How to Get Your Soccer Turf Ready for the New Season
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Proactive steps to contain your turf pellets benefit your field, the environment, and the quality of every game. Also known as artificial turf infill, the synthetic grains are an integral feature of turf’s shock-absorption, surface stability, and overall aesthetic. In addition to maintaining adequate infill levels for a superior surface experience, preventing infill migration minimizes costs associated with infill replenishment and avoidable damage that can arise if the underlying turf layers remain exposed.
Regardless of the layout of your field, every turf field can benefit from a well-designed turf pellet containment plan. Even indoor fields that are shielded from wind and pests should still consider containment protocols to maintain a tidy facility and sufficient infill levels. With these important considerations in mind, here are some simple and cost-effective solutions you can implement to maintain infill consistency and joint-protective safety with every step.
Install Perimeter Barriers & Containment Systems
Preserving your precious infill levels becomes significantly easier to do with a defensive setup in place. If you already have fencing in place, installing a small-pored mesh along the fencing will prevent any loose grains from escaping. Even partial coverage on the lower half of the links should provide sufficient splash coverage. In addition to standard fencing covered in meshing, you can consider many other materials such as plastics and wood panels with a height of at least .5 meter for a budget-friendly shield that doesn’t limit visibility or mobility.
After integrating a protective perimeter, you can take your containment protocol to the next level with a smart entryway setup. The simplest method is to create a recessed or grated area with a boot/cleat cleaning station for athletes to use before they exit the field. Any loose grains will remain trapped in the filtered grate/recessed area, which can be swept up and distributed back onto the field.
Maintain the Field
The majority of infill migration issues can be avoided with a well-designed maintenance schedule. When loose grains accumulate in a pile or along the edges of your field, they are more likely to be scattered by the wind or splashed away from the field when an athlete impacts that area. The solution to these common problems is simple.
On a daily or bi-weekly basis, your synthetic turf care and maintenance plan should include gentle brushing, raking, and debris removal to ensure infill distribution consistency across the entirety of your field. While gently raking the grains back into place, instruct any maintenance team members to sweep/vacuum the perimeter edges. By gathering any loose infill material that has dispersed around the edges (before it is blown/carried further away), you can salvage countless turf pellets and return them to the higher use areas of your field.
Need help with your synthetic turf care and maintenance steps? Our professionals at Keystone Sports Construction are masters of turf defense and surface enhancement. With our routine support, we can protect your valuable surface investment from unsafe surface conditions, common wear-and-tear issues, and ensure that your infill levels remain properly balanced for a professional-quality turf experience.
Improve the Quality of Your Artificial Turf Installation
When your artificial turf in Philadelphia is expertly-designed from the get-go, infill migration and splash can be minimized. By considering advanced turf systems with built-in shockpads, your field can utilize less infill to provide the same quality of impact resistance. By reducing the total volume of turf pellets required, maintenance is easier to keep up with and managing appropriate infill levels becomes less of a chore.
In addition to choosing a superior turf variety that requires less infill, our professionals can help you integrate smart containment through better field design. For example, our innovative contractors utilize infill-saving considerations such as filtered drainage and proper field placement to keep your infill where it should be and your field in pristine condition for longer.
