A Puddle on Court
11 November 2008
Sport surfaces can get damaged in the winter months without the proper care.
The effects of the Great British winter don't just take their toll on people but also take their toll on synthetic sports surfaces. Heavy rain and strong winds can leave behind a trail of standing water, surface silt and health & safety risks. What’s more, the increasingly poor summers have done little to ease the pressure on artificial pitches and courts, which as ‘all-weather’ facilities must be in peak condition all-year round, to meet the ever-rising demand for sport and leisure activities.
Growing numbers of pitch managers are being forced to cancel fixtures during the winter months, discovering that their synthetic surfaces are insufficiently prepared to withstand both the increased rainfall and the resultant mud and sludge being trafficked onto the pitch by users. Cancellations in winter soon create a downward spiral of lost revenue, from which it can be hard to recover – in these circumstances, spending time and money on maintenance is often rejected in favour of accruing some much-needed income as the weather begins to improve.
However, continually postponing maintenance until such time as a synthetic surface can no longer function without urgent remedial works is nothing short of a false economy, leading to a reduced life expectancy and even higher costs. And all it takes is a few bad summers, coupled with longer, harsher winters, for a neglected surface to deteriorate further and faster.
Technical Surfaces, the UK’s leading synthetic pitch maintenance specialists are able to help maintain sport surfaces and stress the importance of a regimented maintenance programme right from installation. Specialist works can be introduced at a later stage and will help to combat the effects of winter. From Winter Revival™ to deal with surface mud and sludge, repairs to fix failed seams, inlaid lines thatweakened by the colder climate, or even a Rejeneration® to remove the deeper contamination that causes standing water (which, if not resolved, will compromise the quality of play and cause long-term drainage problems), Technical Surfaces offer services to combat any affected sports surface.
Technical Surfaces also recommends and designs regular preventative maintenance programmes, helping to stop such problems from developing in the first place.
