Squash Court Construction: “How to build a Squash Court?”

When asked about building a squash court, people would usually think: well it’s basically a box, with or without a glass wall at the back, 9,75m in length and 6,4m in width. However, there is much more than meets the eye and a lot of factors need to be considered when building such a ‘box’.

The construction of squash court walls all components of them shall be capable of withstanding all the stresses which may be placed upon them in normal play and shall not suffer any permanent or temporary damage as a result of the impact of balls or rackets.

Where courts have transparent walls they shall be constructed of safety materials. It is recommended that the door to the court is located in the middle of the back wall, but in any event should be in the middle third and shall open into the court.

Let’s start out with the playing surface.

For instance, there are several playing surfaces: wood, concrete, plaster, sometimes even rubber panel or glass. Each wall of the court should be of the same construction over the whole of the playing area. Adjacent walls need not be of the same construction. There are different colors, although white is predominant.

So where is the difference in squash court constructions?

The most important characteristics of any squash court in the world is the rebound. A squash player wants an accurate, precise rebound, following a simple rule of physics: angle of impact to the wall equals angle of rebound of the aforementioned. It’s extremely disturbing and discouraging for any squash player if he or she plays a ball and the ball does not come back as calculated. Such ‘bad bounce’ is usually caused by 2 factors (we are leaving limited squash skills of the players out of the picture for now):

1) cracks and other obstacles that render the playing surface uneven; classic example for that are plaster courts where plaster failure leads to cracks and even pieces coming off that eventually lead to incorrect bounce of the ball;

2) gaps and joints; classic example are panel courts with multiple panels fitted onto the front wall with a frame construction that lead not only to a difference in sound which could be somewhat acceptable although disturbing; most of all, it leads to a different rebound since the panel is harder where it was mounted to the frame and softer in the middle where there is not a frame behind it.

So what is the solution for these 2 problems and how can an equal rebound be ensured?

Simply speaking, the solution consists in a court system that should have no visible joints and one flat surface that is not prone to crack or break. ASB is using a special coating and large, engineered wooden panels that go over the entire length of the courts. This ensures that the ball rebound is always the same and follows the rules of physics without any unexpected alterations for a smooth, enjoyable game of squash where technique and clean shots are rewarded.

And what about the floor?

Thousands of players with 20+ years of squash on their back complain about similar problems: aching knees, hips and ankles from playing squash on the solid hard wood flooring that used to be the standard and is still somewhat considered the standard in many countries. Taking these health issues into consideration, ASB went in a different direction by using an engineered floor that is more flexible while at the same time offering what players want: shock absorption, true and even ball rebound and most of all a good grip.

What are the dimensions of a squash court?

The plan dimensions of the singles court, measured one meter above finished floor level, should be:

Squash Court Length: 9750 mm plus or minus 10 mm
Squash Court Width: 6400 mm plus or minus 10 mm
Squash Court Height: 5640 mm
Squash Court Diagonals: 11665 mm plus or minus 25 mm

Building a squash court requires you to erect four solid playing walls (1x front, 2x side walls,1x back wall). All playing walls of the court shall have a hard smooth finish.

With the dimensions set by World Squash Federation (WSF) regulations, the space required to build a squash court is determined by those regulations.

What materials are used to build a squash court?

There are 4 different basic materials that are used to build the 4 walls of a squash court (squash court walls):

– high density board sand filled system walls
– pre fabricated panel walls
– plastered walls
– glass walls

The squash court set up is completed by the flooring, the lights (ventilation/heating if required).