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Bitter Lake Pickleball and Tennis Courts

Resurfacing Concerns

Introduction

The Bitter Lake pickleball and tennis courts were resurfaced in the summer 2020. In this document, the Seattle Metro Pickleball Association brings up a few concerns with the new surface.

The concerns are:

The following video shows these issues in about 30 seconds.

Sand

Sand Status

There is sand on the surface of the western courts.

Sand on the surface of the Bitter Lake pickleball and tennis courts (Dec 8, 2020)

Sand Concerns

When there is sand on the court, it is a safety issue as the sand is slippery. We have witnessed people slipping and falling down while playing on the western courts because of the sand.

We are also concerned that as we play tennis and pickleball on those courts when there is loose sand on the surface, we are effectively sanding down the new surface that was applied to the courts.

While we have observed the sand mostly on the western courts, it is possible that the sand was originally distributed evenly across all courts and then blown by the wind towards one side of the facility.

The origin of the sand is unclear. We offer the following incomplete list of possible provenances:

The planting beds on the west side of the courts (Dec 18, 2020)

Sand Questions

Sand Details

Here is a slideshow showing the sand on the Bitter Lake courts on December 8th. You can click on each picture in the slideshow to get access to the full resolution version.

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Surface Wear

Surface Wear Status

The newly painted surface is already severely worn out in several places, mostly on the two tennis courts on the west.

The Bitter Lake pickleball and tennis green court surface is already worn down in places (Dec 18, 2020)

Surface Wear Concerns

We are surprised by how fast the court paint is disappearing.

Surface Wear Questions

Surface Wear Details

Here is a slideshow showing some of the Bitter Lake courts surface wear on December 8th and 18th.

Note the green dust on the white and blue lines on slides 1 and 3. This dust is probably made of green court paint that wore off.

Notice also the black spots on the green part of the court. These are probably revealed by worn out green paint.

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You can click on each picture in the slideshow to get access to the full resolution version.


Bubbles

This new section was added December 28, 2020 after we discovered paint bubbles on the courts' surface.

The following short video shows some of the paint bubbles being pressed.


And here are a few relevant pictures.

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Cracks and Joints

Cracks and Joints Status

Major cracks are already reappearing as shown in the following video.


The expansion joints are already compromised as shown in the following picture.

Cracks and Joints Concerns

Common sports courts maintenance recommendations indicate that cracks need to be taken care of, or they will keep getting wider. Therefore, we are concerned that these cracks will widen faster than if they were filled.

Cracks and Joints Questions

The End