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Visit our dedicated Maintenance website for more info...
What does our maintenance service cover:
Maintenance of synthetic turf is at the most effective when it involves both out-sourced and in-house maintenance.
What can you do?
How we encourage you to look after your surface?
Deep Clean
Drag brushing (or matting) is an essential preventative maintenance method for maintaining your surface; whether it be a 3g football pitch, playground surface or landscaping area this should be a part of your maintenance programme. When the surface is used every day the infill levels (evenness of rubber levels) can move around the pitch and often head towards the edges and not in the middle of the pitch which is where it is most used. To support the turf fibres, the infill acts as a wearing course to protect the synthetic grass against heavy usage to extend the life of the turf.
Dedicating time each week to drag brush your artificial turf is a must, it can be completed using a drag mat or drag brush attached to a ride on tractor or another suitable maintenance vehicle. This is carried out to groom in the recently applied infill or to bed in a subsequent top-up.
STM recommend that drag brushing is completed after every 10 hours of play.
Specialist Maintenance Services:
Contaminants will build up on your artificial turf surface over a period of time. These contaminants are built up from air born particles and can start to build and break up within the surface. Litter and leaves can be picked up but the smaller particles will need to be removed by power sweeping machines. If these contaminants are not removed they can cause drainage problems and reduce the quality of the pitch (becoming hard and compacted).
Power sweeping is the process we carry out using a specialist machine. This piece of machinery has a brush at the front and flicks up the sand and debris off the surface into the front compartment. The front compartment then vibrates sieving the infill from the debris which is then sucked through the machine and into the back compartment whilst the infill falls through the vibrating plate back onto the surface. The brush on the back of the machine then grooms the infill back into the surface evenly, leaving a fresh new look surface.
Infill levels help to protect the artificial turf surface in many different ways. Firstly, the sand/rubber infill acts as a shock absorber for the artificial turf therefore it will take the brunt of the weight rather than the turf itself. This helps to protect the yarn.
The turf surface will likely have tonnes of sand over the top which contribute to the surface performance as it allows the grass blades to stand in the correct direction.
It is normal that within the first few months of having the surface installed, infill levels tend to decrease.
NOTE: If there is a tear in the seam or the turf starts coming away, if infill gets into the surface the abrasiveness of the sand can lead to further seams coming away, it almost has a knock on effect. Therefore, it is important to make sure that you get repairs done as soon as possible. For more information on corrective maintenance.
Specialist de-compaction preventative maintenance is required as this is a form of cleaning and is crucial to ensure that the drainage and purpose of the synthetic turf surface is enhanced. De-compaction is most commonly used on 3G rubber crumb pitches. It works by lifting up the infill that has been compacted into the artificial grass and then settling it in the correct position to allow the yarn to stand up straight and stabilise it. In a way, it is a similar process to power sweeping, with the addition of tines being added to the machine to aggravate the pile and loosen up the compacted infill.
Sometimes moss and weeds can become out of control but there is a way to ensure that they do not interfere with the performance of your artificial grass pitch. Moss, weed and algae chemical treatments should be completed about four times yearly to discourage further growth. These should be systematic water-based killer agents and the moss and weeds should be removed after they have died off.
For any additional information on preventative maintenance, don’t hesitate to complete the main contact form here.
