Sports Court

[Rooster]

Our Local park district just installed sports court over our old smooth concrete floor. I like to skate on sports court but because of water problems our rink is unusable. We just started league games and I've lost 2 players to injuries due to the floor. The problem with the new floor is its always wet and seems to be from condensation at night. My question is....Has anyone else in the country experienced moisture problems or any other problem with outdoor rinks and Sports court floor and what was done to correct the problem?

[GoalieRick]

This is not a Sport Court problem. This is a water problem. All plastic-type surfaces, i.e., Sport Court, IceCourt, etc., are going to be dangerous to skate on when wet. Didn't the Sport Court people address this issue before you purchased the floor?

[Titan55]

Yo man, sport court is the best floor to play on, you need to get your water problem fixed and then you will learn the ways of the sport court, it is amazing!!!

One Love!!!

Late all!

[Rooster]

Since I don't work for the city I wasn't part of the design and development of the new floor...I just play there. I do love sport court having played on it in indoor leagues and I do realize this is not a sport court problem but more of a moisture problem from condensation forming on the floor when the temperature is right. The only thing I can think of is conditioning the space which would mean a roof and walls to change the temperature of the floor? Has anyone in Southern CA, Florida, Bay Area experienced similar problems?

I would like to go to the city and present a solution not a complaint about the floor. They spent a good deal of money for us to play on a quality surface but now were limited to the amount of use of the rink.

Thanks again

[Rinkside_playa]

I think that the condensation problem would occur on all slick surfaces, not exclusively on sport court. It has to do with dew point and how long the thermometer is in your area. Coastal cities will experience more moisture then other cities.

[GoalieRick]

I would think that any type of device that could raise the temperature of the air directly above the surface of the rink would help. Since your problem appears to be the result of condensation, try to reduce or eliminate the condensation. You shouldn't have to raise the air temperature a lot, just enough so that it reduces the condensation to an acceptable amount.

[bullyx2]

my son played his first season at an outdoor rink that used sport court and they had the same problem, especially morning practices. once or twice i saw the owner out with a machine that he'd run over the rink. it's been years and i don't know what it did, whether it sucked the water up, or dried it with heat, but if i remember corrctly, it seemed to help. sportcourt has a website, www.sportcourt.com, and one of the products they sell is an outdoor floor. whether you have actual sportcourt brand, or another, you would have to think that they have seen this problem before and could direct you towards a solution. good luck.

[rlrhky13]

there is a machine that takes the moisture off the rink. we have one at our facility. its indoors but its very humid here in New Eng,and in the summer so we use it every morning. its a vacuum type machine but we put a citrus/water solution down to help keep the floor sticky.

[SpeedDemon]

Invest in an industrial strength dehumidifying and ventilation system, similar to the compression/environmental controls that ice rinks use.

[chandler27]

specifics on the citrus solution? i play on a sport court and it gets pretty dirty pretty fast. how often do you use the solution and does it atrract dirt/dust/wheel dust?

[rlrhky13]

I think the solution is 50/50 but I am not sure. ou can get the stuff at any industrial supply place. You have to make sure you do the exact mix because if there is too much citrus in it, it makes the floor really slippery. we did it everyday in the morning so it would dry by evening. It worked awesome it doesn't attract anything and if its kept up it even keeps the floor like new. it takes off all the marks from the wheels and sticks.