# Rubber playground surface



## toolbag (Mar 16, 2005)

Hi guys (and gals). Took my grandkids to the city playground this weekend and they had kind of a chopped up rubber surface under all the equipment. It looked like blacktop, but it was spongy when you walk on it. Well now the kids want to do this in their back yard under the swingsets. Where do you get this stuff at and is it hard to do? Expensive? Say for an area roughly 15 X 15 feet. It looks to me like a bunch of ground up tires and then mixed in some epoxy and poured it out and troweled like cement. Thanks.


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## Teetorbilt (Feb 7, 2004)

The stuff is recycled tires. A friend of mine operates a day care center and used the loose stuff. See what you can find here. http://www.ciwmb.ca.gov/Tires/Products/


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## pipeguy (Nov 22, 2004)

toolbag said:


> Hi guys (and gals). Expensive? Say for an area roughly 15 X 15 feet..


Two years ago I got bids to do a basketball court sized area - they were alll upwards of $25K. Call whoever ran the playground (county, city?) and ask them who did it.


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## Floorwizard (Dec 5, 2003)

There is the stuff that is chopped up and then smoothed out like a spongy mat.
And there is the stuff that is loose like barkdust, but it will not give you slivers.


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## ryaniniowa (Feb 11, 2005)

What ever happened to good old gravel?


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## Teetorbilt (Feb 7, 2004)

It gave way to litigation.


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## toolbag (Mar 16, 2005)

Florcraft said:


> There is the stuff that is chopped up and then smoothed out like a spongy mat.


YES! This is the stuff I am talking about, can anyone give me any more information on it? It looks like ground up tires mixed in with some sort of epoxy and then spread out to make a nice smooth, one-piece, spongy surface that forms around all of the equipment and would not let any weeds grow up through it... Thanks.


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## Teetorbilt (Feb 7, 2004)

Did you check out the link that I posted?
I'm not sure about the weed issue. The stuff that they use in the parks here is porous.


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## Kimmi (Sep 1, 2009)

Any more luck with the smooth surface...I'm looking for the same thing?


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## Southengineer (Aug 24, 2009)

I attempted to find the smooth stuff to see if I could put it on a geotextile for a sidewalk, I couldn't get anything.

However the loose stuff is great. A plus you don't often hear is that animals are not attracted to it. A sandbox is a great place for a pet to leave presents. That rubber, not so attractive.


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## Thurman (Feb 9, 2009)

Here's what I know (not think, or suspect) about this product. Teetorbilt is on the money with his/her link. Look for the "Rubberized Asphalt Concrete", or RCA. Remeber that the pricing they are quoting is for road paving at a savings of $50,000 per lane/mile over asphalt. BUT- I also wanted to look into this product after seeing it on a playground within a municipal park. Through contacts with the local County I did find out who did the playground and called them. That particular company DID NOT do these surfaces for private playgrounds, or home swing set systems, only municipalities because of "product liability problems". Go figure! Sometime after all this I happened to be at a party and was introduced to a man who was a "Certified Playground Inspector" (who'd of ever thunk we needed such?) and we talked about this surface. He confirmed that the type asked about, the mixed and poured surface, was not availabe to the homeowner. The cut up tire chunks are available to homeowners in bags at local big box stores, can you say "KA-CHING $$, or can be bought in bulk in larger cities, such as Atlanta area where I've seen it affordably in bulk. I hope this helps. David


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## Willie T (Jan 29, 2009)

Most of it seems to run $6.00 to $6.50 a square foot. And, believe it or not, that is in either 6" loose fill or 1/2" mat form. You'd think the loose stuff would be a lot cheaper. I've never seen stuff like that that's poured in place as a solid surface.

So you're looking at about $1,400 to $1,600, I'd guess.


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## Scuba_Dave (Jan 16, 2009)

There are different "grades" of this stuff too
Chopped up tires = steel belted radials = metal mixed in
They have magnets that they run to pull metal out
But there have been "contaminated batches" that have gone out w/steel & glass
I'm sticking with wood for now
My kid sticks too much on his mouth or is face fits on the ground
I'd prefer he not be breathing/chewing ground up tires


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## SPS-1 (Oct 21, 2008)

I have seen interlocking rubber tiles made from recycled tires available at the big-box home centers. I don't recall the price, but i don't think they were expensive. That would appear to be the easiest way to go. 

Loose round rubber playground material is available. Possibly they mix it with a hardening compound sometimes (Alberta Enviromental Rubber Products has a photo of a school track or their web site) but I'll bet that's not a DIY project.


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## storageman (Apr 18, 2013)

*Rubber Mulch*

Here is a nice article on the right fall surface for play sets. I did some searching and found some links to buy rubber chips/mulch at some retail stores such as Lowes.


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## walkman (Jan 4, 2009)

It's nice stuff but really only cost effective for commercial spaces. Home owners are a lot better off with specialized wood chips you can buy by the yard from landscape supply companies. Do not buy sand or such from big box stores - it is 10-20x the cost.


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## JasperST (Sep 7, 2012)

You can find the mats at a farm supply store, used for horse stall floors.


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## ToolSeeker (Sep 19, 2012)

A guy that worked for me his daughter went to a pre school that had the chopped up tires when he went to pick her up at night it looked like she had been playing in a pile of coal dust. This was everyday he said it washed out ok though.


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## DukeLewis87 (Mar 27, 2013)

Im not sure if this will help or not. My aunt about 15 years ago when I lived with her, in the horse stalls she layed down the 4'x8' rubber mats. Not sure where she got them, but all i know is she ordered them online somewhere. Possibly farm equipment mats?


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## operagost (Jan 8, 2010)

ryaniniowa said:


> What ever happened to good old gravel?


It all got stuck in my kneecaps. :furious:


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