Loose Mulch Under A Swing Thins Out By The End Of One Summer
We replace wood mulch, pea gravel and sand with a rubber surfacing layer that does not move. Loose fill kicks out from under swings and slide exits within weeks, which is exactly where the cushion is needed most. It hides glass and sticks, it tracks indoors, and it needs topping up every year.
Poured rubber surfacing stays at the depth it was poured, everywhere on the playground, for years. A wheelchair or stroller rolls straight across it. After rain it drains through and is dry within the hour, which is not true of mulch in a wet Oakville spring.
Fall Height Decides How Thick The Playground Rubber Surfacing Is
We size playground rubber surfacing thickness to the top of the tallest deck a child can climb to. A low toddler structure at a home daycare in West Oak Trails or Palermo needs a thin cushion. A school structure with a platform at six or seven feet needs a rubber surfacing base of two to four inches of coarse SBR under a coloured EPDM top layer.
That thickness range is why a playground costs more per square foot than a patio. We ask for the equipment make and platform height before the quote so the thickness is right the first time, not guessed.
Swings and slide exits get the full depth right where a child lands, because that is where loose fill always thins out first. A poured rubber surfacing playground does not have a thin spot under the swing in August, and it does not need a truckload of mulch every spring to keep the depth up.
Daycares, Schools And Parks Across Halton Need The Surface In Over The Break
We schedule school and daycare playgrounds for the summer break, and church and park jobs whenever the surface can be closed for a few days. Oakville runs dozens of splash pads and playgrounds from Coronation Park to Sixteen Mile Sports Park, and a thousand more sit behind daycares, schools and townhouse complexes.
We pour over compacted stone, asphalt or old concrete. The rubber surfacing cushion layer goes down first, then the coloured top, in one or two visits. Colour blends, hopscotch grids, circles and paths are troweled into the top layer, and a granule that carries its colour through the grain does not fade.