10 Mar 2010 by benjamin Tiercelin
Dear Community,
Does anyone know the composition of Wimbledon topsoils courts ? is it imported topsoil or local ?
% clay: about 20: what kind of clay ?
% sand: what king of sand ?
% sil: what king of
% of organic material ?
thank you,
Benjamin
http://www.wimbledon.org/en_GB/about/infosheets/grasscourts_preparation.html
benjamin, have a look at the above link and the rest of the site and if you want more, try emailing Mr Seaward at the club.
11 Mar 2010 by benjamin Tiercelin
Thank you Vic, but the answer is not in your link. What is the composition of your topsoil for instance ?
Best regards.
Benjamin
benjamin, without getting an analysis done, I couldn't tell you what our make up is as there have been many different groundsmen here over the years, who have all used different soils.
As yours will be a new build, you have choice. I do not think you would go far wrong with Surrey Loams Ltd medium dressing. I do not work for the company nor gain anything from them but having used their products I have complete faith in their standards. Having said that, there are other companies offering soils but most are similar in make up.
Vic.
11 Mar 2010 by benjamin Tiercelin
Dear Vic,
you mean using top dressing as topsoil ? that means if I have to order 150m3 of top dressing? By Surrey is a county of England, do you know if the topsoil in this county is specialy good ?
Best regard,
Benjamin
Benjamin,
Surrey Loam is the name of a 'type' of clay loam soil a generic brand if you like, produced in the SE of UK meeting a 'slot' of criteria, it is produced by several companies to include:
Surrey Loams Ltd
C H Binder Ltd
Sporting Surface Supplies
All easy to find on web
Also try this book available on line...
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Grass-Tennis-Courts-Construct-Maintain/dp/1873431341
Also for further info on Contractors
http://www.sapca.org.uk/sapca_tennis.asp?gclid=CJGLzMOnsKACFcUB4wodEEYZTQ
Just wade through for the Natural Turf boys
Plastic.... it's The End I tell you... THE END!!!!
11 Mar 2010 by benjamin Tiercelin
Thanks Barry,
I have the book at home but they don't talk precisely about the right % of each constituant in the top soil, that my pb. They say the topsoil must contain at least 20% clay. They dont' talk about the % of loam (silk ?), the % of sand (with size of particule) and organic material.
regards,
Benjamin
11 Mar 2010 by jlawrence Last edited 11 Mar 2010
% loam ??
Loam is only a definition of a soil containing certain percentages of clay, sand and silt. Take a look at the soil triangle as show here
I think for tennis what you're looking for is a 'medium loam' - with the clay content somewhere around 20%.
Of course there's no bounce, bend your back and put some bloody effort in.
11 Mar 2010 by benjamin Tiercelin
Thanks JL,
You are right. Thank you. If a soil contain unfortunately only 10% clay, is it possible to bring the missing 10% by top dressing ? What is the right method to correct a soil, after an analyse have been done ?
Regards
Benjamin
12 Mar 2010 by Barry Pace Last edited 12 Mar 2010
Benjamin, please do not take this the wrong way, it is becoming clear that you are seeking as much free advice as possible before embarking on a major spend on a new facility and we can only provide you with snippets of info which may or may not be relevant or possibly taken out of context, and I think you really are at the point where you need to employ a professional consultant, such as STRI, PSD Agronomy etc etc (see link) to advise you of the best way forward else I fear that you may only get part of the process right and any part wrong will undoubtably lead to a failed surface.
Regards
Barry
http://www.ripta.co.uk/
Plastic.... it's The End I tell you... THE END!!!!
12 Mar 2010 by benjamin Tiercelin
Dear Barry,
Of course I am looking for free advices. In my opinion, this is the aim of any message board, isn't it ? I have not selected even the venue for my project. What is wrong with trying to understand the basics of groundmanship? it is your right not to answer or to answer without giving details. I understand your point of view. But sorry I am not wealth enough to afford the services of a professionnal consultant !
Best regards,
Benjamin
12 Mar 2010 by Mal
Hi Benjamin, Please don't take barry's comments as a criticism as he has your best interests at heart as do we all on here. He is only pointing out that the project that you are obviously undertaking is a major one full of pitfalls and traps that can lead you into any number of problems with your final finished project. All is not as straightforward as things may seem which is why if you are still intent on going through with it he has at least given a web site that will give you a more complete picture. Have a look also at the SAPCA site too because you will need to write up a specification, bill of quantities and schedule of works. I believe they may have the information you will need. Good luck and success with your project anyway.
Mal
Geography is everywhere
Benjamin, it was not intended as a knock on you getting free advice, it is that I fear the technicalities of what you are requesting, in context with the facility you propose needs more than some quickly typed retorts from us armchair 'experts' it needs a clear definition and specification based on the site location, intended usage and maintanence levels and that will only come from a profesional consultant IMHO. I also fear that if you are serious about this project unless you get this advice you will find yourself much poorer than you intend due to the high potential for a misspent budget, and if you can not afford or get the potential client to afford this support and direction then I am not sure how the project is to get off the ground anyways.
I hope you understand the intent of my post and I wish you well with the scheme.
Barry
Plastic.... it's The End I tell you... THE END!!!!
Surrey Loams Ltd do not supply Surrey loam -they supply loam under the name of 'GOSTD' - graded organic sportsturf dressing.
Surrey loam is not suitable for tennis courts as it's clay content is too high.
Surrey Loams ltd/GOSTD supply Wimbledon with their soils for construction and topdressing.
Ring them up and ask to speak to Margaret - she is a very knowledgeable lady and will be able to provide invaluble advice - she won't give you a design spec though so you need to find your own.
For construction use an unscreened material for the base in order to keep costs lower and then use screened construction material for the top 50mm.
If you look to the advertising tiles to the right of this screen, I notice that there is a Surrey Loams Ltd/ GOSTD logo (a ghost) - click it!
Hang on a second here.
I thought Benjamin was talking about 3 or 4 courts. That's a considerable expense. If I were you Benjamin I'd revisit your business plan and build in a consultant to help draw up the project.
I'm not tennis, but I'd suspect that for 4 courts you're looking iro 100K for the courts alone so allowing 5% for a consultant shouldn't be a massive problem. You also need build in costings for changing rooms, car parking etc etc etc. If you get any change from 250K I'd be surprised - oh, and you'd need to buy the site as well (couldn't even guess how much that'd cost in France).
There's nothing wrong with finding out the basics for yourself, but you need to get an expert involved in order to get the whole project finally drawn up.
Of course there's no bounce, bend your back and put some bloody effort in.
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