SportsTurf provides current, practical and technical content on issues relevant to sports turf managers, including facilities managers. Most readers are athletic field managers from the professional level through parks and recreation, universities.
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/82015
mover solution to interact with the entire coated surface, not just the top layer. Each removable synthetic turf paint performs differently. There are two key elements in this system that need to work to- gether: First, the paint needs to be carefully formulated: • It needs to stick to polypropylene fibers. • The pigments must be carefully chosen so they do not stain white lines or colored logos. • The resin system must release completely when exposed to the remover solution. • The formulation must be friendly to players and the environ- ment. Second, the remover solution needs to be carefully formulated for synthetic turf: • The remover solution must completely dissolve the resin system. • The remover solution must not harm the backing layers, the glues used to adhere seams in the turf, or the urethane backing. • The remover solution must not alter or harm the infill materials. • The remover solution must be friendly to players and the envi- around 900-1,000 psi. If the pressure is too high, the paint is blown into the infill which makes removal more difficult. Using low pres- sure machines can allow the paint to drip down the blade into the in- fill making removal more difficult. Apply the least amount of paint necessary to get the desired look. Apply a liberal amount of remover solution using a pump up low to successfully remove paint from synthetic surfaces? Schattinger: First, apply the paint with an airless sprayer at District, recently used LinkedIn to ask for advice on removing paint from synthetic turf. We asked him about the response. "I found the LinkedIn responses very helpful. Most of the responses suggested that the mechani- cal brush is best to use to remove synthetic turf paint; manually brushing the paint with a push broom is another budget beater method. Unfortu- nately I have yet to try these methods out on a large scale. You see, I man- age all natural turf fields here in Vail. A quick drive down the road from us is the Vail Mountain School. VMS maintains a well maintained synthetic soccer field and our plan for the summer was to use this field in a "rain- out" situation where we may be hosting a lacrosse tournament and our natural fields are too wet to play on. Our thoughts were to use the syn- thetic erasable paint to quickly paint a field on VMS property and con- tinue the tournament during inclement weather. Since the season is still relatively young, I haven't had the opportunity to try out our removing skills with the exception of a "test strip" measuring about 3 feet long. "I purchased GameLine aerosol removable marking paint with Blitz ronment. ST: What procedures do you recommend that your customers fol- remover solution. We performed a quick removing test on the test strip. The removing results were nearly instantaneous. After letting the paint dry, we sprayed Blitz directly onto the dried paint. Then we agitated the paint and solution together using a stiff bristled push broom while wash- ing away with water poured from a 5-gallon bucket. This test was done in late April; current irrigation systems were not yet charged hence the bucket of water used instead of a watering hose. However, we were very surprised with what little water pressure was needed to remove the paint once Blitz solution and agitation were applied. While continuingly pour- ing water from a 5-gallon bucket to remove paint from an entire field is not only unsuitable but highly inefficient, it worked unbelievably well for our small test strip." ■ sprayer or equivalent. Agitate. Rinse with water. Repeat as neces- sary. When the field surface exceeds 100 degrees, the remover solu- tion may evaporate very quickly which makes removal significantly harder. We strongly recommend removing during the coolest part of the day. During the summer in the South, we find that we need to re- move before 9 in the morning or after 4 in the afternoon. When rins- ing, do not allow the water to puddle if you can see any pigment or paint residue in the water. paint regularly or successfully? Schattinger: Grass paints, wall paints and other non-removable paints will flake off and remain in the infill. These flakes are too small to be removed with synthetic turf groomers and sweepers. Over time, these flakes will clog up the infill which will increase compaction, re- duce drainage and can significantly raise Gmax. If contaminated suf- ficiently, the only recourse is to replace the infill. Removable synthetic turf paints, if not thoroughly rinsed through the infill can re-set once the remover solution evaporates. This process can effectively glue infill together hurting drainage and raising G- max. However, the removable paint will re-dissolve when treated again with the remover solution which would allow for a field man- ager to thoroughly rinse the paint through the field. In facilities that require regular painting and removal cycles and have little to no drainage, the customer may need to use water extraction equipment to remove residual paint. This is especially important for indoor facil- ities with regular field conversions. ST: Are there field hardness/Gmax issues with failure to remove VAIL EXPERIMENT Tony Giroux, sports field manager for the Vail (CO) Recreation www.stma.org SportsTurf 29