If you are considering adding a tennis or basketball court to your yard, apartment complex, school, or office, understanding the difference in surface materials is essential. You may notice that there are several options available in a variety of colors. This may cause you to ask several questions and wonder what is best for what you want to install.
The most common questions we hear are “which coating should I use for my tennis or basketball court surface?” or “Can I use the same surface for multiple sports surfaces?”
Toste Construction is going to dive a little deeper into these questions to help you determine what is best for your sports surface.
There are three different color coating options available:
- Color Concentrate – contains full pigmentation, but requires the addition of sand and water.
- Color Concentrate w/ Sand – contains full pigmentation and the proper sand, but requires dilution.
- Read-Mix Color – contains full pigmentation, sand, and water.
When these products are mixed and ready to apply, the exact same level of quality and end result will be seen.
Back to the original question, “Is there any difference between acrylic tennis and basketball court surfaces?”
The short answer is: there doesn’t have to be.
Acrylic sports coatings are flexible and customizable in a variety of ways, however, the surface texture is our main focus today. Any of the color systems discussed above can be applied to tennis or basketball and work well for either sport. However, you should consider who is going to be using the sports surface and how you want the surface to feel. The amount, size, and type of sand added to the pigmentation can be adjusted to produce a different surface texture.
This table shows the different results and performance characteristics for customizing the surface texture:
| Sand Description | Surface Characteristic | Tennis | Basketball |
| **Fine, rounded | Safe, non-slip with minimal *tool marks | Medium speed of play | Safe, non-slip with non-aggressive feel |
| Coarse, sub-angular to angular | Safe, non-slip with noticeable *tool marks | Slower speed of play, higher bounce. More tennis ball fuzz. | Safe, non-slip with more aggressive grip |
| No sand in color coatings or final coat | Smooth, can be slippery when wet, minimal *tool marks | Faster speed of play, lower bounce | “Scrape-free” falls. Similar to indoor wood floor performance |
* tool marks are made by application squeegee passes
** fine, rounded sand is standard in our “with sand” factory mixes
If you are looking for the best overall surface for tennis, basketball, and most other sports, it is best to use a standard coating with a sand mixture. If you have any other questions regarding a specialty surface, contact Toste Construction today. We can assess your space and provide you with our greatest recommendation to accomplish your goals.
Toste Construction specializes in sealcoating and crack filling to ensure you and your customers have a smooth surface to drive on. We are your Mooresville asphalt and pavement maintenance company. Our services include asphalt sealcoating, striping, patching, pothole repair and crack filling for both residential and commercial projects throughout western North Carolina.