13.4.2015

Court resurfacing work begins

So we're finally off and running with the work to add a new playing surface to two out of our three courts.

The work started on Thursday 9th April (a little earlier than expected) when Platt Construction began the task of drilling holes into the old surface at roughly half metre intervals. These holes are then filled with fine stones, which will assist drainage.

If you've not been down to the club yourself you can see some pictures of the progress made here - at this stage it looks quite a mess, but as the old saying goes, you can't make an omelette without cracking an egg!

As the new surface will be laid on top of the existing one and as we're not raising the kerb edges (two elements of the approach taken that reduces cost), the old surface has been completely removed around the edges, which will allow the new surface to be gently tapered down to the existing kerbs (see right).

This means that the net posts have had to be raised, as the picture bottom-right shows - looking at this you can get an idea of the thickness of the new surface, which is about 25mm.

With the weather forecast looking good for the next few days at least, it's hoped that the resurfacing work will be completed as planned towards the end of next week, with temporary lines added so that the courts are playable (for the Quorn Family Tennis Cup for example) until they're ready for the application of acrylic paint in at least 5 weeks (they must be left to allow time for bitumen seepage).