Sprague Field Turf Replacement

Turf replacement at the Sprague Playing Field athletic complex is continuing. Work on Fields 2 and 3 will resume the beginning of February 2020. Both fields are closed and will be fenced off until the work is completed in March. 

The initial phase of the project involves removing the carpet and infill. These materials will be stored along the field to allow for work on the shock pads. Work will be performed during the week from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. with possible weekend hours from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. if the weather permits. 

The project contractor is NET Sports Group and its subcontractors. 

Check back for regular updates on this project. 

Spring 2019 
Sprague Field Turf Replacement project is still ongoing. Although, placement of the synthetic “grass” carpet is slightly behind schedule. Laying out and placing the shock pads and carpet over the fields is labor extensive. Once the gravel subbase is compacted, the shock pads were manually layout very similar as if putting together a jigsaw puzzle, but at a much larger scale. Each pad was interlinked to the next one (figure 7).Shock Pad Layout (figure 7)

 Next, heavy rolls of synthetic “grass” carpet were layout over the shock pads (figure 8).Synthetic Grass Carpet Rollout (figure 8)

It takes approximately 50 rolls of carpet to cover the entire field. Last, the edges of each roll was merged together by gluing on a tape underneath the carpet (figure 9 & figure 10).
Preparing the Tape for Glue (figure 9)

Laying the Carpet over the Tape (figure 10)
 Once the edges are glued together, the carpet is compressed for a strong bond to the glue and almost seamless (figure 11).
Compressing the Carpet (figure 11)

 The existing Thermoplastic Elastomer (TPE) and sand infill were removed from the old synthetic green turf (figure 1)Removing TPE sand infill from the turf (figure 1) and are temporarily being stored in large white storage bags in the maintenance facility parking lot (figure 2) TPE Sand Infill Storage Bags (figure 2)The old infill will be mixed along with new additional TPE and reused on fields 2 and 3 once the new synthetic turf is placed. The infill is similar to fine sand which helps with traction and keeps the synthetic grass in an upright position.

Once the infill was removed, the old synthetic turf was rolled up and removed from the site (figure 3.) Old Synthetic Green Turf (figure 3)A portion of the green turf material will be shipped off-site to be recycled in Malaysia where the material will be deconstructed and the fibers recycled into different poly type products such as edge details, poly lumbers and etc. The other portion will be reused by a Florida company where they find second lives for used turf products. The old shock pads which were used under the turf were rolled up (figure 4)Old Shock Pads (figure 4) and will be removed/disposed from the site next week. The shock pads are used to absorb sudden impacts and minimize injury to field users.

Over the next few days, the sand/gravel sub-grade will be fine graded (figure 5) Fine Grading the Sub-base (figure 5) and compacted (figure 6) before the new shock pads are placed over the fields.
Compactor (figure 6)