subject: How Land Drainage Helps Your Sports Turf [print this page] How Land Drainage Helps Your Sports Turf How Land Drainage Helps Your Sports Turf
Sports turf needs to be of a certain quality (known as "playable quality"). The British climate is not always conducive to the maintenance of such quality, which is where land drainage comes into the equation.
Correctly draining the land on which your sports turf is laid can make an extensive difference to the trustworthiness and playable quality of your pitch. Excessive surface water and extreme topsoil damage can quickly render a pitch unplayable. When the playable quality of a surface drops below a certain level (and it's not a very difficult level to reach), the quality of play itself is severely compromised.
A proper land drainage solution is designed to make sure that the turf you use is always in its best possible condition for play. Typically, there will be primary and secondary drainage considerations in place. No two surfaces are exactly the same (the soil composition, for example, in different areas can have significant effects on the way the turf handles moisture and usage) and so the drainage options used will vary from location to location.
The United Kingdom is famous for being a wet country. Add large areas of chalky or clay filled soil to the equation and land drainage situations in different areas become very different indeed. In order to get a properly irrigated playing surface, then, you need to find the right company, with the right expertise, to help you out.
When you find the right company, you will typically find that your current playing surface is removed completely and the under soil irrigated in a number of ways. Deep trenches may be laid, which will be filled either with sand or some other form of organic or semi organic absorbent: or you may find that piping is laid to physically carry the excess water away from the playing area.
It is common to find sand slitting used as a secondary land drainage solution. The ground is cut and filled with sand, which absorbs the excess moisture and wicks it away from the playing surface you are trying to protect.
Proper maintenance of your irrigated and drained pitch is essential, if you are to retain the water removing qualities that you are looking for. Typically you will want to get in touch with your drainage partners at least once a season, if not twice a year, to ensure proper redistribution of sand and grit.
If you need a quick fix land drainage solution, you should not find that a problem. Plenty of companies (like the excellent Kestrel Contractors, for example) are capable of stripping, draining and relaying your pitch in time for an important fixture. Talk to companies like this about long term drainage and maintenance solutions and you will have a clean dry playing surface for years to come.
The importance of drainage in the successes of British sporting facilities is paramount. You would be hard pressed to find a country as obsessed with sport that has such a damp climate. Find the right land drainage contractor, though, and your pitch installation or stadium should come up trumps no matter what the weather.
