Concrete on its own is not a playing surface; it is the base that a covering goes onto. The system is the same for tennis, basketball, volleyball and multi-purpose courts. This page explains how to tell whether your slab can carry an acrylic system, how the surface is prepared, and what the work costs.
A hard playing surface built by laying water-based acrylic resin and silica sand coats, in sequence, over a reinforced concrete slab. The same system from tennis to basketball.
Acrylic is not a coating but a system: the primer, resurfacer and colour coats each do a different job, and none of them is sufficient on its own.
The system protects and improves the concrete in two ways. First, concrete is porous; it absorbs water and crumbles at the surface through freeze-thaw cycles. The acrylic coats close those pores. Second, bare concrete is too hard for play and the ball rebounds unpredictably; the proportion of silica sand in the colour coat sets the friction, and with it the speed of the ball, to a known value.
The system does not change with the sport. On a tennis court, a basketball court, a volleyball court or a multi-purpose court the layer build-up, the conditions the slab must meet and the application steps are identical; what changes is the area to be surfaced, the line layout and the sand content of the colour coat. This page is about whether an existing or newly cast slab can carry that system. If you are still choosing between surface systems — acrylic, polyurethane or synthetic turf — that comparison is on the home page.
An acrylic system scales with area, not with the sport. The surfaced areas below are larger than the playing areas: the run-off outside the lines is covered with the same surface.
The most common use of acrylic; it falls into the hard court class. Ball speed is set by the sand content of the colour coat — slow, medium and fast courts are built with the same system, only the sand grade and proportion change.
Outdoors, acrylic both softens the hardness of the concrete and makes the bounce predictable. It is the usual choice for school yards and housing estate courts.
The playing area is 18 × 9 m, but the 3 m free zone on every side must be surfaced in the same material; the calculation is made including the free zone.
Two or three sets of lines are applied to the same surface in different colours. The surfaced area is set by the largest court; the line colours are chosen so the boundaries never read as one another.
The life of an acrylic system is set by the condition of the concrete beneath it, not by the quality of the covering.
The six values below are measured on site during the survey. If even one is not met, the answer is not to lay the covering thinner but to correct the slab first — otherwise the fault surfaces within the first winter.
C25/30 minimum
A sports court carries no heavy vehicle loads, but the base beneath the covering must not crumble. C25/30 is the lower limit for new slabs; C30/37 is preferred where freeze-thaw exposure is high. Slab thickness is 12–15 cm with mesh reinforcement.
28 days
While newly cast concrete continues to set, it drives its mix water out through the surface. On a surface sealed before curing is complete, that water is trapped beneath the acrylic layer and causes blistering. The period cannot be shortened; even where an accelerator has been used, no risk is taken without the manufacturer’s documentation.
below 4 %
A slab can still hold moisture even after the curing period has passed; what decides the matter is measurement, not the calendar. Moisture content by weight must be below 4 %. The practical pre-check is to tape 1 m² of plastic sheet to the surface and wait 24 hours: if there is condensation underneath, application is postponed.
must NOT be over-floated
This is the condition most often missed. Power floating makes concrete look good but closes the surface like glass, leaving no pore for the primer to key into. A mirror-like surface rejects acrylic and the covering flakes off within two or three seasons. On such a slab the surface is opened by shot blasting or controlled acid etching. The ideal texture is the fine abrasive roughness you can feel with a wet finger.
0.5 – 0.8 %
Outdoor slabs are not cast level; a fall is given towards the point where water will be taken away. It can run in one direction or from a central ridge to both sides. Fall cannot be corrected by the covering: an acrylic system is around 2 mm thick in total and has no filling capacity to absorb a level error.
all must be mapped
Not every crack in concrete belongs to the same category. Hairline cracks that do not open up are closed with acrylic filler. Control joints and live cracks call for elastic filler and bridging tape; sealed over directly, the covering tears again along the same line. This is known as reflective cracking, and it is a problem of the concrete, not of the covering.
An acrylic system is laid over either base. The choice depends on how the base itself behaves and on where the project starts from.
| Criterion | Reinforced concrete slab | Asphalt |
|---|---|---|
| Wait before surfacing | 28 days curing | 10 – 15 days oxidation |
| Surface preparation | Blasting or etching usually required | Washing is generally enough |
| Crack behaviour | Gathers at joints, can be directed | Widespread, increases with age |
| Consistency of fall | High — fixed during casting | Depends on laying and compaction |
| In summer heat | Dimensionally stable | Risk of softening and marking |
| Initial cost from scratch | Higher | Lower |
The sequence below is the standard acrylic system. In a cushioned system, elastic cushion coats are added beneath the colour coat and total thickness rises to 3 – 5 mm.
