Over time, the infill in the surface may become contaminated with dust and fines. When this occurs a 'crust' can appear on the carpet affecting the playability and porosity of the surface. Depending on the severity of the 'hardening' different techniques can be applied to rectify the problem. Regular Power Sweeping will help to minimise this risk, removing this dust and fines before it has chance to mix with the clean infill. A more extensive process is a Revite^® which gets much deeper into the carpet pile, lifting the top section of the infill to remove the dust and other fine particles, before replacing the infill back into the surface. The process is very specialist and can only be carried out in the dry weather.  If the situation has become so severe that the court fails to drain after heavy rain, it could be that you require a Rejeneration^® of the surface. This patented process uses compressed air to remove the top half of the infill completely, which is then replaced with fresh, clean infill, bringing the surface back to an 'as new' condition.

Too much sand or rubber on your surface will not only be unsightly but will also represent a hazard to your users. It is important that infill levels are kept in line with your installer's recommendations, normally to within 1mm of the surface for sand-filled pitches and 3mm for rubber-filled surfaces. It is normal to find excess infill around the perimeter or corners of the surface. This occurs through general play with the infill being dispersed away from the central areas. Regular Drag brushing can help eradicate this. Excess infill also occurs when the general wearing of the carpet pile (normally 1mm per year) exceeds the natural migratory loss of the infill. In this case it will be necessary to remove an amount of infill from the playing surface to ensure the correct tolerances are achieved and the playing characteristics of the pitch are maintained. Achieving this can be very difficult as 1mm of surface infill over a full-size pitch can equate to nearly 6 tonnes! Technical Surfaces is able to offer this service and give advice as to the condition of your surface.

If you feel your surface is under-sanded or doesn't have enough rubber infill it will certainly have a detrimental effect on both the playing characteristics of the surface and its longevity. In most cases the infill acts as a wearing course, so insufficient material will mean that more of the carpet fibres are exposed to players' footwear and wear rates will accelerate as a consequence. Clients should be careful when applying new infill to their surface that it is not only the right grade but also applied in the right manner. Simply 'dumping' the infill on the surface and spreading it will sandwich the fibres, causing more problems. Technical Surfaces has specialist machinery which allows a contolled application of infill to be spread and worked effectively into the carpet.

If you find that your infill is unevenly distrubuted over the surface you may need to Drag Brush your surface more frequently. Drag Brushing involves pulling a large brush behind a suitable grounds vehicle. If you do not carry out this process then you may be interested in our RED RANGE  or alternatively we can offer the service ourselves. If you already carry out regular Drag Brushing but still have an issue of uneven infill distribution then we would ask you to look at your technique. Drag Brushing should be conducted in a structured way, with the aim being to move the infill back from the low-use areas to the high-wear areas. Pay attention to prevailing winds, the gradient of the surface and the nearest access gate, which will tend to be the high-wear point. Technical Surfaces would be pleased to give free advice on this subject or offer specific in-house training if required.

If you have inspected your surface and feel that the infill is contaminated, we need to determine to what extent. If it is larger debris such as leaves, twigs, stones, seeds, etc then regular Power Sweeping will be sufficient to rectify the problem. Power Sweeping removes debris from the surface which Drag Brushing alone will leave behind. If the problem is with finer contaminants then you may have noticed a hardening of the surface or silt deposits after heavy rain. In this case a Revite^® or Rejeneration^® will be the answer.