Perkasie Borough
Kulp Park’s pickleball whiteboard works in squares of four: one game, then all four come off. Count a full-size tennis court the same way: one foursome on tennis lines, usually two with blended lines, four fully converted.
Local courts
Perkasie Borough keeps all of its own tennis and pickleball courts at Kulp Park, on South Second Street along the East Branch Perkiomen Creek, where the borough’s improvements added pickleball courts, upgraded the tennis courts and put in new lighting. The borough covers 2.56 square miles in the Pennridge School District and lists six neighbors: Sellersville and Silverdale boroughs, and Hilltown, East Rockhill, West Rockhill and Bedminster townships. Perkasie mailing addresses cross the borough line, too; East Rockhill Township lists its own parks at Perkasie addresses. Ace Court Surfacing takes on tennis and pickleball court work on both sides of that line.
By Perkasie’s 1981–2010 climate normals, about 48 inches of rain and melted snow fall here in a year, and no month gets less than 2.8 inches. A court has to shed all of it. Water left standing in a low spot delays play and can stain or peel the surface, and water that seeps into a crack can freeze there in winter. So start with the court itself: map its cracks, find its low spots, and check its color and texture. What you find points to new lines, repairs, new color, or all three, and Bill Ferguson, based in Bucks County, can talk the choice through.
Local conditions
Kulp Park sits along the East Branch Perkiomen Creek, where the borough rebuilt a baseball infield that stayed soggy for days after rain. A court shows poor drainage as puddles. Chalk any still deep enough to cover a nickel after an hour of 70°F sun, and patch them before new color. The American Sports Builders Association lists poor drainage around a court among the causes, so drainage comes first.
In the borough, public works vacuums up leaves raked to the curb, five days a week in the fall, weather permitting; where there’s no curb, piles go within 5 feet of the road’s edge. That gives your court’s leaves somewhere to go. Clear them often: one court-surface maker warns that leaves can stain a court. Keep rocks and big sticks out of the piles, and the piles off storm drains.
By Perkasie’s 1981–2010 normals, average lows sit below freezing from December through March, and March highs average 50.1°F, a tenth of a degree over the 50°F that acrylic coatings and line paint need. The borough’s own Kulp Park ballfield work paused in late winter for snow and freezing temperatures. USTA Middle States’ ideal window for court work opens in April, when highs here average 62.3°F.
Start here
Kulp Park’s whiteboard counts players; a conversion starts by counting feet. Measure your court edge to edge, check its corners for square and note its fence, gates and net posts, since those numbers set the layout before any paint is opened.
If your court has become the neighborhood’s answer to the Kulp Park whiteboard, keep it ready for the next foursome. Resurfacing fills the cracks, levels the low spots and puts back textured color and crisp lines across the whole court.
Perkasie’s January nights average 21.2°F and its afternoons 38.4°F, so water in an open crack can freeze and thaw all winter. Cracks are usually cleaned out and filled with acrylic filler, and low spots leveled, while coating weather lasts.
That depends on the color the lines will sit on. One maker’s line paint has to go on pavement cleaned of all dust, dirt, debris and loose material. Chalky color is loose pigment and peeling color is loose coating, so on a court like that, new color comes first and lines go on last. If your color is sound, a thorough wash and new lines may be all it needs.
Use is part of the answer. One court-surface maker recommends recoating its system every 4 to 7 years, depending on use and environment, so a court that hosts a group most evenings may come due sooner than a quiet one. Watch where players stand: behind each baseline, and just short of the kitchen (non-volley zone) line. When those spots feel smooth instead of sandy, or the lines go gray, call Bill at 215-251-2984.
If someone still plays tennis on it, yes, and blended lines make that work. They usually add two pickleball courts to a tennis court, lined in a color from the same family as the court surface, with portable nets while the tennis net stays put. If tennis is over at your house, a full conversion resurfaces the court as four separate pickleball courts; a 60 by 120 foot court with square corners fits all four. Check your corners for square, then call Bill at 215-251-2984.