At RZ Sports Turf, we know an athletic field is more than just for playing sports. It’s where hard work and discipline meet and make dreams come true. It’s where a community comes together, and kids become future leaders by working together for a common goal. Football is one of America’s most popular sports. It has been integrated throughout our history and culture. Unfortunately, years of heavy foot traffic and saturated soil conditions can make a football field unsafe and unmanageable for playing football. RZ Sports Turf can help you improve the existing conditions of your football field. With years of experience installing, growing, and managing turfgrass, RZ Sports Turf is committed to your field’s success.
Most football fields are built on native soil, which rely on surface drainage. This causes poor infiltration rates in the soil during periods of heavy rainfall. Surface drainage is not enough to adequately drain the field of excess water. If the native soil is high in silt and clay, saturation will negatively affect the traction and stability of the turf. This reduced stability, in conjunction with heavy use, results in turfgrass failure. This causes uneven surfaces, standing water, low-stability, a diminished appearance, and overall decreased playability.
RZ Sports Turf installs the Built-Up Sand-Capped Athletic Field Drainage System researched and developed by Michigan State University to produce superior “all- natural” athletic turf and football fields. The Built-Up Sand-Capped Athletic Field Drainage System is a natural, cost-effective solution that causes minimum disturbance to the field. It is an environmentally sustainable approach to artificial turf.
In the Built-Up Sand-Capped Athletic Field Drainage System process, first, a sub-surface drainage system is installed using our laser-controlled trencher at depths from 10 – 16 inches and 10 to 22-foot spacings, all backfilled with pea stone gravel and sand-filled to the top surface. This allows excess surface water from the sand cap to enter drain lines. Drain lines are then connected to either main drain tile in each end zone or in the middle of the field. These main drain lines are then hooked up into either a retention pond, dry-wells, or sewer discharge lines. Over the course of the next two growing seasons, the playing surface is heavily top-dressed with two inches of USGA root zone sand.
It Speeds Up the Infiltration Rate
RZ Sports Turf’s Built-Up Sand-Capped Athletic Field Drainage System increases the rate at which water flows out of the soil profile. Through hydro-conductivity, we have observed drainage rates between one to two inches per hour. Faster infiltration rates mean less delays and/or cancellations.
Stability
Our Built-Up Sand-Capped Athletic Field Drainage System helps the field turf to maintain its endurance, strength, and structure. This system is perfect for “game-time play” and should not be considered a “practice field” with concentrated foot traffic wear patterns. Improved soil cohesion, surface stability, and health of the turf grass all add up to a better playing surface and visual appeal.
More Economical
Improving your field playing surface with the Built-Up Sand-Capped Athletic Field Drainage System is less costly to install compared to a synthetic field or a pure sand based field.
Uninterrupted Use
Sports Turf’s Built-Up Sand-Capped Athletic Field Drainage System offers uninterrupted use of play after installation, so you never have to worry about your football or any other athletic field being out of commission. With sod and other types of field turf, you have to wait several weeks before using your athletic field.
Ask us about their athletic fields and learn first-hand the benefits it produced!
Our Built-Up Sand-Capped Athletic Field Drainage System is the most cost-effective, environmentally friendly turf available. As important as it is to control the watering of your field, it’s just as important to control the water moving off the surface and through the soil profile. This will provide a healthy, sustainable football field for years to come. We can’t control the weather, but you can control the water moving in and out of the soil profile with this system. Best of all, our system allows for continual play and can be installed during on or off-seasons. Contact us now to learn more about our hydroseed installation process.