Repairing an arena membrane

Art Nouveau

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Does anyone have advice on how to repair an arena membrane? I'm having the mains water pipe repaired and unfortunately it runs under the arena 😬 The company are going to try to slip a plastic pipe through the old one but still anticipate needing to dig a hole every 10 metres.

What do I need to know to supervise the digging and make sure it's restored well afterwards? I'm thinking they carefully scrape back the surface bigger than the hole they'll be digging then they can cut a flap in the membrane and roll it back. I'll need to make sure they don't hit a drain, and that they put the subsurface back correctly.

Do I need to buy more membrane and sew or glue it to the old one? Or just overlay without fixing? Or just roll the old membrane back down without repairing the cut?

Thanks all
 

blitznbobs

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Does anyone have advice on how to repair an arena membrane? I'm having the mains water pipe repaired and unfortunately it runs under the arena 😬 The company are going to try to slip a plastic pipe through the old one but still anticipate needing to dig a hole every 10 metres.

What do I need to know to supervise the digging and make sure it's restored well afterwards? I'm thinking they carefully scrape back the surface bigger than the hole they'll be digging then they can cut a flap in the membrane and roll it back. I'll need to make sure they don't hit a drain, and that they put the subsurface back correctly.

Do I need to buy more membrane and sew or glue it to the old one? Or just overlay without fixing? Or just roll the old membrane back down without repairing the cut?

Thanks all
Yes it needs to be seen or glued. It will
Shift if not fixed down properly. Just clear the area around the hole, slip the new piece of membrane UNDERNEATH the old membrane and stick with appropriate glue or sew in place. Sounds scary but doesnt actually take that long to do
 

Tiddlypom

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As above.

Different membranes have different properties, mine was heat sealed by Charles Britton rather than glued, but that is not suitable for all membranes. Do you know what type of membrane the existing one is?

In any case, allow a decent amount of overlap between the old and new membrane, and lay it really flat. Sewing is tedious but would do the job if some reason you can't attach the membranes together any other way.

ETA this is my arena membrane being laid and heat sealed. It shows the overlap they used.

IMG_3870.jpeg
 
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