Concrete #2

Today they are pouring the base for the court floors. This is the most critical part of the project so far because the tolerances are very tight: It is supposed to be level within 1/8 of an inch over a 10 foot area. The reason for this is because the floors have to be perfectly level so that the ball bounce is true.

You hear a lot about the "trueness" of a court in squash circles. Are the walls straight? Is the floor level? Does the ball bounce true? Courts that play true are more fun to play on because the ball doesn't do unexpected things. It doesn't bounce funny off the wall, or do weird things in certain spots on the floors. True courts reward good play, and penalize bad play. If you hit a perfect rail (a shot that is tight to the wall) you expect that the ball won't come off the wall. Walls that bow or have other imperfections will kick the ball out away from the wall making it easier for your opponent to hit it. Doesn't seem fair when the court turns your good shot into a mediocre one, does it?

Anyway, the flooring people are able to make the wood floor level even if the concrete is not quite level, but it will take more time as they'll have to use shims. Generally, the fewer shims, the better the floor will stand up to years of use.

Next week, they'll start framing out the locker rooms and office of the club as well as do some work up in the ceiling. The masons will have to wait a week or so to put up the walls of the courts because the concrete has to cure for a while before it can bear the weight of the walls.

Oh, one funny thing, the concrete guys are a little shocked at how over built these floors are. The pad is 5 inches thick for the court floor and 12 inches thick for the walls. There is a ton of rebar and wire mesh to help prevent cracking and the concrete itself has a fibrous mesh in it as well. One guy said that the walls on this floor are NOT going to move and that this is way more reinforcement than they do on commercial jobs. I'm not exactly sure what he meant by commercial, because, well, this is a commercial job.