Playground mulch recommendations

[Andy Fox]

Anyone have any opinions on which type of playground mulch they prefer or what the various types might cost? I'm trying to avoid pea gravel and play sand due their annoying tendencies of getting into shoes and eyes. I'm leaning toward "playground grade" wood mulch or the shredded rubber chips.

I've got about a 30' x 15' area to cover (450 sq ft) to whatever the recommended impact-absorbing depth is for the mulch. (I think it's like 9" with playground mulch.)

[JayStPeter]

I'm getting ready to do the same thing for a similar sized area. I priced out the rubber stuff this weekend ... ouch. Lowes had it for $12/bag and other local landscaping places had it for more like $20/bag. I figured I'd be out $5-600 to get to appropriate playground depth. The playground mulch was just under $4/bag (slightly bigger bag also). I'm a little torn on which way to go as the rubber mulch has claims of lasting a lot longer (which I believe). It would be nice if the swingset area required no yearly mulch maintenance :cool: . I'll be looking at pea gravel also. My biggest problem with that is returning the playground area to yard someday.

Jay

[Joe Stallard]

At church, we have tried pea gravel, wood chips, and rubber chips. The pea gravel always found a way onto the paved parking lot. After a couple of the ladies falling when they stepped on the scattered pea gravel, we removed the pea gravel. Then we covered the playground with wood chips (donated from a local paper mill). The wood chips would settle and needed adding to every year. The paper mill changed processes so we looked at the difference between buying wood/rubber. We covered the playground with rubber 2 years ago and it looks the same as the day we covered it. I strongly recommed staying away from pea gravel. Hope this helps.

[Jim Becker]

I'm using wood chips made on-site, with my own equipment and that of a tree service. The shreaded rubber materials available today are nice, but I'm not willing to put out that kind of money. Here's where I am as of this weekend...just waiting for the rain to stop so the tree folks can do their thing on another project. For reference, that area is 35' x 19'.

38542

If you want to use wood chips, talk to local tree services...you should be able to get as much as you want/need for free. They have to dispose of the stuff somewhere!

[Jim Young]

When we did ours we filled it in with cedar nugets. They were big enough so that they didn't stick to close and stayed at the playground.

[Tim Morton]

Geez...when I was a kid my parents just thru up a swingset they bought at "montgomery wards" and stuck it on the lawn.:D :D

[Joe Pelonio]

At my elementary school the swings and slides were stuck into the blacktop, nothing under it at all. Remember "Bailing out"? Now the schools have the "jungle gyms" but no longer have swings and slides because of liability.

[Andy Haney]

FWIW, in my job we maintain public playgrounds. Not to dispute what has been said about pea gravel getting to places you'd rather not have it (because it will), that is what we use. We do so because it will always displace and absorb the shock of a child falling from the "design height". Wood chips will ultimately "knit" together and become a firm/hard surface. Rubber nuggets are high $.

Andy

[Ken Garlock]

At my elementary school the swings and slides were stuck into the blacktop, nothing under it at all. Remember "Bailing out"? Now the schools have the "jungle gyms" but no longer have swings and slides because of liability.

Joe, you don't look that old.:)

My grade school first had dirt under the swing and jungle jim. The sliding boards were made of long wooden slats. Kids would save up their popsicle sticks and stick them up between the slats when someone would slide down. I had a couple good pairs of pants ruined because of ripped out seats in them.

They replaced the wooden slide with an all aluminum one, and put some asphalt for a landing at the bottom. They also put asphalt under the swings so that the kids could not dig into the dirt when stopping.

Those were the days when you got in trouble at school, you also got into trouble at home. :eek: No one thought anything about a bonk on the head from falling off a playground equipment. There was a good chance that you would get in trouble at home for 'horsing around' on the playground. Falling down and getting hurt is part of the educational process. It teaches you to not do the same thing again.

[Jim Becker]

At my elementary school the swings and slides were stuck into the blacktop, nothing under it at all. Remember "Bailing out"? Now the schools have the "jungle gyms" but no longer have swings and slides because of liability.

