Avoiding a Mud Bath with Specially Designed Ground Protection Mats

We have reached the letter “M” in our alphabetic series of blogs about Ground Access Hire and Protection mats, so let’s focus on the “mats” themselves for this episode.

The main aims of the mats or Trakmats are to deliver an artificial surface that will temporarily protect the ground, whilst being strong and stable enough to be effective in a whole range of environments and for various different uses.

Some of the most common places to see these mats in action is at events such as summer music festivals or local fetes as well as for things like temporary road works or building work, where access might be across difficult terrain. If you think about the heavy machinery, including vehicles that may need to gain access to a particular site, then you can perhaps understand how important the protection mats are in not only protecting the ground underneath but also providing that stable platform for the vehicles to cross back and forth safely.

Avoiding a mud bath is just one of the many benefits associated with ground protection mats. Some of the others include things like their easy assembly. It really doesn’t take long to get the mats laid into position and ready for use. In most cases, the company you are hiring the mats from will lay them for you, but it’s certainly straightforward enough to lay them yourselves if you prefer. They are extremely light, being made from HD Polyethylene, but are really robust when in position and feature a non-slip surface that give any passing vehicles and pedestrians extra grip.

So, whatever time of year, whatever the event or need, these Trakmats can prove invaluable. Whether it’s an outdoor concert in a park or field, a wedding ceremony and reception in a garden or a new construction project – you may not be able to stop the rain from falling but you can do your utmost to avoid what would otherwise be a certain mud bath. The mats will also make all of these suggested environments safer not only to work in, but for the general public (if it’s an event of some kind) to move around in.

Long term or short term, Trakmats provide a genuine solution to many of the problems that can occur on ground that is at risk from the elements. They can be hired all across the UK and you can find much more information over on out main website – www.groundaccesshire.co.uk

An Alphabet of Ground Protection Mats: "L" for Lawn Protection

As well as being ideal for larger events and uses such as festivals and road works and other industrial situations, ground protection mats are also crucial for “smaller” uses such as lawn protection. There are a variety of reasons why you might need protection mats for your lawn, from getting some new landscaping features installed, perhaps a water feature, to hosting a summer party or even a small wedding or wedding reception on your spacious back garden.

If you are planning one of the above operations, then it will be vital to protect your treasured lawn as any heavy machinery or number of people (with their trampling feet) on top of it can seriously damage the surface and leave it looking a complete mess.

The mats are so easy to assemble, that if you have the available time, you can install or lay them yourself. If you prefer someone to do it for you, then a professional company such as Ground Access Hire can do all of that for you while you concentrate on your upcoming event or occasion.

When your event or period of construction/work is concluded, the same company will come and collect the mats and your lovely lawn will be back on view again – none the worse for wear!

Preparing for your Bonfire Night Firework Parties with Ground Protection

If you are part of a group that organises special outdoor events and functions, you may well be looking back at the summer with a degree of satisfaction (especially after the weather of the last few years) having enjoyed a relatively decent and dry summer. Maybe you used ground protection mats, maybe you didn’t but the weather helped you out anyway and you were able to return the festival ground or farmer’s field back to the owners in pretty good shape.

As autumn and then winter descends, there are less and less of these outdoor events to organise, largely because it’s simply too cold for them to be enjoyable. However, there are still one or two significant events to organise and with the weather becoming more and more unpredictable in the latter stages of the year, it is probably even more important to prepare well.

In days gone by, November 5^th and the days either side of it, many people would have their own private fireworks parties, very often with a bonfire in the back garden. As safety concerns have risen, these sorts of private or family parties have been largely discouraged in favour of the much larger community firework displays. These are not simply a bonfire and a few fireworks though, as many of these events cater for hundreds, even thousands of people and include novelty stalls, food and drink and even fairground rides. This obviously takes a lot of organising and very often need larger areas of ground to cater for the numbers.

Ground protection mats are ideally suited to this kind of event and could prove invaluable. Even if the heavens don’t open on the night itself, the chances are that by this time of the year, the ground is soft at best and sodden at worst. The mats which can be laid very quickly (so don’t require being down too far ahead of the event itself) and taken up again quickly when the event is over can be used either as temporary parking or perhaps more importantly for temporary pathways for all of the people to walk safely on.

Avoiding a mud bath means that everyone is free to enjoy a great night of fireworks and festivities and bring peace of mind to event organisers up and down the country.

For more information about ground protection, please visit our main website at www.groundaccesshire.co.uk

A Sporting Chance – Sports Field Maintenance

With the football season just getting into full swing up and down the country, most fans will hope they never have to see a ground protection mat on their favourite sporting field and fortunately most work that is conducted on these sports grounds is usually scheduled for the period between seasons. However, for various reasons during the breaks between sporting activities, many sports fields require maintenance and protecting the ground from heavy machinery or lots of trampling feet becomes very important.

