Well, there are 5 posts listed under the "Relevant Content" tab as a result of the "key word entry" I make after each post is made, and I try to keep an eye on the discussion every day, but sometimes I get a bit slack.....and it is to help people track other discussions on the same sort of topics, eg court construction, strings, stringing, rackets, grip, swing, etc.. As well previous posts can be tracked through the "search" feature, as well as going to the Forum Archives (see the tab above) listed under Members Forum.

Checking the "squashgame search" this info was brought up as a result of key word entry

http://www.squashgame.info/search.php?domains=www.squashgame.info&q=squash court construction&sitesearch=www.squashgame.info&sa=Search&client=pub-2604235745167907&forid=1&ie=ISO-8859-1&oe=ISO-8859-1&safe=active&cof=GALT:#ffff66;GL:1;DIV:#22a8d8;VLC:2AA8D8;AH:center;BGC:22222b;LBGC:FFFF66;ALC:2aa8d8;LC:2aa8d8;T:eeeeff;GFNT:2aa8d8;GIMP:2aa8d8;FORID:11&hl=en

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To rippa rit. You say :"the relevant content tab should show previous posts on the topic....if you had been doing your job" Not sure what is meant here. Are you responsible for updating this page, and if so have you seen or heard of any relevant postings these last three years (other than what i have seen this morning) Thanks

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Relevant Content tab should show previous posts on the topic, well, that is if I have been doing my job.

PS - You know you can build a court out of whatever suitable material you have, providing you are not going to use it as a championship court.  Besser blocks are probably the cheaper option but bricks are recommended because they do not suck all the moisture out of the plaster/render. If you are not fussy and are not going to make the court as per the WSF spec the render could just be a pain as it does get holes and chip off over time with the hard hitting, especially around the cutline. and front corners. Some have put the thick fibro (like you can fix floor tiles to), forget the name, over the bricks but it does make a hollow sound when the hard shots hit it.  .

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Three years ago adam_pberes asked the question whether anyone knew how much it would cost to build a squash court in Australia, and asked for suitable company names for those who build courts. I have not seen any replies on this. Can someone please update me on this; has there been any constructive feedback since 2007?

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Has anyone got a recipe for DIY wall render?

I've just acquired a floor & glass wall from a centre that's closing down and the render seems to be the most tricky bit.

Cheers

Seb
 

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Hi Adam,

So far I've met two people here in Australia who have private squash courts.

One had his built many years ago, red brick construction with standard rendering on the inside It has a glass back and it is inside his house and you can watch  the matches from  his lounge room.  I played there in a competition once (nice court) and he claims that the court cost him $20,000 back about twenty years ago.  He said it would have cost him the same to put a swimming pool in. He and his wife both  think it was a much better investment than the pool option they considered at the time.

Another aquaintance has just recently built an erected concrete slab style court, also with a glass back. This is a solo constructio in his back yard. He said it cost him around $36,000 to build, though I haven't seen it yet, he reckons it is a great court to play on.  His children are both zooming up the junior rankings.  He hired most of  the equipment and did most of the work himself.  They used 18 tonne cranes to lift the slabs into place.  He rendered the walls himself.

Let us know if you find a company that does it, as I haven't found one yet.  Those that built the local courts had retired many years ago.

Cheers,

Sagey

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Thanks Rippa,

Back in 1971, I was about the first player to have a hit at the opening of the Wodonga courts (6 of them at the time), they had extremely rough walls, like very course sandpaper that would throw the ball in all sort of strange directions and would take the skin off the arm if brushed against them.

I went back there to play recently and the walls are still bumpy, but smoother than back then, thank goodness.  I was playing at Albury (David Street centre (13 courts) that are now art studios) and these were extremely well made.   Perfect courts like Albury had don't seem to stay around  either these days.  

As far as high ceilings go, Beechworth courts were very high, dark and sloped up, away from the front wall to peek above the back of the gallery. This allowed me to win matches with extremely high lob serves that disappeared past the lights and came down almost vertically into the rear corner.  My opponents found these almost impossible to return and got extremely angry with me when I continually served this way.

But the courts I hated most were Wodonga's as I lost a lot of skin that day and refused to play when it was their turn to host the interclub competition.

Ouch,

Sagey

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• the front wall makes a banging sound (hollow, fibrocement over plaster walls)
• the walls are slippery (and we did have an Engineer who built court walls using laminex once and they would not approve it for night comp 'cos the ball skidded off the walls for boasts. Good idea saved the dirty walls and cleaning/painting problem
  
• the wall has to be smooth/not lumpy so the ball bounces true.
• the walls have to not break up leaving patched holes especially around the center of the front wall area that get alot of punishment from power serves.
• the floor has to be right and not slippery etc and not on concrete or it kills the feet
• the ceiling has to be high so the lob serves etc don't hit the roof

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Hi Adam,

Yes, these courts exist.

The Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre (Albert Park, South Melbourne) has such a court with a motorised moving wall that widens the court for doubles.   But I don't think I would build such a court  here.   Maybe if doubles gained a huge popularity, but at present, it is only an amusement.

Cheers,

Sagey

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I've Heard Of Some Squash Courts That can actually change from singles to doubles... Dunno if this is true though... The side walls can actually move in and out for various training exercises...

Wonder how they do it and what those walls are made of?

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Hi Adz n jbs,

The panels appear to be of some hard material like thick cement sheeting or hardi-panel over the top of a standard plasterboard wall.   It had a hollow sound when struck with the ball and it looked like plasterboard extending above the walls out line.  I'll have to wait untill I go back there and have a closer look. 

The bloke who has a court in his back yard.  Which was made from erected cement walls and standard wood flooring, with glass back, said that the entire court cost him $38,000 (Australian).  It is apparently a very nice court and the rendering he did himself.  He used some adhesive mix in the 2cm of render that is so strong that when he tried to hammer it off the cement trial block, it wouldnt crack and when chiselled, it would take a large amount of cement with it.

When I see him at a tourny next, I'll get the name of the adhesive from him.  As it sounds like strong stuff.  I'll probably trial it myself.

Thanks,

Sagey

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There's an outdoor court in Burlington, VT which I believe is concrete floor, slightly angled to allow drainage. A contractor built it, so he absorbed much of the cost, but I think it was cinder block and would have been around $50k to have built. description at squashclub.org.

I bet one of the outdoor sport pads would do the trick for the flooring, as it's waterproof and you can play basketball, tennis, volleball, etc. on them. Plaster might work well for the walls, but if water gets into the court, I don't know how it would hold up.

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"I've seen some courts where the walls appear to be panels, but not glass, they seem to be able to handle the impact of the ball quite well"

Don't forget they have to handle the impact of a player aswell! When he is diving for a backwall boast and crashes into the wall!

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