Home-made contacts

[beachdogz]

I guess this question is for those of you who have made your own contact equipment. I recently made a wooden a-frame and dog walk. I added Quikrete "non-skid" to the paint, but it still seems slick. The non-skid was very fine and didn't make much texture.

 

I have the narrow slats for safety, but I think I need something mixed with the paint that is coarser than the Quikrete. I thought of regular sand, but read that it has too much dirt and does not do well.

 

 

What did any of you use to make your contacts safe and "non-skid"?

[gcv-border]

I am not familiar with Quikcrete non-skid. This was a while ago, but I remember getting a 'sand' product at the paint store and mixing it into the paint. I thought it worked well. I have also heard of people putting a heavy coat of paint on and before it dries, sprinkling it with 'sand'. (work in small areas so the paint is still wet when you sprinkle the sand on it.)

 

Jovi

[Kelleybean]

I have a mini-A frame. We covered the frame with sand on the wet paint, let it dry. The next day we knocked the sand off and put another coat of paint on top of the sand. It worked pretty well.

[beachdogz]

I have a mini-A frame. We covered the frame with sand on the wet paint, let it dry. The next day we knocked the sand off and put another coat of paint on top of the sand. It worked pretty well.

 

Just regular sand? or the kind you buy at the hardware store?

[Rave]

I mixed sand in with the paint and that worked well too. And I put in a LOT. I used the play sand you get for kids, just because that's all the store had.

[PSmitty]

I used regular old sand from my back yard.

[MrRipley]

I have used a product called Skid Tex from home depot. I mixed in more than the recommended amount so it was nice and rough. I eyeballed it and mixed it in a smaller container than the paint bucket. It worked well.

 

I also have used Contactacoat which are rubber granules made specifically for agility equipment, if you wanted to go the rubber route.

[Cindy Evans]

You can also use pool sand as that is not as sharp as play sand. It can be used in aquariums where play sand cannot.

[beachdogz]

THANK YOU for all the replies.

 

I picked up kids play sand this morning and will try mixing it with the anti-skid paint stuff I got at Lowes.

 

Part of my problem may be that I used paint I had on hand. It was semi-gloss, but I thought the anti-skid would counter-act that. I picked up flat paint this morning also, and so we'll try it again.

 

Any idea how much sand I should use (what does it mean when you say, use LOTS)? Should it be so thick that it's hard to roller on???

[mickif]

I found that if I rolled on the paint, then sprinkled the sand on it, then used the paint roller to roll over the sand to "spread" it around, sprinkled sand in sparse areas, let it dry, rolled on another coat of paint. It worked well for a few years but then I went to contactacoat, so much better!

[SecretBC]

Please don't make your life difficult and mix the sand into the paint. Just throw it evenly (and liberally!!!) over a wet coat of paint, let dry, knock off the excess and paint over the top. I did my table & teeter this way and they are both holding strong after living outside for years. I think my a-frame and dog walk were done with the "mix in the paint" method and they both need to be resurfaced.

 

Throwing sand on top is faster, easier & cheaper. You go through an ungodly amount of paint when you premix them and it's a huge mess.

[beachdogz]

Please don't make your life difficult and mix the sand into the paint. Just throw it evenly (and liberally!!!) over a wet coat of paint, let dry, knock off the excess and paint over the top.

 

Too late. Had my son do the painting before I was able to view this. I believe he mixed it. Well, we'll see how it holds up. He said it was a pain to do it. But it is way better than it was with that semi-gloss.

 

Thanks to everyone for the tips.

[beachdogz]

Thought I'd post another thank you for all the advice, and a picture of how my contacts turned out. My son constructed them and painted them for me.

 

I have a mini A-frame, a small teeter, a regular size table and a dog walk that is U-shaped to fit in the space. The space was originally a "puppy pen" outside my kennels. It is covered by a roof and even has lights.

 

I'm pretty excited as it will work for me to just teach and practice contacts. There's a little room in the grass next to it to set up my jumps and tunnels. It also now has a permanent hard plastic pipe going under the A-frame.

 

Thanks again!