Making rough concrete tees smooth?

[keith johnson]

Do yourself a favor and see if you can talk to someone from vegas. specifically sunset park, in vegas. or someone who has been there and played that course. theres been some attempts to fix their tee pads from being too slick, the repairs made it worse than before....... some of the tee pads anyways.....

Exactly!

 

[Almighty_Ed]

It would help to have pics but possibly you can also use one of these too. It's cheap and no power tools.

Not nearly as much material removed as grinding but way more elbow. Try it like this. Find a tee kinda out of the way(un seen) slow your step and look for the pivot spot. Rub the brick circular motion for a couple square feet in that area only. Use a small wisk broom or similar to get the loose dust off and give it a try. Repeat till happy.

Maybe do a pad or two on casual round days. And if you get busted explain the knee thing. It'll be a lot easier to explain a using brick over a generator and grinder. And if they're still angry, throw the brick at em and run. As an added bonus it's sort of a Miyagi style exercise to strengthen your throwing arm. "Right a circle, left a circle, wax on...."

Oh and I second the topping mixtures being a bad idea. The prep is seldom done correctly and even when it is it's a crap shoot on whether it'll hold up. Quickcrete/Sackcrete products are for fence/deck posts. Forget all other uses. Pouring real concrete over them will raise the pad at least 4". Tearing out and replacing is $$$$. Bricks are cheap. Even cheaper if you shop around.

 

[Bultx1215]

If it was newer stuff, a carborundum brick would be what I would suggest. Old stuff would be pretty tough. It would kill me, for sure. :\

 

[BrotherDave]

Here's a pic I snapped today:

 

[tallpaul]

^^^That shizz was never finished! You finish it first; then broom it to give a bit of rough texture. WTF?

 

[TempleOfDoom]

Do yourself a favor and see if you can talk to someone from vegas. specifically sunset park, in vegas. or someone who has been there and played that course. theres been some attempts to fix their tee pads from being too slick, the repairs made it worse than before....... some of the tee pads anyways.....

Seriously. I almost did a 360 on the tee of 1 when I played there last month.

 

[BogeyNoMore]

Here's a pic I snapped today:

Wow... just wow.

 

[Bultx1215]

Holy crap...here I'm thinking super rough broom...and there is no finish. :doh: No amount of grinding will make that look better. Gawd...the crap some people put down and call good.:wall::doh:

Only way to fix that is top it, and not with the overlay crap either. The real deal concrete and put a finish on it. You can do a 2" overlay with regular 3000psi concrete with either a 3/8" pea gravel or grade 5 rock...something around 3/8" or smaller. Add a layer of 10ga 6x6 mesh in it as well. That "surface", and I use that term reluctantly, would have to be pressure washed, and a bonding agent applied.

You could also go over it with a 3 1/2"-4" regular concrete mix with much the same prep and same mesh....you just don't need the small rock...and could get away without the bonding agent by drilling in some 3/8" rebar dowels into the surface and bending them over to give the concrete something to grab onto. I'd do that every 2 to 3 feet each direction. That would hold that puppy together.

No doubt, you have a mess that is going to take a lot of work to fix. The above is how I'd recommend to my customers how to fix it. There may be other ways, but IMO, either of these ways would give you the best product.

 

[BrotherDave]

I'll probably just inform the parks & rec about how unfinished their tees are and just copy your post verbatim, Bultx1215. I always thought there was something wrong about those tees but having no concrete knowledge I just shrugged it off.

Thanks guys, huge help as always. :hfive:

 

[DavidInIowa]

Here's a pic I snapped today

what the hell




Your course doesn't have tees bro. Those are hazards. Use the grass beside it.

 

[Almighty_Ed]

Dude that's messed up. I'd go with remove and replace first if thats any kind of option. The 2" cap can be problematic and a full cap will raise the pad 3.5-4 inches. If you cant get the park to budge on any repair option, and I hate to say this, there is a very cheap way to make them temporarily better. Clean masons sand and portland cement mixed 50/50, add water to a creamy consistency, and applied super thin but filling all the voids. That mix is not quite/almost as good as the off the shelf repair crap but you can do 2 or 3 pads for around $10-15 bucks. Even more if you only do the pivot spots. It might last a year, it might last 2, it might come off in a couple weeks. It really depends on the prep work done(your gonna have to get all that dirt out of there) and how you apply it. You can add a bonding agent to make it last longer but that takes away from the cheap fix. I'm not suggesting this route as a viable alternative, more of a last resort type thing. Hopefully the park will fix em right.

 

[BogeyNoMore]

^ he might be right about remove and replace... from reading Bulltx's post, it seems there's more that can go wrong with trying to fix those than breaking them up and pouring new ones... I wonder about the cost involved with each. Chances are the Parks and Rec won't have "tee repair" in their budget until someone sues 'cause they blew out their knee and needed surgery.

 

[mashnut]

One possible option might be rubber mats. A local course here that gets a huge amount of traffic had some tees that were getting really worn down. They bolted down rubber mats right over the concrete and it ends up being a perfectly good surface. It eliminates the issues of leveling and settling you often get with rubber pads and isn't going to be as much work as trying to re-pour or refinish the concrete.

 

[BogeyNoMore]

One possible option might be rubber mats. A local course here that gets a huge amount of traffic had some tees that were getting really worn down. They bolted down rubber mats right over the concrete and it ends up being a perfectly good surface. It eliminates the issues of leveling and settling you often get with rubber pads and isn't going to be as much work as trying to re-pour or refinish the concrete.

sounds quite reasonable and fairly cost effective.

 

[Bultx1215]

See? A better idea presents itself. Never thought of bolting in rubber mats. That would be the better path than trying to rehab or replace what is there I bet. :hfive:


The only reason I did not suggest removal is that opens a new can of worms. Permitting and impact studies can result from remove/replace in parks. Just depends on how anal they can get as to how much of a royal PITA it will be and how long it will take to get a green light. Plus, you add the cost of demo and haul off, and new base material since the demo will trash that which is there. I have been down this road many, many times. Its much easier to sell a municipality on rehab over demo/replace. Capping has less impact in time, noise and disturbance to the area. Slap a little topsoil against them when done and you are out of there in less than a week, start to finish.

 

[mashnut]

Here are a couple pics of the rubber mat solution:

 

[Bultx1215]

Boom.....we have a winner.

 

[BrotherDave]

Any ballpark estimate on how much the rubber mats would cost? That sounds like something I might be able to sell the park on, plus, this isn't really a world beater of a course so they just need to be playable/not dangerous to suit all parties.

 

[Bultx1215]

Not sure if these would work, but they are easy to find. Gets the ball rolling anyway.

http://www.tractorsupply.com/en/store/rubber-horse-stall-mat-4-ft-x-6-ft?cm_vc=-10005

http://www.tractorsupply.com/en/sto...t-rolled-rubber-3-8-in-thick-sold-by-the-foot

 

[Discette]

Innova offers rubber tee mats. Sent you a PM with info.