SURFACES : RED POROUS

Red porous surfaces are a specific type of surface that covers a wide range of sports. The common performance properties for a red porous surface, regardless of the sport, are:

• Free draining
• Ease of sliding across the surface.

Red porous surfaces are commonly used for:

• Tennis – In southern Australia, red porous surfaces are for court construction while elite courts are constructed from European clay material.
• Baseball – We use red porous to create skin material around bases, pitcher’s mound, running lanes and warning tracks.
• Softball – We use red porous for the same purposes of baseball, including the infield.

From planning to design, construction to maintenance, sports surfaces are at the heart of athletes.

Our surface knowledge covers a broad range of sports and their associated Fields of Play, from local and regional level facilities to elite national and international stadiums.

Here at SPORTENG, we design red porous surfaces based on the local supply of material, which has changed over the years to suit the needs of relevant sports. We construct red porous tennis courts with locally sourced materials, which is a cheaper alternative to European clay tennis courts.

Similarly, the skin material for baseball and softball is locally sourced brick dust, scoria and/or drainage gravel to create the profile.

Knowing that these profiles are porous requires the drainage design to cater for water that infiltrates through the profile, as well as surface run-off that can occur in an aging profile.

When we work with local suppliers and contractors, we ensure that the red porous material specified can be readily available for the project.

When you’re considering a surface for your facility, ongoing maintenance and its whole-of-life cycle should be a priority.

When a surface is properly maintained and correctly used, your facility will have an optimal lifespan.

Due to the layering of the profiles, regular maintenance ensures there is minimal contamination of the different layering, which can be caused by gauging and/or rutting of the surface. Allowing the finer surface to be readily displaced over time will result in the underlying granular material to become exposed. This may result in the surface not being fit-for-purpose.

Maintaining your red porous surface is simple and requires the use of a drag mat, or similar, to replace the displaced finer material from the high-wear areas. This finer material is considered the performance layer, and you need to maintain it to ensure that the ongoing performance requirements are met.

At the end of the design life, the usually heavily contaminated and blended material can be used as a general fill where non-engineering fill is required.