Our school district has both swings and slides as well as the gyms...including at the newer schools. Most of them have wood chips under them, but some have the newer "rubber mat" from Miracle under them, as does the new local park with the super-duper play stuff.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

We have the shredded rubber in our local kiddie zoo.
It's really cool stuff. The local wandering cats don't crap in it, it is clean so you don't get black stuff on you, it's lighter than the soil so it doesn't sink in over time, rain runs right through it, it doesn't retain moisture, it cleans easily with a low power leaf blower cause the bits are heavy enough to stay put, When you fall on it it just sort of gets out of the way slowly enough to break the fall but fast enough to eliminate most all the impact, and you can walk or run on it just fine.

If it's not too expensive I'd get the rubber.

[John Shuk]

I kinda like grass

[Jim Becker]

I kinda like grass

Yea, in hindsight I probably should have stayed with the grass, too. But that wouldn't have let me use "power tools" quite as much! :D (Robert Tarr's PTO tiller, my PTO chipper/shredder and the loader)

[Ian Abraham]

My partner is a preschool teacher and all they are allowed to use is bark chips. There is even a prescribed grade (size of chunks) they have to get.
Apparantly that gives the best protection for the little ones who fall on it.
The medium sized bark chips dont compact like the finer stuff and sawdust / shavings / wood chips. It's big enough to stay put in the play area and small enough to still provide cushioning.

I dont know how many kids they drop tested from the top of the fort to work this out :rolleyes: :D

We survived having dirt and concrete under ours.. and it hasn't af-af-affected me much :)

Cheers

Ian

[John Weber]

Andy,

We have good friends with rubber and it is awesome, a toy in and of itself, however as others noted, it is expensive. We have mulch in the high traffic areas, but mostly grass under the set. On the plus side the grass is thick and soft, and the ground hard but not rock hard (like the football practice field was when I was in high school), the negative is it doesn't cushion as well as the designed materials. Our schools all have slides and swings, and they use pea gravel. Most of the public parks in the area use mulch.

John

[Andy Fox]

Interesting thoughts so far.... I think I'm going to leave the grass and mulch any areas that wear down to dirt if planting more durable grass and aerating often doesn't work. We already have too much to mulch around the yard as it is. :rolleyes: The rubber chunk mulch and mats would be ideal, but the cost is insane. :eek:

The fort is walled in with 2x6s at the bottom and could be a sandbox, but I refuse to build a luxury litter box for the neighborhood cats. :mad:

[JayStPeter]

Interesting thoughts so far.... I think I'm going to leave the grass and mulch any areas that wear down to dirt if planting more durable grass and aerating often doesn't work. We already have too much to mulch around the yard as it is. :rolleyes: The rubber chunk mulch and mats would be ideal, but the cost is insane. :eek:

After looking into the cost, I think I may stick with grass myself. It's been that way for two years already. Plus, I'm also at my yearly mulch limit.



The fort is walled in with 2x6s at the bottom and could be a sandbox, but I refuse to build a luxury litter box for the neighborhood cats. :mad:

I've been trying to figure out some sort of cover so I can avoid that. The canvas cover we got with the set was a hassle and didn't last with the kids jumping on it like it was a trampoline. The construction of the thing isn't ideal for a hard cover. But, with no sandbox, the kids have resorted to using some of the mulch beds :rolleyes: .

Jay

[Steven Wilson]

"Protective surfacing
Almost 60 percent of all playground injuries are caused by falls to the ground. Asphalt, concrete and even grass are considered hard surfaces not appropriate for use under a playset. Mulch, wood chips, fine sand and fine gravel are considered acceptable surfaces. The best options are synthetic soft play surfaces specifically designed for use with playsets, such as shredded rubber mulch or engineered wood fiber. "

Don't go with grass, use mulch. At my local landscape center they have a mulch for play area's that goes for $30/yard. I excavated 8" with 18" pits around the swings and slide landing area, laid down landscape fabric, and then filled in with mulch. Remember to leave a 6' border of mulch around your playset (or as much as you can, 6' is recommended). Every fall I use a small tiller to loosen up the mulch then I rake it and usually add a 1/4 to 1/2 yard of fresh.

[Ted Calver]

I have designed a number of public and private playgrounds and, without commenting on a specific material, strongly recommend a free publication by the Consumer Product Safety Commission titled Handbook for Public Playground Safety as a starting point in choosing a material.
Ted