Care & maintanence – general guidance

Care & maintanence – general guidance

What are the most important points to remember?

For all facilities, indoors or outdoors

1 – CONSIDER ANY HEALTH & SAFETY RISKS
2 – PROTECT YOUR INVESTMENT

Clubs, Centres, Schools, Hotels and similar venues open to the public must always be aware of potential risks for anyone using their facilities and will also wish to protect their initial investment. Many of our larger MUGA and SYNTHETIC TURF PITCH projects will have a Care & Maintenance Programme as part of the initial project.

Private customers may tend to consider the above points in reverse order. It’s worth bearing in mind that if you are buying a new tennis court you may spend as much as you would on a high quality motor car. You would always have your car serviced at regular intervals by an authorised dealer and to protect your investment so it makes sense to look after your tennis court in a similar manner.

In simple terms, both Health & Safety requirements and investment protection may be met by

• Keeping your playing surfaces and adjacent areas scrupulously clean
• Applying preventative treatments of moss-killer/algaecide/weed killer as appropriate on outdoor facilities and at the correct dosages and recommended time of year and, remember to also treat any footpaths.
• Pressure washing asphalt surfaces at least every other year (extreme care needs to be taken on older courts from approximately 8 years onwards – if in any doubt always seek professional advice)
• Brushing synthetic grass surfaces regularly and topping up sand levels on sand-filled carpets as required and recommended. Neglecting the correct ‘little and often’ recommended care on expensive carpets can dramatically shorten their life span and lead to poor and, at worst, even dangerous playing surfaces if such recommended routine maintenance is not carried out regularly.
• Vacuuming indoor surfaces regularly and, if recommended, occasional washing
• NEVER PULLING WEEDS OUT OF ASPHALT OR OTHER ‘HARD’ SURFACES – USE SPOT TREATMENT SHOULD ANY WEEDS OCCUR BETWEEN ROUTINE TREATMENTS
• NEVER USING OIL BASED WEED KILLERS
• NEVER USING SALT ON FROZEN SURFACES
• NEVER USING METAL SHOVELS TO SCRAPE SNOW OR ICE OFF SURFACES – BROOMS AND WOODEN SCRAPERS ONLY PLEASE
• USING THE RECOMMENDED FOOTWEAR FOR YOUR SURFACE TO PREVENT DAMAGE

Every Doe customer is given a Care & Maintenance Guildline leaflet on completion of their construction project – please ask for additional copies if you need them or have misplaced your original and please feel free to ask for one even if you do not have a Doe facility – all we need to know is the type of playing surface you have to be able to send you the relevant leaflet.

If you know you have neither the time nor inclination to look after your facility regularly then our Services Division will be happy to quote for one-off visits or annual contracts. For pernicious weed growth such as mares tail, bindweed, bellbine and similar, we can put you in touch with specialist weed control companies who, again, will be happy to quote for individual treatmentsor annual contracts as required.

If you would like to receive further details of our Court Cleaning and routine Servicing costs please contact us indicating the age (if known) and surface type of your court(s) or multi-use facility and we’ll be pleased to send budget prices or, visit and give specific quotations for your requirements. All site visits and quotations are free of any charge or obligation.