Hi All , After such a wet season and with an increase in fixtures i am considering sand slitting our main soccer pitch,have any of you had this done? Did it help? Do you think now would be the right time? Thanks Tony
Sand slitting works best if you have a primary drainage system beneath the pitch.
Sand slitting will always bring some benefit, but it is designed to act as a close-spacing linear matrix of ducts, down which water will pass into a gravel layer deeper in the soil profile (part of the primary system). Once the water in the sand slit reaches the gravel, it moves into the gravel and away to the perforated land drain pipe. The operation involves these slits being "laid" across the direction the lateral land drains run. They are also often installed running across sand BANDS or gravel bands too.
Something like the BLEC Sandmaster puts 15mm wide slits, 260mm apart - so as you can imagine this gives a lot of "avenues" down which the water can escape. I have seen it done and it does work really well if done properly and with the right grade of sand - a medium coarse type of material is best because a medium fine has smaller water carrying pore spaces, thus slowing water movement through it.
One thing to beware of - I recently heard about a contractor that was telling a club that he would "install sand BANDS above the primary drainage system at significantly lower cost than the competition" - the reason he was able to claim this was because he was not in fact installing sand BANDS but actually sand SLITS. Expect sand BANDS to be more like 50mm wide, at 1 metre spacing and soil to be extracted and disposed of. With sand SLITTING, no soil is extracted and the slits are 15mm wide spaced at 260mm spacing.
The two words (slits and bands) may both have 5 letters in each, but their technical properties are VERY different.
If you are thinking about such operations, my advice would be to get some independent advisor (PSD, STRI, IOG) who will assess your pitch's suitability for anything - and if suitable, recommend the right materials. It is well worth the advice when you consider you are staring at spending upwards of £5-6k.
Again a word of warning to add to Montesas..
Be careful what you ask for, you dont know what you may get...
Sand Banding, Slitting, Grooving are all Secondary Drainage treatments requiring a functional sound Primary drainage system to be in place to work.
Sand Slitting is generally recognised as being a 50mm wide trench, 200-300mm deep set at between 1 and 2m centres and installed by a whizz wheel type machine with gravel and sand or lytag backfill. Can be laid over a 10m centre Primary system and sstill efficiently carry water between the drains.
Koro also make a slotter which can undertake 40mm wide to 200mm depth backfilled with sand.
Banding refers to mole, blade or knife action machines that displace soil with the slots backfilled with sand, lytag or gravel such as the mounted or trailed Shelton Gravel Banders and is circa 25mm displaced width with between 150 and 300mm depth. depending on material and depth can work on 10m centre system but more efficient on 7-5m.
Sand Grooving is what the more professional industry describes the Blec Sandmaster type operation although there are a lot of people who describe this as Banding. again 25mm blade displaced grooves are formed between 100 and 200mm deep backfilled with sand. To work best needs a close spaced Primary system or is installed over the top of Sand Slitting, may not have enough hydraulic draw to pull water 10m so may not solve draiange problems on widely spaced systems.
Biggest mistake or con people make with both Banders and Groovers is they do not get a clean connection between the primary systems backfill and the surface. If they are not deep enough they will not work....
Other main point to look at, the majority of whizz wheel type trenchers have no trench grade ability whatsoever, they are designed to excavate a fixed depth trench and so if there is not an adequate fall on the surface or undulations are on the route then this is reflected in the trench. They also have (other than the very largest machines) very limited depth and invariably lead to a too shallow a system.
PLEASE check the credentials of the contractor, what equipment they actually have to undertake the works and depth, intensity and specification of what you are being offered.
For more info see Land Drainage Contractors Association
www.ldca.org
Barry
Plastic.... it's The End I tell you... THE END!!!!
Thanks for both your comments very helpful,Regards Tony
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