We've received several emails over the last six months concerning adding temporary marking lines to existing synthetic turf fields.

For example here's the question from Scott, "One question I have about synthetic fields. Say you have a football-lined synthetic field and you want to run three youth soccer fields cross-ways once a week. Is there any way to mark the field quickly (some type of tape, chalk, paint) and on a temporary basis (play football the next day)?"

I could offer several options to help him, yet he gave me some very performance oriented statements, "mark quickly", "temporary basis", and "next day".

The "next day" requirement is critical to the solution set as well as how much manpower and equipment you have on hand to do the removal process.

Here's what Tru Mark Athletic Field Marker suggests as a course of action.

Given your requirements my proposed solution would be to use aerosol chalk. It goes down like aerosol paint but after it dries it performs like traditional powdered chalk (marble dust or calcium carbonate). You can use a typical floor and sidewalk brush to remove the line. You may want to spray it down with water, especially if you are doing this every week over a season.

Another option is the use of a new product from Tru Mark Switchback Double Play liquid bulk chalk, diluted 1:1, for application with an airless line striper such as the Model E-100. The product performs similar to a powdered chalk once it dries. Foot traffic will cause the line to dissipate as well as water application, all without having to use a cleaning agent.

You can use the bulk or aerosol removable/temporary paint but this requires more manual labor and/or mechanical equipment along with a cleaning solution to remove the the painted
temporary line. TrailBlazer Rally Day would be the bulk latex paint solution we would recommend, a removable paint solution along with the removal agent TrailBlazer Trail Wash.

Another possibility is using a temporary, reusable field lining system such as Port-a-Field by CS Platinum Sport Products and Tru Mark's Sand Bag product line for anchoring the corners.

We hope this helps.