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Safety Flooring

Resin bound rubber mulch is ideal for areas requiring a more natural look. It still provides a safety surface and can create a different texture. The rubber mulch is made from recycled rubber which is shredded and then coloured using our special process. The bonded shred is self-supporting and does not require a foundation layer and is therefore ideal for the less accessible locations or around tree bases.

What are Outdoor Safety Surfaces?

With any outdoor play area it’s important to ensure that the children using the surface are as safe as possible. They should also have an enjoyable environment where they can take part in a range of different activities. We specialise in safety flooring services to install outdoor surfacing at many locations such as:

  • Schools
  • Nurseries
  • Parks
  • Public recreational areas

We can pretty much work in any location where kids are running, playing and using equipment like climbing units and activity trails.

Wetpour rubber safety floors are commonly chosen for these areas as it provides safety qualities to meet BS EN 1177 standards and can also be designed in a range of colours with graphics such as geometric shapes, cartoons, animals and educational markings. The NBS specification of wetpour gets its safety characteristics from its SBR shockpad base layer which absorbs impact from trips and falls to protect the children and prevent injuries.

We also offer a premium system of shredded rubber mulch which we call Rhino-Mulch. In our opinion Rhino-Mulch is superior in its construction to many ‘cheaper versions’. Trust the most experienced and knowledgeable team in the safety flooring industry to supply & fit your impact absorbing resin bound rubber mulch safety surface.

We offer a variety of outdoor safety surfacing options to provide a safe area for young children to play in. There are a number of different options we offer including wetpour, rubber mulch, artificial grass with a shockpad underneath and more. Our specialists aim to offer you the best value for money and will make certain that the surfaces are safe for kids to play on when carrying out the installation.

We can install many of our surfaces in different depths to meet specific Critical Fall Heights. It is important to consider CFH if you have play equipment on the area to ensure children will hurt themselves if they fall off the apparatus. Our team can work out the depth needed for you to ensure safety of your facility.

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How is Activity Flooring Maintained?

As well as installing multisport flooring, we also provide maintenance services to keep the flooring in the best possible condition. By carrying out regular maintenance upon the surface we can make certain the flooring is safe for use. If you do not carry out regular inspections, you may not notice rips and tears on the surfacing. This can then become dangerous for the children using the multiactivity flooring, as they could trip and hurt themselves.

When carrying out the activity flooring maintenance services, you may find that some repairs are needed. Our team can offer minor repairs along with full resurfaces if necessary. By carrying out routine maintenance, you’ll be able to cut back on costs of the repairs. However, if you have had the facility for a long period of time, it may require a full resurface.

Safety Surface Design

When installing safety flooring, we can incorporate numerous designs to enhance the area and make a more enjoyable space for young people to enjoy. You can incorporate educational games into surfaces like wetpour for young kids to make use of. We have a variety of safety flooring designs available which may be installed on the area. We can install these designs in various colours to meet individual requirements.

We’d highly recommend installing safety flooring to make certain children using the area will not suffer injuries. Since we install a range of different safety surfaces, you can create designs with multiple surface types to create a unique area for people to enjoy.

Outdoor Safety Flooring Specialists

It’s important to choose outdoor safety flooring specialists when installing a new play area. The same goes for if you need repairs to your existing one. We have many years of experience in the recreational surfacing industry. We have a wealth of knowledge on design and creating a specification which meets your budget.

As well as the wetpour surface type, we may also provide soft flooring services for a number of other flooring options including rubber tiles for grass areas. These are rubber mats in a honeycomb shape, made from recycled rubber.

Grass mats are normally 22mm thick and designed to be laid over existing grass, allowing it to grow through to conceal the rubber mat and create a better appearance. The specially designed tiles can be used as an impact absorbing safety surface and we would always recommend the additional installation of a Ground Stabilising Mesh (GSM) below the rubber mat itself to improve stability.

Each of the natural looking surface types we specialise in such as rubber mulch and grass mats are ideal for existing outdoor areas. This creates a more natural appearance while still adding extra safety qualities for use with equipment and activity trails.

Installing Safe Play Facilities

The video below shows one of our projects which involved installing a wetpour play area for a school. The designs for this safety surface included a number of colourful graphics with games for the children to enjoy. This rubber flooring also provides impact absorption around equipment such as slides which were also present on the playground.

Playground Surface Maintenance

As well as designing and installing these rubber surfacing specifications, we also offer safety flooring services to test, clean and maintain outdoor play areas and ensure that any issues are dealt with as quickly as possible. These include brushing to remove debris from the area and jet washing the flooring. We’ll also carry out repairs for localised damage or shrinkage of the rubber around the perimeter.

We offer many services to help you look after your recreational surfacing and we also supply equipment such as repair kits and de-icer. These enable you to carry out minor repairs and maintenance yourself. We can help if you are looking to install a new safety surface, or you need advice on the maintenance of an existing one. Please get in touch with us through our enquiry form so we can discuss costs and offer you a quote.

