Sports Arena in Cento, Italy

ASD Benedetto XIV 2011 is an historical basketball team from Cento, in the Province of Ferrara, and was founded in 1964.

The first team has been playing in the Serie B Basketball League for a number of years and, in the summer of 2016, Baltur became their “main sponsor”.

The team is currently lying in second place in the league table, pretty much in line with the hopes and expectations of the entire local community that follows the team, as testified by the 641 season-ticket holders and more than one thousand fans who regularly flock to the stands to watch every home match, and by the numerous enthusiasts who follow the team for their away games.

The extension project for the arena, which is owned by the club and is now known as Pala Ahrcos, was presented to the public last October, and once the work has been completed it will have seating for two thousand supporters and a restaurant, making it a place where the inhabitants of the town can meet and congregate.

Last summer, before the extension work commenced, important renovation work was carried out on the parquet court to give it a complete overhaul.

In order to guarantee work was completed by the middle of August, at the beginning of July, in conjunction with the Bisport Company from Modena, a team of Mapei specialists carried out a survey of Pala Ahrcos.

Because of water infiltrating through the roof of the arena, the solid beech parquet playing surface, installed around thirty years ago, was stained in various places and was no longer suitable for the basketball team’s training sessions or matches.

Once they had received the go-ahead from Cento Town Council, and following a meeting held with engineers from the Municipality, it was decided to overhaul the existing court by polishing the surface and applying a new coat of varnish.

ECO-SUSTAINABLE PRODUCTS TO REPAIR THE PARQUET

The first phase of the work involved polishing and sanding the original parquet to bring it back to its original condition.

The surface was then treated with a coat of ULTRACOAT PREMIUM BASE two-component, NMP-free (N-Methyl-2-pyrrolidone), water-based base-coat with high isolating capacity and low emission of volatile organic compounds.

The following day the surface was sanded again with 180 and 220-grade ULTRACOAT SR GRANA silica carbide abrasive disks, followed by the application of a coat of ULTRACOAT HT SPORT two-component, polyurethane and water-based varnish, specifically developed for wooden playing surfaces.

ULTRACOAT HT SPORT complies with European standards for indoor and multi-purpose playing surfaces (EN 14904:2006). Its surface hardness, combined with its mechanical strength and resistance to chemicals, make ULTRACOAT HT SPORT COLORS a highly reliable product.

Used in combination with Ultracoat Premium Base it boasts the Bfl-s1 - Cfl-s1 reaction to fire classification.

The following day, the surfaces were sanded again and the sidelines, the free-throw areas and the centre circle were painted with two coats of ULTRACOAT HT SPORT COLORS applied wet-on-wet in the colour RAL 3020, the team colour.

ULTRACOAT HT SPORT is a two-component, 100% polyurethane and water-based varnish for wooden floors, with very low emission of volatile organic compounds (VOC) and high resistance to wear and abrasion. Suitable for areas with a high volume of pedestrian traffic, it is the ideal product to resist the runs, jumps and rapid movements typical of basketball players.

The final finishing coat was, again, ULTRACOAT HT SPORT.