In addition to routine maintenance procedures, many modern sports arenas and fields feature other special events such as concerts and festivals, especially during the summer months and if the pitches are not covered this can cause huge disruption and damage to the playing surface. With many of these venues needing to host other events in order to keep a steady stream of revenue, it has become more and more important for the organisers to find a suitable solution in order to protect the ground from serious damage.

That solution in many instances is the use of ground protection mats which form a protective barrier between the field of play and the machines and feet that will cross it. These sorts of mats have become really popular for these occasions largely thanks to their ease of use. They are light enough to be handled easily, yet strong and durable enough to be able to take significant amounts of weight.

They are not complicated and can be laid into position very quickly and removed just as efficiently, especially useful when wanting to return the field to its original purpose against the backdrop of a deadline.

Made from HD Polyethylene, the non slip surface ensures that they are really safe to walk on whilst also minimising the risk of tyres slipping on them. Briefly, here are some of the other features of ground protection mats:

They are rot proof – so it doesn't matter how long they are standing and in what conditions.

Plywood panels have been used in the past (and are still sometimes used) but they don’t provide anywhere near the amount of grip and durability.

Environmental damage is kept to an absolute minimum, meaning landowners are much more likely to accept their use.

Once in position, the mats look very professional which again means that they are quickly accepted and embraced by organisers.

If you are responsible for sports field maintenance, then please visit our main website at Ground Access Hire and we can supply mats for either short or long term hire.

An Alphabet of Ground Protection Mats: H – I

If you have been following our alphabetic blog series you will remember that in our last episode we tackled “F” and “G”, so that brings us up to the letters “H” and “I” for this instalment. Remember, these blogs are all about Ground Protection and the many places that it can be useful and the equipment that can be used in the process.

H

Hotel Events – Many hotels have become so much more than just a place to get a good night’s rest after a long journey. Many hotels are now fully set up to host a whole range of functions such as weddings, wedding receptions, parties, conferences and many other events. Very often, an event may need to be staged on the grounds outside and this is where the ground protection mats can prove very useful as they are laid across the surface to protect from any damage from both feet and vehicles (if vehicles need access).

I

We don’t really have anything for the letter “I” but if you require more information about what you have read above or more details about ground protection mats or the company Ground Access Hire, then please feel free to head on over to our main website, where you can also find our contact details.

An Alphabet of Ground Protection Mats: F – G

We hope you are enjoying our series of blogs that we have dedicated to looking at our Ground Access Hire business from the perspective of the alphabet. We have reached the letters F and G, so let’s just have a brief look at a few things associated with this part of the alphabet.

F

Funfairs/Fetes – At the time of writing, we are in the middle of the summer holidays and it’s the time when many towns and villages host their local fetes or even invite a travelling funfair to town for a few days. Of course, unless there is already a dedicated site, these events will normally take place on a local field and if the correct precautions are not taken, the farmer (whose field he has kindly allowed for use) will be very unhappy indeed, after hundreds of people have trampled upon it. The solution - Ground protection mats!

G

Garden Protection – Perhaps you are building a new water feature in the middle of your lawn, but to do so, you need to get some heavy machinery to the relevant site. Unless you protect the existing turf, you could end up with a muddy mess in addition to your new pond, so consider hiring a ground protection company to ensure this doesn't happen.

An Alphabet of Ground Protection Mats: D – E

In the first two parts of this alphabetic blog series, we looked at the first three letters, A-C. So, moving on, let’s have a look at what the letters D and E present in the world of Ground Access Hire.

In fact, D and E actually bring some of the most important aspects of the whole business to the fore, two of the most crucial ingredients for the whole ground protection industry.

D

Damage Avoidance – Really the whole point of ground protection and the use of ground protection mats is to avoid damage to the ground that ultimately ends up underneath them. As we have seen in previous chapters, the ground in question could be anything from a new building site, a large summer music festival (event access) or even someone’s back garden where a small wedding might be taking place.

The protection mats themselves are designed to deliver an artificial surface that is both strong and safe to not only walk on but in many cases, to drive on as well, all the while providing protection to the ground underneath from all kinds of damage.

Although their function is essentially always the same (protection the ground), the mats are versatile in the sense that they can be used for walkways, roadways or even car parks on a temporary basis. In the past, plywood panels have sometimes been used for some of these situations but the grip on the mats, which are made from HD polyethylene, is far superior and makes them a much more suitable choice.

E

Emergency Access – Sometimes, essential building work needs to take place outside or near to very important buildings or areas, such as hospitals or perhaps a section of road that needs to be repaired but on which traffic needs to continue to flow. The ground protection mats are ideal for providing temporary emergency access to places such as these and are of course strong and sturdy enough to carry out the job required comfortably. The fact that the mats are easy to assemble, to put into position and then dismantle and remove again when no longer required, makes them absolutely ideal for emergency access situations.

You can of course, learn lots more about our ground protection mats over on our main website, where you can also contact us if you wish to hire some of the mats for one of your own events.