If you do not carry out the appropriate maintenance on your area, you may have to deal with a number of costly repairs. Although we undertake repair work, it is better to try to avoid this. By completing regular inspections and cleaning services you can increase the life span of the playground and minimise expenses.

Types of Safety Surfacing

There are a range of different safety surfaces available for schools, nurseries and playground parks. Our team have listed a few of the top safety surfaces in the UK.

Wet Pour Rubber Safety Flooring

Wet pour is a rubber safety flooring comprised of two layers: an SRB base layer (also known as a shock pad, which is adjusted according to the Critical Fall Heights of any play equipment within the area), and an EPDM wearing course layer on which it’s possible to feature different designs and colours. As specialist wet pour rubber suppliers, we can provide a variety of colours and designs of wet pour, with our most popular designs being a black EPDM layer with coloured graphics, hopscotch and number and letter grids.

Rubber Mulch Surfacing

Rubber mulch is ideal for use in muddy play areas or around timber activity trails due to its natural-looking appearance and ability to protect children from injury. It is a simple yet durable solution to natural grass in areas that become muddy or unsafe in wet conditions. We provide only high-quality rubber mulch that is made from bonded rubber bark surfaces from reused track tyres to resemble wooden bark. It is possible to install rubber mulch on most surfaces, and are often a cheaper option than other designs, yet is still available in a variety of colours.

Activity Surfacing Installation

Activity surfacing is a common installation in many schools in the UK so that the children can take part in a range of games in one space, which is an efficient feature of activity surfacing since it reduces the space required for different activities, which is often limited. Rubber inserts and graphics are implemented into the activity surfacing, which can be designed to fit educational requirements or inline with key lesson content, which is particularly useful as studies have demonstrated that children still learn whilst playing. During construction, the floor can either be laid straight away, or firstly have a shock pad laid down first to incorporate a safer, impact-absorbing surface. Once the surface has been installed, the games space can be customised by adding equipment like PS3 or PS4 enclosures and games panels to create a more interactive play area.

Leisure Grass

Leisure grass can transform muddy or ineffective grass into a more attractive and durable area, either for domestic and commercial projects or public spaces. Soft Surfaces Ltd. offer a choice of natural colour options of the leisure grass, all of which are SuDS compliant with UV stability. This means that the grass does not become flooded or waterlogged as natural grass can, that the colour of the grass is resistant to colour fading. We can recommend the pile heights to meet your space and design needs, although 25mm is the most natural appearing length. Due to its practicality, leisure grass is a simple and convenient alternative to natural grass.

Why use Safety Flooring?

All types of safety flooring (wet pour, rubber mulch, activity surfacing and leisure grass) provide many benefits: they are low maintenance yet visually pleasing, and due to the versatile nature of safety flooring, can be adapted in terms of colour, design and material to suit your needs. A particular benefit of safety flooring is its appeal to children; the bright colours and design can encourage them to make use of the outdoor space and exercise, which is important for their physical health and well-being. A report conducted by the All Party Commission in 2013 called the ‘Generation Inactive’ found that only one half of seven-year-olds meet the recommended activity guidelines of sixty minutes per day, which contributes to the obesity epidemic and general overall poor fitness of today’s children, of which pose serious health risks such as suffering from diabetes, heart disease, cancer and depression.

Access to regular outdoor play facilities can reduce these risks since such facilities encourage children to exercise and spend time in the fresh air. The use of outdoor play facilities also has numerous physical social and cognitive benefits. Being able to access such spaces can improve the balance, coordination and strength of children, and also encourage children to socialise with peers of different ages, leading to the development of new social skills. The cognitive benefits of access to outdoor play facilities are a reduction in stress, increase in energy and concentration, which create a better learning environment within the classroom. Safety surfacing facilitates these benefits by creating a safe outdoor play facility, where the versatility of safety flooring means different designs could be tailored to fulfill different educational needs.

All products provided by Soft Surfaces Ltd. are of high quality, and our team members are available to provide expert advice and design plans tailored to your design needs. Although all options are of low maintenance, some maintenance is required, such as sweeping of debris to allow prevent the porous surfaces from becoming blocked and unable to drain water. However, should you require assistance with this, maintenance packages are available from Soft Surfaces Ltd.

Get In Touch

All the installation and maintenance services are completed by safe outdoor flooring specialists to the highest standards. This ensures complete client satisfaction and to keep the safety of the children as our top priority.

We have worked with schools, nurseries, councils and other educational organisations to develop outdoor playgrounds. These allow kids to participate in active play while learning through games which link to the National Curriculum.

For more information on the services we provide for outdoor safety flooring including wetpour, get in touch with us by filling in our enquiry form. We’ll send you some product sheets and examples of previous work that we have carried out. We’ll also offer a quote for the work you’d like us to complete.

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