Summer Maintenance Tips For Your Artificial Turf Field

Summer is the perfect time to get your synthetic turf athletic fields in tip-top condition. For some schools, it’s a quiet season with minimum field usage before activities pick up again when preseason training begins in late July. While other schools tend to open their sports fields and facilities to the public during the summer months. In this case, the field will most likely still see frequent traffic as camps, intramural sports teams, and the public make use of facilities. 

Regardless of whether your artificial sports field has a quiet summer or not, it should be all systems go when it comes to preparing your field for the upcoming academic year. 

Artificial Turf Field Maintenance Tips

Use this time to schedule regular maintenance and an annual deep cleaning. Make a plan to repair, replace, and replenish various components of your turf system such as seams and infill. Summer time seems to fly by, your athletes, coaches, and community will appreciate returning to a game-ready field this fall.

Summer time maintenance doesn’t differ that much from your typical maintenance routine, but there are a few differences. 

1. Check your field for any safety hazards or repairs needed. 

If you notice an issue that your maintenance team doesn’t know how to handle, contact our expert maintenance team, Motz365. A member of our Motz365 team will be in touch to assess the severity of the needed repair. 

2. Remove any debris and trash.

3. Top off your infill and monitor high-wear areas.

Learn how to top off turf infill more and make a running list of the high-wear areas. Keep in mind that these areas will be different on each field, especially if you have several types of sports fields on campus. type, learn more about high-wear areas.  Additional infill material needs can be obtained by contacting our team. 

4. Groom your field.

Our recommendation is to groom your artificial turf field after every 40 hours of use. This rule holds true in the summer, but less grooming could be required if field use is considerably lighter during the 40 hours of play or if the 40 hours accumulate over a longer period of time. 

Particularly during summer months, it’s best to conduct maintenance in the early morning so you can complete it by mid-afternoon and avoid the hottest part of the day. The static from very high temperatures will significantly heat up the rubber infill fibers on the surface of the field. It’s ideal for aesthetic purposes to have the grooming done while the sun and air temperatures are lower. It will also allow your field to reopen during peak practice hours in the late afternoon or evening. Read this blog for step by step instructions on how to groom your field. 

5. Schedule your annual maintenance cleaning during the summer. 

Most fields are designed for high performance when they are conditioned before the start of the season. In order to get the most out of your field during the fall sports season, plan to get your field conditioned and fully repaired in June or July. For other facilities like town Parks and Rec complexes, the fall may be optimal because typically the summer months are very busy. Be sure to schedule in advance because summer is peak maintenance season, and it may be harder to book. 

6. Schedule maintenance training for your staff if you have more down time. 

7. Limit and control access to the field to keep it safe from vandalism or damage to the turf if there will be less use, maintenance, and supervision of the facility. 

8. When the summer temperatures start to climb, artificial turf field temperatures tend to climb as well. 

If athletes are playing on the field during the hottest part of the summer, you may want to reference this blog on tips for how to address heat for your participants and keep them as cool as possible.

9. Host events safely.

If you plan to host a summer event on the field, be sure to follow your maintenance guidelines before driving equipment or using tents, chairs, etc. Learn how to safely manage an event on an artificial turf field.

Making the most of your field revitalization 

Keep your field in amazing condition all year long with Motz365. We offer comprehensive maintenance services for synthetic turf athletic fields. Learn more.