Ground Cover for Play Area

sept09baby

Eventually we want to remove an area of decking in our garden and make it a play area with swing, slide, trampoline etc. I'm just wondering if anyone has recommendations for ground coverings that will be safe and not crazy expensive.

I have 4 dogs as well so barks etc are not practical

Thanks

prospect

We used 2" deep of round pebble over a weed barrier.
Works fine.

bbam

+1 on the pebble..
We put down 4 inches of regular clean chippings directly onto compacted subsoil. No weed growth to talk off, run round the edge with roundup each spring.. There is enough "give" in the surface if a child falls but it's not a mattress either.. Cheap option for a larger area, we were working out at about €5K for rubber matting and have the chippings down for less than €400.

oldscoil

Hi Folks.

OP just wondering did you mean a 20mm approx covering like a cork etc.

I have a small but decent balcony and I'm looking to put something down for a baby / toddler to sit and play on (at teh moment it's painted steel).

I was going to post a thread looking for places to get this but then I saw this thread and thought maybe thats what you meant. :rolleyes:

Thanks Folks.

bbam

oldscoil wrote: »

Hi Folks.

OP just wondering did you mean a 20mm approx covering like a cork etc.

I have a small but decent balcony and I'm looking to put something down for a baby / toddler to sit and play on (at teh moment it's painted steel).

I was going to post a thread looking for places to get this but then I saw this thread and thought maybe thats what you meant. :rolleyes:

Thanks Folks.

If it's for a swing, slide and trampoline which OP mentioned in first post it will be a decent size and any of the special surfaces will be expensive, remembering they need to be laid onto compacted layer of sand as a base..

For yourself on a balcony the rubber play mats would probably be light, affordable and warm for a baba to sit on..

sept09baby

Thanks. Yeah my first choice would be synthetic grass and second would be that rubber material used in playgrounds. Neither are cheap though and just can't afford it as I've had to pump so much in to the house recently.

There'd also be the cost of ground preparation. I wouldn't need to dig down but would need hardcore and a decent weed barrier. Would also need that padding layer for under the grass as a shock absorber.

Will add it to the 'When I win the lotto' list. No idea what to do in the meantime though - any of the cheaper solutions wouldn't be hygenic with the dogs

TheGrump

I recently had this same issue. I made a play area for my daughter of approximately 20m2. I removed the grass, levelled the area as best I could, put down a weed membrane and then put down rubber mulch. The rubber mulch was expensive compared to bark mulch, but way cheaper than synthetic grass or the rubber mats.

The only downside is that the rubber mulch can get spread around the garden after a while. Luckily I had a wall on 3 sides of the area, so I put up a 2-foot picket fence with a little gate, worked a dream.

I have a dog too and it works well. The main reason I did was the grass was non-existant from him running around the place.

countrywoman

Im also planning a play area. I was going to put down those rubber mats under swing set. They look good and you can run lawn mower over them. Prospect and bbam, i would never have thought of pebbles or stones,

angeldaisy

TheGrump wrote: »

I recently had this same issue. I made a play area for my daughter of approximately 20m2. I removed the grass, levelled the area as best I could, put down a weed membrane and then put down rubber mulch. The rubber mulch was expensive compared to bark mulch, but way cheaper than synthetic grass or the rubber mats.

The only downside is that the rubber mulch can get spread around the garden after a while. Luckily I had a wall on 3 sides of the area, so I put up a 2-foot picket fence with a little gate, worked a dream.

I have a dog too and it works well. The main reason I did was the grass was non-existant from him running around the place.

Hi TheGrump, I'm doing exactly the same as you, and was wondering where you got the mulch from? I'm just in process of sourcing some. Thanks

kingshankly

try crumb rubber county louth they recycle everything rubber and produce an array of products