hollyh Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 I am wondering if anyone can speak to their experience with rubber mulch for the backyard playset. Any thoughts? Does it get really hot? How many inches did you put in, and did you think it was enough? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whereneverever Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 :bigear: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean in Newcastle Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 I don't have personal experience. But I do know of a local park that had all the rubber mulch dug out and replaced with something else (wood chips? I can't remember) because of injuries from the rubber mulch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LibraryLover Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 You mean at home? We have our playset on grass. The local parks have rubber mulch, and rubber everything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mabeline Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 We have played at parks with rubber mulch. I hate it. At one park the kids leave covered in black "dirt" from the rubber. We live in the northwest with lots of rain so maybe the water breaks it down faster? Years ago we went to a park in another state when my oldest was a baby. I set him on the mulch to crawl around and I got stabbed in the hand by a wire sticking out of a piece of rubber. As I understand it, they use recycled tires to make that stuff and some tires have metal wires reinforcing them. I think sand would be better or even pea gravel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angel marie Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 i raised money and was responsible for having a playground installed at our school. i learned tons. the rubber mulch is made with the radial tires so metal will be in it and is not safe. the best thing was that rubber solid surface but is very expensive. gravel is good, but hard to walk in and some get in your shoes. if you do gravel or sand, make sure it is a few feet deep. i think it has to be 3 ft deep and it has to extend out from the playground equipment. i've forgotten the amt of feet, but i bet you can find on internet or ask a playground company. it has to be a certain depth to cush the fall. also, all playground equipment has to be 8 feet from any other object for safety. wood chips float away. :001_smile: angel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LibraryLover Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 So glad the two previous posters mentioned the toxic and gross rubber mulch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hollyh Posted April 18, 2012 Author Share Posted April 18, 2012 Most places advertise that the mulch is wire free - my understanding is more of that it seems to be an issue a while ago, but not really now? ??? Does anyone have any recent experience with it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SonshineLearner Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 There are charts to show how deep your area must be, under structures. They take into account how high up your child might fall from, as well as what material you're using. I checked into getting the rubber, but ended up with pebbles.... very deep ones ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhotoGal Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 We have rubber mulch in our backyard. We haven't had any problems with it with wires or anything. I will say that it is not comfortable to walk on with bare feet. The individual pieces of mulch are not rounded or anything, so it isn't comfortable to walk on without shoes. Other than that I have no complaints. I don't remember how thick it is. I think our playground manufacturer had a guideline for different surfaces. We bought the rubber mulch through Costco. If I were to do it again, I might go with pea gravel instead. At the time I was worried my little one might put one up her nose or something (I think she was 2 at the time). I also thought about woodchips but I think those sometimes attract bugs. At the playground I've had woodchips give splinters and even poke me through my flipflop a few times. I really wanted the solid rubber surface but it was just way too expensive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hollyh Posted April 18, 2012 Author Share Posted April 18, 2012 Why would you have gone with pea gravel? Also, we are considering getting it from Costco as well- I wish I could see samples of it though. Do you like it? How big/small are the pieces? Such an expensive decision... we have a large area we are covering... and I am so torn on what to use for ground cover... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhotoGal Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 Hmm... I guess I would have gone for pea gravel because it seems more natural. Then again, I appreciate that the rubber mulch doesn't get tracked in. I don't know. The rubber mulch did smell very rubbery/plastic when it was first in. I do feel like the kids would be cushioned well if they were to fall off the playset, though. If you are covering a large area, you may also want to think about how you will get rid of it when the kids are bigger. We are starting to think about when to take the playset down and we will probably try to offer the rubber mulch to the buyer or put it on Craigslist, but it is a LOT. I mean, it came in on multiple pallets. So I don't know what we will do with it if no one wants it. The rubber mulch we have is about 1/2 the size of an egg - maybe a little smaller. Sorry I can't be of more help. I would say we feel fine about our choice and don't regret it. I don't think there is a perfect solution. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris in VA Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 I was teaching at a preschool a few years ago and they installed a new playground. They decided against the rubber mulch because of the marks it leaves on clothes, and the expense. We chose pea gravel. It is actually quite cushion-y! You just have to get your kids not to dig too much in it. They first leveled the area, and then put down this black sheet of material to help the pea gravel stay in place and prevent weeds from growing thru it. Then they poured the gravel. It was a LOT of gravel--they used a dump truck. The playground (I'm estimating here) was probably 60x40. That's a guess and I'm not good at guessing--but the gravel has to be deeper than you might think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
