The PSC has awarded a contract to resurface our 2 hard courts (courts 18 and 19). For the past 15 or 20 years at least, the hard courts have been a simple coating of acrylic over a bitumen (asphalt) base. After 5 or 6 years, cracks will always start to appear as old cracks in the asphalt base (which have been filled and coated over) propagate upwards thru the new acrylic due to water penetration and thermal expansion/contraction.
Also, the members seldom like to play on the hard courts because of the aches and pains the hard surface inflicts on their knee and ankle joints.
This time we are trying several things that are different.
1. After filling the cracks in the old surface, the contractor has laid down a new fabric mat called a geo-textile. This synthetic non-woven fiber material will serve as a boundry surface to separate teh old base from the new. This will help prevent the old cracks from propagating thru to the new surface. You can see it as the white fabric layer in the photo above.
2. The club decided to purchase a cushioning layer , also referred to as a rubberized 'shock pad' which is laid just after the geo-textile and is about 5 mm thick.
This will provide a considerably more comfortable playing experience for our member's knees and ankles. You can see this as the black granular material being laid in the top photo.
The contractor will put down several more layers over these before finally putting down a top coat of 100% acrylic. The resulting surface will be essentially the same as that of the courts at Melbourne Park, where they play the Australian Open.
The project is expected to complete by the end of Sept. When its done, come out and have a hit.
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