially when conditions are damp and potentially slippery on normal pavement.

SportMaster also makes a special color coating for higher wear areas, including areas with moderate traffic from vehicles, bikes, and more aggressive play. The system is called ColorPave, and there are a few different variations. The ColorPave system was recently used at the new Facebook campus in Menlo Park, CA, in their under-building parking garage.

ColorPave is also ideal for high-wear, multi sport surfaces and driveway basketball and pickleball court areas. Bike lanes, zoos, amusement parks, and other specialty asphalt colored areas can also benefit from a coating system like ColorPave.

If you are thinking about building a new multi sport court or have an existing pavement area or sports court, we can put you in touch with an experienced sport surfacing contractor. They can perform a site visit to evaluate your project and provide a free estimate. Not sure what you want, our installers can provide recommendations based on the available space you have and on your sport and activity preferences.

Tennis Court Resurfacing