Our team is considering a building a dedicated outdoor practice space based on the times, and one of our thought points has been what is close enough to Neyland carpet that is safe to leave outdoors? There’s a good chance it will be covered (shade, most water), though it would likely occasionally become wet based on the season. Any teams have experience with floor coverings they like or dislike for outdoors?
For background, we’re in the CA Bay Area and do have old competition carpets already that we typically set up at indoor practice spaces.
254 has an outdoor practice field at their shop in San Jose. I’m not sure if they leave it up year-round, but they might have recommendations for how to manage one.
You’ve partnered with the San Mateo event center in the past, right? A tent in the parking lot there seems reasonable, though I did see water getting under some tents at Maker faire a couple years ago.
The other strategy would be to assume that you got some rain, and just drop by with some dryers/air movers afterwards. We had to invest in a few after our shop flooded a couple years ago, and the Field Carpet that got caught up in the flood seems fine.
We had carpet outside for a while and it got well-weathered in the sun but nothing too bad. Then covid hit and we weren’t able to meet in the shop much, and the carpet got left out during the fall and winter. A few storms later and it got worn pretty bad. I’d recommend if you have an outdoor field, you find a way to cover it really well when it’s not in use.
That’s interesting - I had assumed that 254 kept their practice field set up year round since it is fairly well covered from rain (under road overpass) even though it’s outside. I’ll have to reach out to learn more. We wouldn’t have quite as good a coverage option. It would be more like an awning. Thanks!
There’s another thing to think about which is how long does a carpet last under normal indoor conditions. Our record is about 4 years then either the backing turns to dust or the top gets tore up from turning.
My point is maybe just use the stock carpet and plan on replacing it more frequent since other things destroy it also.
Our practice field is under an overpass so the majority of the carpet is covered and protected from rain. We have a fence that surrounds the field that has black cloth (like at construction sites) that blocks visibility and some wind/rain.
We have to sweep away leaves, vacuum up dirt/dust, but largely the carpet itself has held up really well. I can’t actually remember the last time we replaced it. Maybe @Cory knows?
I’d say that with the not-so-bad California weather the outdoor field isn’t really that bad or get damaged that easily. The thing that will probably be susceptible would be wooden field elements, but if those only need to last for one year for that game you’re probably fine. Our aluminum field border has been holding great.
The field is very well protected from the elements to the point that I would only consider it exposed due to the humidity outside compared to inside (we have had problems with birds pooping around the exterior of the field due to perches being available on our lighting trusses or the overpass, but we’ve mostly eliminated that now).
