Shelton Drainage Technology

Advantages of a Vertical Drainage System

Vertical drainage encourages deep rooting of the grass and encourages air and water to permeate through the soil. A root system that develops fully in the total rooting zone (300mm) has better drought resistance with fluctuations in weather extremes.

Shelton Drainage Solutions can provide the technology and award winning equipment to allow you to drain today and play tomorrow. Sportsmen and sportswomen the world over enjoy playing on high quality sportsturf. In areas of excessive rainfall this usually means a well designed drainage system is required to enable play to continue in all but the most extreme conditions. Modern drainage systems frequently consist of two components:

  1. Piped drains spaced 3, 5, 7 or 10 metres apart backfilled almost to the surface with a free-draining medium and topped with a sand/compost mixture.
  2. A network of 25mm wide drainage bands closely spaced to carry excess soil water speedily to the pipes below. Optimum results are achieved by carrying out both steps. On most sites it is possible to design a system to remove 25mm of precipitation in one hour.
    Specifications are available for international, professional, provincial, club and school fields.

The Shelton equipment carries out all these operations speedily, neatly and cost effectively with the minimum of labour.

  1. Drainage pipes fit neatly into the narrow trenches cut accurately with the the Supertrenchers™ high speed cutting wheel. If necessary a narrow strip of turf can be removed prior to cutting the trench and following backfilling this can be replaced immediately afterwards. More commonly the narrow trenches are topped with a free-draining sand/compost medium.
  2. Gravel is placed above the drainage pipes with the Shelton Auto Gravel Placement Hopper to hasten water movement to them. Round gravels in the 26mm range are preferable for they have better drainage characteristics.
  3. Top-up to these trenches is either done by replacing the strip of turf or by placing a free-draining sand or sand/compost mix over them with the Shelton Auto Sand Placement Hopper.
  4. Large quantities of soil are dug out and have to be replaced with permeable fill. Shelton™ High-Lift Trailers speed up these operations dramatically.