The load-bearing base. It spreads load into the ground and gives the system its dimensional stability.
Blasting or etching, crack filling, level correction. Adds no thickness; makes adhesion possible.
Penetrates the concrete and forms the adhesion bridge. Essential on dusty or absorbent surfaces.
Acrylic resin and silica sand. Closes surface pores, takes up small level differences and prepares an even base for the colour coat.
Rubber granulate and acrylic. Absorbs impact; on a base as hard as concrete it lowers joint loading noticeably.
The playing surface. The sand content sets ball speed and shoe grip; this coat also carries the UV resistance.
White acrylic line paint applied with masking. Court boundaries are measured from the outer edge of the line.
What decides quality in acrylic over concrete is not the colour coat but the four steps that come before it. The sequence below is for a single court under standard conditions.
Compressive strength, curing status, moisture content and surface texture are measured. The results are recorded in writing; work does not begin without that record.
The court is wetted under control and left for an hour. Remaining puddles are marked with chalk. The criterion is clear: after one hour no water deeper than 2 mm should remain.
The surface is pressure washed and oil and curing residues are removed. On floated surfaces, shot blasting or controlled acid etching is applied and the surface is rinsed.
Hairline cracks are filled with acrylic filler. Live cracks and control joints are opened out, filled with elastic sealant and, where needed, covered with bridging tape.
The hollows marked in step two are filled and screeded with acrylic patching compound. Once dry, the water test is repeated; any area that fails is filled again.
One coat of primer is applied across the whole surface. The primer evens out the absorbency of the concrete and lets the coats above it dry uniformly.
Resurfacer coats go on first, then two colour coats. Each coat waits for the previous one to dry; the interval is 4 – 8 hours depending on air temperature. In a cushioned system the cushion coats go between the resurfacer and the colour.
The court is set out, the lines are masked and applied in white acrylic. Once the final coat has cured, the court is opened for play and handed over with a maintenance schedule.
The one thing that finishes an acrylic system outdoors is the freeze-thaw cycle, and what sets that cycle off is water left standing on the surface.
When water is not carried away it collects in one of two places: on top of the covering or beneath the slab. Water on top freezes in winter, pushes the covering up from below and causes blistering. Water beneath moves the slab, opens the joints and the crack comes through to the surface. In both cases the repair covers the whole surface.
This question is answered one way over asphalt and another over concrete. The reason is simple: concrete is a harder base than asphalt, and that hardness passes straight through to the covering.
Primer, resurfacer and two colour coats. 1.5 – 2 mm in total.
2 – 4 elastic cushion coats beneath the colour. 3 – 5 mm in total.
The figures below are a starting range, not a fixed price. The final sum is set only by a written quotation after an on-site survey.
The largest gap between the bottom and the top of the range is created here. A clean slab with suitable texture needs only washing; a floated, cracked slab adds blasting, repair and level correction.
Cushion coats add to the standard system in both material and labour.
Directly proportional to the area marked on the ponding map; over large areas a screed layer may be needed.
Lines for a single sport are standard. Adding a second or third sport to the same surface is a separate item; the masking labour and the drying time multiply.
On projects outside Ankara, transport and accommodation appear as a separate line in the quotation.
Calculate with your own dimensions
Let us measure the condition of your slab on site and give you the surfacing cost in writing, item by item.
Request a free surveyThe most practical advantage of an acrylic system is that when it reaches the end of its life it does not have to be removed. Resurfacing is done over the existing surface.
Washing the surface, clearing the drainage gratings, checking line legibility and the tightness of the post anchors.
Two colour coats are reapplied and the lines refreshed. The layers beneath stay in place, which is why the cost is far below that of the original application.
The total life expected of standard acrylic. In a cushioned system this rises to 10 – 12 years. If the concrete is sound, nothing needs removing at this point either — the system is renewed.
Every one of these is met on site, and each costs more to put right afterwards than the original application did.
When the programme tightens, the 28-day cure is the first thing sacrificed. The result is blistering in the first season, and repair means cutting out the blistered area.
A power-floated surface looks so even that it is assumed to be ready. The acrylic finds no pore to key into and the covering lifts off in sheets.
The ponding is noticed only after the surfacing is down. At that stage the only remedy is to add filler on top, and the colour coat is left patchy.
A live crack does not disappear when it is covered; it merely becomes invisible. Within months the same line reappears in the covering.
A slab past its curing period is assumed to be dry. Where the water table is high the slab keeps pumping moisture and adhesion fails.
