How to Do Old Tennis Court Resurfacing

We all have seen an abandoned tennis court – completely mossy, covered with debris, cracks in the field… It is sad to see a tennis court in a condition like that. So why not give the court a new life? In general, tennis courts do not remain in the same condition over 15-20 years. Therefore, a tennis court resurfacing can help to improve the situation. The aim is to find the tennis court as good as new!

If you have an old clay court, asphalt court, or hard court that does not meet today’s needs and desires, the option is to make the old court more player-friendly with artificial grass. TennisKit24 can help you with that!

Before the renovation process can start, it is essential to determine whether the old surfaces are in a satisfactory condition. You should observe the evenness, slopes, and cracks of the old court carefully when planning the tennis court reconstruction works.

Resurfacing a Depreciated Clay Court

A depreciated clay court is often not playable and needs either complete reconstruction or renovation with the help of artificial grass. In most cases, the renovation is more reasonable. For the rebuilding with artificial grass to happen, it is first necessary to reconstruct the sub-base of the court.

The reconstruction of the sub-base requires removing the old clay layer, which is usually 5-6cm thick. After that, the next step is to renew the layer of rubble. Then, the layer of granite sieves has to be restored as well and needs to be 5-6cm thick. When all the previous steps are done, you can already install the artificial grass on top of it. We also recommend adding a curb around the perimeter. The result is a proper artificial grass tennis court.

Resurfacing an Old Asphalt Court

An old asphalt tennis court resurfacing with artificial grass is quite common. First, you need to assess the quality of the asphalt – if the asphalt is very uneven, cracked, and without slopes, there is no point in installing artificial turf immediately. In that case, you should reconstruct the base first – remove the existing regular asphalt and install drainage asphalt or granite sieves and then artificial grass. 

If the condition of the existing asphalt field is good, there is no large unevenness (unevenness less than 10 mm) and the field has slopes (0.5 -1%),  the artificial grass can be installed right away. In this case, it would be better to install artificial grass with a longer leaf (20mm). The grass with a 20mm level is not so demanding in terms of the flatness of the base. Also, since the ordinary asphalt does not drain, the tennis court is more playable after rain.

When the asphalt tennis court is uneven, it is possible to improve the evenness of the court by filling in asphalt depressions. However, you need to be careful when doing the filling with sand – if the depression is deep and the sand layer is thick, there is a risk of no bounce under the artificial grass.

Resurfacing an Old Hard Court

The renovation process of the hard court is quite similar to the old asphalt tennis court resurfacing. First, you should check the flatness and slopes of the court. If the flatness is satisfactory and the slopes (or in general slope) exist, then small cracks are not important, and you can install artificial grass on top of the old hard court.

As hard courts are usually in a better condition than asphalt tennis courts, you could also consider the artificial grass with a 15mm level in addition to 20mm grass. However, the final decision depends on the precise condition of the court.

Where Can I Get a New Artificial Grass Surface?

Well, as you are already here on our website, the answer is quite simple – TennisKit24 can help you with all the questions regarding artificial grass. Tennis court resurfacing is one of the simplest and also cheapest options to remarkably improve the situation. As previously mentioned, in case of renovating an old asphalt or hard court, we advise choosing our TennisKit Base 20 artificial grass since it is not so demanding to the base of the court. With a depreciated clay court, the length of the grass’s leaf is not so crucial as a completely new sub-base has to be constructed beforehand. 

If you have any further questions regarding the renovation of an old court, contact us! Let’s give an old court a new life!