Installing a sports surface either in a home, school, club grounds or sporting complex can be a significant investment, but one that provides a range of benefits. To help keep your new court or other sports surfaces looking as good as new for as long as possible, here are a range of helpful tips and tricks.
Regular cleaning
If your sports court is outdoors, light regular maintenance every week will help to keep it free from debris. Debris not only contributes to the wear and tear on a surface, but it also can make the court unnecessarily slippery and hazardous. Light maintenance improves the safety of your sports surface and makes participation more optimal. For example, a dirty tennis court will make the lines less visible to players and cause the ball to bounce less consistently. We suggest you remove any leaves or other debris with a leaf blower, water broom and pressure washer or just a standard broom.
An indoor sports court, however, will not need to be cleaned as often, so every few weeks should be sufficient. Indoors, you can use a commercial floor scrubber to remove light debris, but if there are stains on the surface you might need to use a wet scrubber with a soft brush attachment.
More intense cleaning
Urban traffic creates air pollution that can stain an outdoor surface over time, as can debris and other incidental waste. Therefore, it’s best to hose the surface weekly and if it’s still looking dirty or stained, use a water broom and pressure washer on the stains. Organic cleaners that don’t leave a residue can also be used if the staining is particularly difficult to remove (remembering to hose the surface down afterwards if you are using cleaning agents). If your sports court is inside, you can use the organic cleaner and a commercial floor scrubber with or without a brush, depending on the intensity of the stains.
Removing spilled or residual food and drink
It doesn’t matter how many times you tell people not to take food or drinks onto the court, it will happen. So, if you find that food or drink has been spilled onto the court’s surface, hose the surface down or use the commercial electric floor scrubber mentioned above. If the surface is heavily stained, then use the same methods as outlined above to remove more intense stains. However, if all else fails, use the method for removing leaf stains and mould below.
Removing leaf stains and mould
Standing water can cause fallen leaves to stain the surface of the court, even resulting in the growth of mould. To fix these problems, first use a hose to clear away the debris. Then work a solution of diluted pool chlorine into the stains, leaving it in place for 15 minutes before hosing it away. The strength of the mix will depend on the stain, so you might need to try different strengths to find the one that works best. Since pool chlorine is a strong bleach, it’s important to take precautions when storing or using this chemical.
Removing animal droppings
There’s not much you can do to prevent bird, bat and other animal droppings appearing on your outdoor surface from time to time. But you can ensure it is removed quickly. Bat droppings can seriously damage a court’s surface if left untreated, so either scrape it off yourself or use a pressure washer. Bird dropping can be removed using an organic cleaner (as mentioned previously), a stiff brush and high-pressure hose. If bird and bat droppings build up over time, they can damage the court’s surface and require patching by a specialist company.
If your synthetic turf, sports court or other surface needs repairs, call our Head Office on 1800 652 548 or send us an email enquiry for a fast response.