COLOR-COATING INSTRUCTIONS

The colored surface of a tennis court serves three functions.  It protects the asphalt or concrete from the damaging U.V. rays of the sun while providing a rich, aesthetically pleasing contrast for ball visibility, and an evenly textured surface for a consistent ball bounce.

As the surface ages its capacity to perform these functions is diminished.  The sun eventually breaks down its pigments, causing oxidization and fading.  Wind, rain and foot traffic from play slowly wear away the textured coatings, leaving the surface slick and, in extreme cases, void of any coating whatsoever. This creates the necessity to apply fresh color-coatings every 4 to 7 years, even when there are no structural problems, such as; settlement or cracking.

While it may look difficult, color-coat application is really very simple.  In fact, when training people in the trade, I have found it to be the easiest of all the skills to teach.  If you will follow the techniques outlined in this article you'll produce professional quality results on your first court.

Before you start to apply any color make sure you have followed the instructions given in the other articles regarding; court cleaning, patching, and crack repair where appropriate.

1. After you have thoroughly cleaned and patched the court it's time to prepare for your first coat of color.  Your first considerations have to be the weather and the time of day.  Not just the current conditions, but the predicted conditions over the next 24 hours.  While the ideal temperature range is between 50 and 75 degrees, coatings can be applied in temperatures varying as much as 10 degrees  in either direction of this range.  Never apply coatings when rain is imminent, or when the temperature is expected to drop below freezing within 24 hours.  The best time to start the coating application is usually early morning.  You will find the paint dries slower, allowing you to take your time while learning.

2. Now that you have chosen a good day to apply coating, your first step is to walk every square foot of your court with a good floor scraper, scraping any hardened drips from your patching, and other imperfection that are raised up on the court surface.  If you observe any small dips or gouges on the surface you should fill them with our Tru-Patch, using a 3" to 6" putty knife or a flat steel trowel.  If you have someone helping you it's a good idea to have them walk beside you with a blower, blowing the debris away as you scrape.  If you do not have a helper, scrape the entire court first, and then blow it off.  The illustration below shows the proper technique to blowing and scraping the court surface.

3. The next step is to place tacks in the center, of the intersections of all of your playing lines.  The tacks should be no longer than 1/2 of an inch long with a head no more than 1/8 inch in diameter.  Tap them down with a hammer leaving them protruding approximately 1/8" above the surface.  These tacks will preserve your existing line measurements, saving a lot of time later.  The tack system assumes that your existing lines are accurately located.  You can check them for accuracy by measuring them with a 100 foot tape measure.  Please refer to our page titled court dimensions, and check them,  if you have any doubt.  Use the illustration below as a guide to the placement of the tacks.  

4. You should always coat the in-bounds area first.  Place the 8" wide masking paper around the perimeter outside of the in-bounds area, using the center of the lines as your edge.  See illustration below.      

5. Open five - 5 gallon buckets of your in-bounds color.  You will notice they are not filled to the top with paint.  Add, precisely, one gallon of clean water to each bucket.  Using a 1/2" electric drill and a paint mixing paddle stir each bucket until thoroughly blended.  If you are using concentrate in a 55 gallon drum, mix 200lbs of sand and 12 to 13 gallons of water to a half drum of concentrate, and then pour into five gallon buckets.

6. You are going to apply the coat parallel to the baselines.  Place two buckets at the end of the in-bounds where you want to start the coat, two buckets in the center (at the net line), and one bucket at the other end of the in-bounds.  Make sure to leave the lids on (loosely).  

7. You are going to start the coating application at the end of the in-bounds where you placed 2 bucket.  Remove the bucket lids and pour each bucket onto the court as illustrated above.  

8. You now simply use your squeegee to apply the coating parallel to the baseline, starting at the edge of the paper on the baseline and walking back and forth (sideline to sideline) with your squeegee, moving the row of paint approximately 6" each pass.  Make sure that you squeegee the coating onto the edge of the masking paper. 

9. You will notice in the illustration that the person applying the coating turns the corner and pulls the paint approximately 2 to 4 feet parallel to the sideline.

10. The coating should go down very thin.  Imagine a layer of fine sand spread out on the court only one grain thick and you have a good idea of just thin the coat of paint should be.  If you see a puddle of paint or an unusually thick area, pass over it again with your squeegee.  If the edge of your squeegee is cutting in to the previous pass, leaving a ridge, you are probably trying to take too much paint at one time.  Never let the paint pass beyond the middle of your squeegee blade as you pull the row.  

11. As you squeegee, always try to keep your row of paint as straight as possible.  You will always see something we in the industry call "lap marks", when the coating dries.  Lap marks are actually the pattern you create with every pass of the squeegee.  They look best when they are relatively straight. 

12. Never just drop your squeegee down onto an area you have just painted, you will leave a edge of paint we call a "tool mark".  Always start each pass on the masking paper.

13. As you get near the middle of the court (the net line) your row of paint will begin to run out.  Don't let it run down to nothing.  Pour one or two of the buckets you have placed there along the row of paint.  Remember, this is very important:  DON'T LET THE PAINT IN THE ROW RUN DOWN TO NOTHING BEFORE YOU ADD MORE!!!!!!

14. As you get close to the end of the inbounds, try to estimate the amount of paint you will need to finish.  Try not to pour an excessive amount onto the court, you will just have to shovel it up later.  When your paint row is about 1 foot from the back paper, put down your squeegee and scoop as much of the paint as possible into an empty bucket, using a flat shovel.

15. Squeegee the remaining paint onto the masking paper and leave for at least one hour.  If you have been careful to shovel up as much paint as possible you will have very little paint on the paper.  If you have more than you can spread out on the paper, carefully scoop it up and put it in a bucket.

16. If the weather is pleasant, the court is not getting warm, and you are not too tired, you can apply the second coat as soon as the first one is dry.  This will take approximately one hour in good drying conditions.  Otherwise let it sit overnight and apply the second coat in the morning.  Don't forget to scrape and blow the surface before applying the next coat.

17. Most courts will only need two coats.  However, if you can still see some of your patch work or other imperfections through the second coat, a third coat might be in order.

18. When you have finished coating the in-bounds, remove the masking paper and throw it away.