houseofkids&pets Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 We enclosed an area with a wooden frame and then added pea gravel (a lot!!). Rubber mulch was just becoming popular when we installed our play set a million years ago and it was very expensive. We decided on the pea gravel since I read some reviews about the mulch attracting bugs, etc. Also. the gravel doesn't need to be replaced periodically (like mulch). It has worked out fine for the last nine years. The only problem is one neighborhood boy who likes to throw the gravel (and anything else that he can get his hands on!). He gets sent home a lot :glare: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ecclecticmum Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 Never heard of pea gravel (or perhaps I have and just call it the-rock-dohickey-mathings :tongue_smilie: ) We're going to begin the slow process soon of making a dog-free zone (somewhere the kids can play and run around without worrying the dogs are going to take off with their toys, or worry about stepping in poop *blergh* lol) I've been looking into fake grass with some sort of cushioning to go underneath. But we're rural, on a little acreage, and we want it to "blend" in, but not have to try and get the mower and whipper snipper in the gate and under and around the equipment (we had a few pieces of playgym equipment, a huge little tykes cubby house on stilts with slide etc) and trying to mow round/whipper snipper was a pain. After the kids grow up, it will just stay a pet-free zone, we'll just remove the playground, cover the "gaps" and have an area where we can relax) Other than that, I'm not really sure. I don't like the tyre stuff, and I don't really like the bark/wood mulch (my daughter looked like a tree monster one time after sitting down on that stuff it was attached all over her!) Your also going to have to think as other OP's said, how your going to get it in there, and what your going to do with it afterwards. A giant hunk of custom cut thick rubber flooring is going to usually require labourers in install it, and then a whole lot of work to get it out again, then you have a massive, unwieldy bundle. So for instance, if I was going to go rubber flooring, I would look at something easy to take back up, and something that could be custom done myself, like rubber tiles or interlocking tiles. I would always recommend getting someone in first (preferably once playground is set up and before ground is laid) to tell you exactly what you need in terms of flooring to make it safe (and anything else). When I was helping out at a daycare we got new playground equipment in, the "Safety inspector" told us feet, length etc, and we'd be fine. I felt kind of doubtful, and asked the lady if she would mind if I get an independant person in to check. $80 and he came, did a throrough inspection and pointed out several "safety problems" with the equipment itself (certain area should have plexiglass/plastic or mesh, another bolt area that he told us to add a secondary fixing to. I was only there a few weeks after the p/g was complete, and during that time I wa thankful for bringing the "independant" guy in, as there were close to 10 kids who, if that plastic hadn't been installed there, would of slid/been pushed through and gotten stuck/hurt or worse. The Safety inspector was the one by the state, who had been authorised and "deemed" it safe. The indep. guy also told as to make the flooring an inch thicker and bring it further back. I don't really know if any of that rambling helped, but just some things form my perspective. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AStableBeginning Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 Most places advertise that the mulch is wire free - my understanding is more of that it seems to be an issue a while ago, but not really now? ??? Does anyone have any recent experience with it? :iagree: We are looking to mulch our new play set with rubber mulch and have found this to be true. Also there is coated and non-coated, not sure what the coating difference makes though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halftime Hope Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 Some people have also cited concerns about particulate rubber becoming airborn and being breathable, similar to the health concerns for those who live near highways. Rubber mulch has many little shredded particles on the edges that would break down/break off and be breathable. I have no knowledge or opinion past that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
athena1277 Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 When we lived in base housing when dd was little, they put the rubber mulch in our neighborhood playground. It was awful! I'm no environmentalist, but that stuff always ended up outside the playground area, where it does not break down easily. I was a mess! I would not put it in my yard at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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