After installing your artificial turf, the next step is to paint the lines to accommodate the necessary game markers on the field. With multi-sport fields becoming more common, it is necessary to mark the turf with nice temporary lines to accommodate various teams and sports, including soccer, football, field hockey, baseball, and tennis, among others.
Need help painting temporary lines on your artificial painting? Don’t worry! In this article, we explore various tips for effective artificial turf painting.
11 Tips to Get Nice Temporary Lines on Turf
There are a few steps you can take to make sure you get even, crisp, clear, straight lines painted on your turf.
1) Clean the Turf & Remove Debris
Dirt, leaves, mud, and other solid particles accumulate on the turf during installation –these can compromise the quality and effectiveness of marking and painting the lines. The first thing to do before painting the turf is to clean the turf to remove any dirt, leaves, mud, and other debris using a rake or broom. For mud and any other sticky dirt, spray water, then clean with a brush or broom.
2) Use Turf Line Striping Paint
When painting artificial turf, you can’t just use regular paint to mark temporary lines on the artificial grass as it won’t last, or it may damage the turf. You have to use special turf paints. There are different types of products to choose from; temporary and permanent, depending on your needs. But since you are making temporary lines, you should go for temporary paint products.
Most turf paints are aerosol chalk paint that is easy to apply and remove. You can also use water-based turf paints to get those nice temporary lines on your artificial grass.
3) Measure & Mark the Lines Before You Start Painting the Turf
No matter how experienced you are in marking and painting sports fields, you can’t just start painting lines by eyeballing it –you’ll definitely blunder. Even if you know where all the lines on a football field should be, you’re likely to make mistakes if you don’t mark them out first.
You need to measure out and mark the lines first before applying turf paint. There are various approaches to marking these lines. The first is to temporarily mark them using: temporary chalk that’s easy to wash with water and soap, masking tape, stakes and string, or temporary spray as you measure.
How accurately you mark your lines determines the quality of the final work. Any mistakes made at this step show in the final work. Thus, it’s advisable to take your time and revise to get everything right before proceeding any further. Measure twice, cut one is our motto!
4) Use Turf Line Striping Tools
It’s nearly impossible to effectively paint temporary lines on artificial turf without the right tools or machinery. With the right line striping tools, you are sure to achieve perfectly straight and professionally painted lines without much hassle. Use tracing stencils, templates, and guides like strings, cardboards, and other materials for clean crisp lines.
Depending on the size of the field and how soon you want to paint the lines, you can opt for a line marker wheel, line marker machine, or an aerosol line marker machine. However, an airless line paint sprayer and striping machine are recommended as it gives a superior look with less paint.
5) Test the Application Before Going on the Field
Even though you’re marking temporary lines on the artificial turf, correcting any mistakes on the actual artificial grass is cumbersome and expensive. Besides wasting paint and time, removing wrongly applied paint could also damage the turf.
The best practice to avoid this is to test the paint on a scrap of turf fastened to asphalt or plywood. You can also use a corner of the field. Make sure the paint is easy, dries correctly, is the right color, and is easy to remove without damaging the turf.
6) Apply the Paint Lightly
Some people make the mistake of applying a lot of paint to achieve a thicker coat. This approach is entirely wrong, especially when painting temporary lines. There’s no need to apply more paint than necessary. Apply paint lightly and slowly to the tips of the turf fibers, not the entire length of every fiber.
Rough paint application results in a rough, abrasive surface that’s difficult to remove. However, you’ll realize that most artificial turf paint manufacturers recommend applying 2 coats 15-20 minutes apart. That’s not ideal –it’s just their way of selling more paint and making more money. Since we are marking temporary lines, applying a single coat of paint is recommended for easy removal and cleaning.
7) For Bolder, Longer Lasting Lines, Apply Multiple Coats of Paint
You should always follow the product use instructions, but sometimes there’s room for adjustments. For instance, if the field is getting regular use all year round, you’ll need to paint bolder, longer-lasting lines. For such lines, you’ll need to apply two coats of turf paint.
It’s good practice to apply paint in two different directions when applying multiple coats of paint. Allow the first coat to dry, then apply the second paint perpendicular to the first coat.
8) Have Soap & Water on Standby
Spills and leaks compromise the quality of the paint. Therefore, you should keep soap and water and a rag or towels on hand to quickly rinse and wipe away any spills and fix mistakes before the turf paint dries.
9) Paint the Lines Slowly
There’s no need to rush over the process of painting lines on the artificial turf, especially if you aren’t an expert. Just take your time and paint the lines slowly for remarkable results. Also, don’t forget to read and follow the instructions on how to work with the piece of line marking machinery you’re using.
To avoid mistakes, you’ll want to walk along the lines at a steady pace to evenly distribute the paint. Take a break once in a while and look back to see the quality of what you’ve done so far. That way, you can identify mistakes and correct them before proceeding.
10) Touch Up the Paint as Needed
You’ve painted the temporary lines on the artificial turf, and everything looks amazing. However, the paint might come off, and the lines fade over time before you want to use them again. In this case, you don’t have to mark and paint them afresh – you just need to give them a re-touch or touch-up, and they’re good to go.
Re-touching the lines is easier than marking and painting them afresh. However, you need to work on them before they completely disappear. You should also beware of the number of coats you’re applying before removing and cleaning. Too many layers will affect the quality and flatness of the field as clumps form along the lines. They might even cause injuries as players might trip on them and fall.
11) Clean the Paint Off the Turf
As you keep re-touching, paint builds up over time; this can damage your fibers, and cause clumped infill. Therefore, you need to regularly remove paint and clean the turf to maintain its aesthetics and performance.
Removing the paint every time after use and repainting the next day or week is uneconomical. However, it’s good practice to remove and clean the paint and apply a fresh coat every week or every month, depending on how the turf is used.
For instance, you don’t need to constantly paint, remove, clean, and repaint your turf if it’s used regularly for the same sport. Temporary lines and paint on artificial turfs for regularly used or single-purpose fields can be cumbersome to constantly repaint. That’s why stadiums, gyms, and teams use turf with permanent colors, lines, and designs. Some professional stadiums have multiple turf panels with permanent lines, colors, or designs that they can use to switch out for different teams or change in case of damages.
Turf Factory Direct For All Your Turf Needs
Unlike natural grass sports fields, artificial turf sports fields are durable, versatile, and easy to clean. With most turf sports fields being multi-sport, painting turf with temporary lines is a great option.
Regardless of the kind of artificial turf you want, we at Turf Factory Direct are your go-to dealer. Don’t hesitate to contact us today for high-quality turf at great prices or to learn more about turf.
