If you own a tennis court in need of painting, are responsible for the upkeep of a tennis court, or are considering starting a tennis court surfacing business, this is meant for you. Our goal is to clear up many misconceptions about tennis court paint (coating) and lift the mystique that surrounds the process of repairing and painting a court. We hope you will find our articles useful and informative. If this is your first tennis court painting or repair project, be cautious about doing-it-your-self. Using your regular painter. Without debating the quality of the products used, the main drawback is that these products come with little or no application support. Ninety percent of your issues and questions on-site will be application related as opposed to product related. You dont want to find yourself in the predicament of having questions or issues while in the middle of your project and realizing you cant access a tennis court surfacing expert. Use Only Premium 100% Acrylic Products Engineered For Tennis Court Surfaces. Tennis court paint is not just standard exterior latex paint. It is specifically engineered to withstand the heavy abrasive abuse of the most aggressive player. Twists, quick starts and abrupt stops during a match can quickly wear down a standard paint. In the paint industry this quality is called scrub-resistance. Tennis court paint is designed for very high scrub resistance. Specialized tennis court paint (color-coating) also contains approximately 15% to 20% fine silica sand, giving it a slightly textured finish. This slight texture provides two very important features. First, it slows down the bounce of the ball. A typical tennis court surface should provide a medium to medium slow ball bounce, depending on the grade of sand in the mix., A faster tennis court surface can be achieved by reducing or eliminating the sand in the final coat. Second, it provides sound footing even when the tennis court is wet. Non-textured exterior paint can be dangerous when only light morning dew is present on the surface. So, scrub resistance and texture are two key features of dedicated tennis court paint. Make sure you purchase high quality, textured, 100%, acrylic tennis court paint. House paint will not work on tennis courts, just as tennis court paint will not work on houses. You should also be wary of epoxy, polyurethane, and chlorinated rubber products. There are no, state of the art tennis court coatings made of these materials. Quality tennis court paint should also have a high concentration of pigment and latex polymer. High pigment strength will keep the court color looking deep and vibrant after years in the hottest, sunniest climates. Rich latex concentration will prevent the coatings from wearing away do to erosion and heavy play. All of Eagle Paints Sport Coatings premium tennis court coating lines. EAGLE SOLO SURFACE COLOUR COATING , AND EAGLE MATT BASE COAT RESURFACER , meet the highest standards of pigment and latex loading in the sport coating industry. There are other high-quality tennis court paints on the market as well. Some of the other dedicated tennis court paint manufacturers you may want to take a look at are: World Class Coatings, PlexiPave, Decoralt, and Nova Sports. The colored surface of a tennis court (the tennis court paint) serves three functions. It protects the asphalt or concrete from the damaging U.V. rays of the sun while providing a rich, aesthetically pleasing contrast for ball visibility, and an evenly textured surface for a consistent ball bounce. As the surface ages its capacity to perform these functions is diminished. The sun eventually breaks down its pigments, causing oxidization and fading. Wind, rain and foot traffic from play slowly wear away the textured coatings, leaving the surface slick and, in extreme cases, void of any coating whatsoever. This creates the necessity to apply fresh color-coatings every 4 to 7 years, even when there are no structural problems such as; settlement or cracking. While it may look difficult, tennis court paint application is relatively simple. In fact, when training people in the the various skills of the trade, I have found it to be the easiest of all to teach. If you follow the techniques outlined in this and other articles on the site and purchase your products from a company providing on-call tennis court surfacing and repair expert consultation you will produce professional quality results on your first court. This is a link to a very informative instructional video on preparing for and surfacing a tennis court:https://youtube/watch?v=Hhx6uulFkjY ROLLER VS. SQUEEGEE, Which Method Should You Use To Apply The Tennis Court Coatings? This is one of the most frequently asked questions we get from our do-it-yourselfers. Having spent a lifetime in the tennis court surfacing and construction industry, I am very partial to the squeegee method. No professional would think of rolling on the coatings for productivity reasons alone. The squeegee method is, at least, 10 times faster than rolling. However, we realize time and productivity are not necessarily high on the list of priorities for many do-it-yourselfers, and rolling the coatings can stretch the court coatings quite a bit further. Typically, a rolled on coat will use about half the paint of a squeegeed coat. This is, however, a double-edged sword. While you can get a pretty good looking job with two rolled on coats, your finished surface will only be half as thick as one that is squeegeed. Logic tells us the thinner surface would not likely wear as long as a thicker finish, especially if the court receives daily play. You will have to weigh the labor and longevity issues for your specific situation. There are many scenarios where a rolled on coat just wont do the job. For instance, the first coat (base coat) over a new asphalt tennis court has to be applied with a squeegee. One of the main functions of tennis court coating is to provide an even, almost smooth playing surface. Raw asphalt is very porous. As the squeegee passes over the asphalt it leaves the coating in the pores and swipes away most of the coating from the high points, eliminating the roughness and porosity. The roller can only coat everything evenly, resulting in a texture almost the same as the original asphalt. Every coat rolled on after the base coat would have the same dynamic. The finished court surface would still look almost as rough and pitted as the original asphalt. In summary, if you have a smooth existing surface, plenty of time on your hands, and your court is not played on heavily, rolling on the tennis court coatings can save a good deal of money. Otherwise, you will find the squeegee provides the best finish very efficiently. And its actually much easier than you might think. Before you start to apply any color make sure you have followed the instructions given in the other articles regarding;court cleaning, patching, and crack repair, etc.. where appropriate. After you have thoroughly cleaned and patched the court its time to prepare for the first coat of tennis court paint (color-coating). Your first considerations have to be the weather and the time of day. Not just the current conditions, but the predicted conditions over the next 24 hours. While the ideal temperature range is between 50 and 75 degrees, coatings can be applied in temperatures varying as much as 10 degrees in either direction of this range. Never apply coatings when rain is imminent, or when the temperature is expected to drop below freezing within 24 hours. The best time to start the coating application, in the warmer months, is usually early morning. The court paint dries more slowly before rises high in the sky, allowing you to take your time while getting used to applying the paint. During the cooler months of the year your window for applying coatings will narrow to between 10:am and 3:pm, or less. Once you have chosen a good day to apply coating, your first step is to walk every square foot of your court with a good floor scraper, scraping any hardened drips from your patching, and other imperfection that are raised up on the court surface. If you have someone helping you it is a good idea to have them walk beside you with a blower, blowing the debris away as you scrape. If you do not have a helper, scrape the entire court first, and then blow it off. Before cleaning the court, if you observe any small dips or gouges on the surface you should fill them with POLYFILLA using a 3 to 6 putty knife or a flat steel trowel. Step-By-Step Instructions For Painting A Tennis Court 1. Cleaning Your Tennis Court 2. Remove Any Vegetation Growing Or Encroaching On The Court Surface 3. Flooding The Court To Check For Standing Water 4. Patching Your Tennis Court 5. Filling Cracks On Your Tennis Court 6. Sanding The Patches On Your Tennis Court 7. Preparing Your Tennis Court For The Coatings 8. Mixing And Placing The Pails Of Coating On Your Tennis Court 9. Applying EAGLE MATT Resurfacer Base Coat (When It Is Needed) 10. Applying The Inbounds EAGLE SOLO Color-Coatings 11. Applying The Out-Of-Bounds EAGLE SOLO Color-Coatings 12. Painting The Border Of Your Tennis Court 13. Marking, Taping, And Painting Tennis Court Lines
Posted on: Thu, 21 Aug 2014 13:52:37 +0000
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