Road or floor paint looks like a cheap alternative. Without sand content the friction is uncontrolled, UV resistance is poor and it fades within a single season. Sports acrylic is not a paint but a sand-filled coating system.
The decision rests on six measurements: compressive strength, curing status, moisture content, surface texture, fall and a crack map. None of these can be judged by eye; they are measured on site during the survey and given in writing. In practice the two that most often fail are surface texture and fall — both can be corrected, but the cost should be known from the outset.
28 days. This period is not about the concrete setting but about it driving out its mix water. On a surface sealed before curing is complete, that water is trapped beneath the acrylic layer and causes blistering. The period cannot be shortened; where an accelerating admixture has been used, the case is assessed against the manufacturer’s documentation.
It is a problem that can be solved. Floating closes the surface and leaves no pore for the acrylic to key into; laid as it is, the covering will lift within two or three seasons. The remedy is to open the surface by shot blasting or controlled acid etching. That operation appears as a separate item in the quotation.
In most cases, no. Hairline cracks that do not open up are filled with acrylic filler. Breaking out only arises where the slab has settled — that is, where the crack is live and a level difference has formed between its two sides. The distinction is made during the survey by measuring the width of the crack and the behaviour of its edges.
Five to seven coats in a standard system: one primer, one or two resurfacer coats, two colour coats and the lines. Total thickness 1.5 – 2 mm. In a cushioned system, 2 – 4 elastic cushion coats go beneath the colour coat and the total rises to 3 – 5 mm.
On a slab where preparation is complete, surfacing takes 5 – 8 days. What sets the pace is not labour but drying between coats: each coat waits for the previous one, and that interval is 4 – 8 hours depending on air temperature. Once the final coat has cured, the court opens for play.
No. An acrylic system is around 2 mm thick in total and has no filling capacity to absorb a level error. On such a court, either a screed giving the fall is laid over the slab or point drainage is installed where the water collects. Which of the two is needed is decided from the ponding map.
Not really — or rather, it would last one season. Road and floor paints contain no silica sand, so ball rebound and shoe grip are left uncontrolled and the surface turns slippery when wet. UV resistance is also poor, so it fades by the end of the first summer. Sports acrylic is not a paint but a multi-layer, sand-filled coating system.
The 28-day cure is not a calendar rule but a temperature-dependent process. Concrete sets more slowly in the cold and gives up its mix water later; on a slab cast at around 5 °C that period can extend noticeably. For winter pours, therefore, the moisture measurement decides rather than the calendar alone. In practice slabs cast in winter are surfaced in spring — the concrete has dried and the 10 °C surface temperature needed for application is available.
The playing surface is the same: ball rebound and friction are set by the sand content of the colour coat, not by the base beneath it. The difference is felt underfoot — concrete being the harder base, impact return is slightly higher. On courts used for regular training, a cushioned system over concrete is chosen to close that gap.
They can, and it is one of the most common reasons for choosing acrylic on concrete. Tennis, basketball and volleyball lines are applied in different colours so the court boundaries never read as one another. Additional line marking appears as a separate item in the quotation — the masking labour and the drying time repeat for each sport. Whether the area is sufficient, that is whether the run-off of the largest court fits, is checked during the survey.
The layers and the conditions the slab must meet are the same; the differences are in three places. First, area: a tennis court with its run-off is 600 – 670 m², roughly twice a volleyball court. Second, court speed: the grade and proportion of silica sand in the colour coat set the ball speed, so slow and fast courts are built with the same system but a different sand recipe. Third, equipment: the net posts are anchored into the concrete beneath, not into the covering, and the position of those anchors must be settled BEFORE surfacing.
The guarantee is given on adhesion of the covering and the integrity of the layers. Problems originating in the concrete — settlement of the slab, rising ground water, a live crack reopening — fall outside it. This is why the six measurements taken at the survey, and the written record of them, are also the basis of the guarantee.
The topics below are covered on the home page, across all surface systems.
Acrylic, polyurethane, EPDM, synthetic turf, hardwood and rubber tile side by side: service life, maintenance and unit price.
Work out the range for your own project by court size, surface type and equipment.
Playing area, free zone, ceiling height, net and post standards from the official rule book. The figures on this page are approximate surfaced areas; the official volleyball dimensions are there.
Seasonal maintenance schedule for every surface system and the factors that determine life.
What a sand court really costs, item by item: excavation, sand, drainage gravel, geotextile, kerb and net set with quantities; hotel, municipal, residential and indoor scenarios plus the annual maintenance budget.
Share your site location and approximate dimensions; we will call you to schedule a survey and prepare a written quote.