[Greenbuilding] tennis court surface material

[Chris Green]

Rob Tom wrote:
> On Tue, 02 Oct 2007 16:56:38 -0400, John Salmen <terrain at shaw.ca> wrote:
>
>   
>> Looking for some greener references for creating a tennis court surface  
>> (no grass)
>>     
>
> John;
>
> It's been eons since I've played tennis but one that naturally comes to  
> mind is red clay.
>   
Turns out that "red clay" courts are actually made from crushed clay 
bricks. Who knew?
> Red clay is made of crushed brick <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brick> 
> that is packed to make the court <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Court>. 
> It is then covered with a topping of additional crushed particles. 
> Some natural clay courts exist, but the courts that utilise crush 
> brick do not absorb water easily, whereas natural clay courts take two 
> to three days to dry. This surface is the most common in Europe 
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe> and South America 
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_America>.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clay_court

Clay courts are, ahem, more challenging to play on.

Tennis Court Wiki:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tennis_court

A BBC Sports article about playing on a a clay court.
> Love it or loathe it, clay court tennis is the modern surface in Europe.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/tennis/rules_and_equipment/4553209.stm

Another page about them, which argues that clay courts are making a 
comeback.
http://www.xsports.com/clay.html

It appears that the construction of clay courts is variable, from pure 
clay to clay with crushed red bricks as a topping, and so-on.
I'm wondering if you'd consider using screened pumice if the crushed 
bricks aren't readily available. The pumice is mined at Meager Mtn., 
north of Whistler. There's another supplier which is-- or was-- 
processing the pumice from the Nazko Cone in the Chilcotin country. Done 
right, the courts should see the rain disappear faster than if some 
other surface is used, similar to the way water behaves on the crushed 
brick surface.

The Mt. Meager pumice is a creamy white, while the Nazko Cone pumices 
come in a variety of colours.
Nazko Cone Pumice:
Oh, turns out I'm out of date on this one: the company which operated 
this quarry (Crystal Graphite Corp.)  went bankrupt 2 years ago. No 
matter. If a creamy white surface is acceptable, the haul distance from 
Mt. Meager is a lot shorter, so less fuel will be used.

Mt. Meager Pumice:
http://www.pumice.ca/

Garibaldi Aggregate is also a pumice supplier with a quarry in the same 
general area:
http://garibaldiaggregates.com/

All that remains to be determined is whether or not this kind of surface 
would work.... no guarantee on that.

Cheers,

Chris Green.