We have a piece of old comp carpet from Recycle Rush we have used at demos. At our last event we found that the backing has really started to deteriorate greatly and left a large amount of debris on the ground when we rolled it up. It also seems to be affecting the rigidity of the carpet. I don’t think swerve drive is helping it out.
But we have a full filed set of carpet we will be putting down fairly soon that will be in place full time. Have teams which have carpet down full time and don’t roll it up regularly, have you seen a deterioration of the backing? Do you refresh your carpet ever so often from previous comp carpets?
Trying to determine if we will have a long life or a shorter life for what we put down and if we will need to plan on cycling out the carpet ever so often.
Thanks! Was it glued down or just laid out like they do at comp? We have traction burns on ours from a comp event, and expect traction marks, but is it wrinkling/bunching from the swerve?
Well, as a team that doesn’t have the carpet down full time, we still have significant degradation of the backing to the point that we have to sweep up the glue/plastic powder it leaves behind every day.
You should see what it looks like under those carpets after events - I remember a full-on pile of sand on the convention center floor after champs this year.
Given that it happens at events when the carpet it relatively well secured, I’d guess that it’s an unavoidable reality of the repeated pressure that wheels put on the carpet. Probably not much that can be done that would allow you to ever remove the carpet from the floor.
We replace our carpet whenever it gets enough holes that if feels like it warrants the time to replace, usually every other year, maybe once per year if we damaging it quickly. We run a lot of drive practice though probably into the 100-200 or more hours per year. Degrading the backing is normal and not too big a deal, you can a get it after a single event. I think it is just the glue cracking and falling off as the carpet flexes. A carpet that is only taped or fastened at the edges (and not stretched) will eventually stretch in areas that see a lot of driving, this will curve your two strips of carpet and you may need to trim the center back to straight to get a decent seam. I see no reason you couldn’t use a carpet for many years, but eventually you might find that you’re mostly driving on gaff tape patches.
Literally just like Comps. Between taping it down and the field perimeter, the carpet doesn’t move much. Currently we are in a repurposed basket ball gym with a cement floor. We have been an old school cafeteria with a linoleum tile floor