Custom Pool Table Cover Specs

A pool table can provide hours of recreation and be a permanent aesthetic fixture in your home -- as long as its equipped to handle the game. In the 8- or 9-foot variety, it should be constructed with specific measurements to allow for a seamless custom cover installation once the green starts fading or splitting. Just make sure your felt cloth is the right kind and installed according to the World Pool-Billiard Association's recommendations.

  1. Playing Surface

    • An 8-foot table's playing surface is 92-by-46 inches; a 9-footer: 100-by-50 inches. Its six triangular-shaped cushion rails, at 1 7/8 to 2 inches wide from mounting position to nose (where the ball bounces), will also be wrapped in cloth. You'll need enough fabric to wrap all six rails -- each 40 to 48 inches long -- as well as the playing surface, overlapping the edges to staple or tack fabric to the back edges of the rails or slate. Buy at least six inches extra in length and width to allow for easy stretching.

    Made of What?

    • According to the WPBA, pool table cloth should be non-directional, free of napping and resistant to pilling. The association recommends a 100 percent worsted wool. Nylon fabric should make up no more than 15 percent of your cloth. Though electric blue, blue-green and yellow-green are the only tournament-sanctioned colors, home table color runs the gamut.

    Fastening Specs

    • Use tacks or staples at least every 1 inch to fasten. The proper tension for the length of the table should be gauged by pulling the cloth as tightly as possible, then releasing it 1/2 inch before attaching it to your slate. Then the width should be stretched as tightly as possible, then attached after releasing 1/4 inch.