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Playground flooring?
- Thread starter steveny
- Start date
Not sure, but I would stay with something natural that is sifted to remove all the junk and weeds. I think the rubber mulch is good but it could be a disaster if Ali gets that in the throat and intestines. OMG. 
I would not risk the dog getting into it.
I would not risk the dog getting into it.
Used the rubber mulch at our last house and loved it. The stuff lasts FOREVER and kept it's, teal, color well for years. It's very soft and gave lots of cushion when the kids fell. It's a cool conversation piece too. You have to be carefull when installed to put down thick plastic underneath to keep weeds from coming through and make sure it's playground quality not just landscape which has lots of steel belted radial fibers still in it.
<img src=http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/1199/dsc00110te.jpg>
<img src=http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/1199/dsc00110te.jpg>
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Rubber mulch will definately be softer when the kids fall, but it does come from tires and there are some safety concerns associated with it.
Dermatitus seems to be the biggest program. Other concerns regarding injesting the pieces (and possibly steel pieces that could be present from the radial tires) exist as well though some studies say it is basically inert due to the long length of time that the tires have previously weathered during the recycling process. Playground mulch is typically 95% steel free.
You can check the site below for some fairly unbiased information without the hype.
http://www.state.nj.us/dep/dsr/research/whitepaper - rubber.pdf
FYI I've been a landscape designer for the past 10 years in the mid-atlantic region. I probably wouldn't want my children (if I had them) playing on a bunch of ground up tires. I typically suggest to my clients to use wood chips (not wood mulch) and contain them in the play area with an edging (like timber ties or plastic wood if you don't want to use treated timbers). Typically these get refreshed every 5 years or so. Typically around here most people can get the wood chips for free when arborists are in the area.
My 2 plus cents because my answers are never short.
Dermatitus seems to be the biggest program. Other concerns regarding injesting the pieces (and possibly steel pieces that could be present from the radial tires) exist as well though some studies say it is basically inert due to the long length of time that the tires have previously weathered during the recycling process. Playground mulch is typically 95% steel free.
You can check the site below for some fairly unbiased information without the hype.
http://www.state.nj.us/dep/dsr/research/whitepaper - rubber.pdf
FYI I've been a landscape designer for the past 10 years in the mid-atlantic region. I probably wouldn't want my children (if I had them) playing on a bunch of ground up tires. I typically suggest to my clients to use wood chips (not wood mulch) and contain them in the play area with an edging (like timber ties or plastic wood if you don't want to use treated timbers). Typically these get refreshed every 5 years or so. Typically around here most people can get the wood chips for free when arborists are in the area.
My 2 plus cents because my answers are never short.
We've been using pea gravel for the last couple years around our play structure and it has been great. My 3 year old even fell out of our enclosed trampoline -- big sister left the door open for less than a minute -- and it cushioned her fall. It's probably 4-6 inches deep. Even with plastic underneath weeds or seeds will blow in and grow, yet they come out extremely easy in pea gravel.
+1 Rubber mulch for our Rainbow Playground. We tried natural mulch and it was used as a litter box for the neighborhood cats.
I was at a playground once where the ground was rubberized, permable pavement. It was like a running track but the ground had a springy bounce to it and lots of small holes. There was no loose pieces to blow away or for animals to eat and choke on. It's probably not as soft as rubber mulch but it definitely gave more than pavement or even soil. It was like walking on gym mats. Sorry I don't know the name of it.
