Safety Surfaces For Playgrounds

One of the most popular safety surfaces for playgrounds is wetpour. This is often referred to as rubber tarmac or soft play area flooring. This particular specification consists of two main parts which are both laid to the existing surface. The first is a 100% recycled SBR (Styrene Butadiene Rubber) which we apply as a base layer. The second is a top coat or wearing coarse of EPDM rubber crumb. This can be installed outside in school playgrounds along with parks and other recreational spaces.

Wetpour Safety Surfaces

The depth of both the base coarse rubber (SBR) and the top coat of EPDM can be altered. We can change the depth to meet the critical fall height (CFH) of the children’s play equipment. The granules of the rubber playground safety surfaces are held together by a resin to give a resin bonded surfacing. The flooring is ideal for school play areas with or without equipment.

The wetpour rubber should be laid onto a porous base as it is porous and allows for water drainage from the children’s play surface. This means it is still suitable for use in wet weather and will not become flooded when it rains. You should carry out regular maintenance of these areas to ensure it remains porous.

The wetpour soft play area is hard wearing and should last for years but if over the years it becomes damaged there are wet pour repair kits that are available. These are mainly used to cover a small area of the safety surfacing, these are also made from the same EPDM that has been installed previously to the children’s play area.

The wet pour is mixed with the resin to give the same resin bound surface as the original wet pour as the school playground. Children’s play surfaces such as nursery play areas can come with all types of outdoor play equipment. However, the soft play surfacing is ideal for a variety of different areas with or without children’s play equipment.

Alternative Play Area Surfaces

There are other types of surfaces that can be used in school playgrounds and nursery play areas, such as synthetic grass, rubber mulch, rubber bark, mats and matting. All have their uses, but the wet pour / safety surface is probably the most popular. With our graphics playground designs are easy to incorporate in soft play areas, the graphics are laser cut from sheets of EPDM so that they are consistent to photos in our graphics catalogue. These are laid onto the 100% recycled SBR and the top coat of wet pour is laid around them to give a perfect finish to the playing area wet pour surface.

After years of use the cheapest way to regenerate the wet pour safety surfacing would be for an overlay/recap to the area in a top coat soft pour surface this can be in colour EPDM or Black EPDM. To brighten up the area wet pour graphics can be used on the surface giving extra years of life to the children to enjoy outdoor play equipment safely.

There are all types of Play equipment that can be used for the children’s playground. You can place benches around the play areas for the children to sit and chat on. Slides and swings are popular along with climbing frames and trim trails. But you should always remember that the critical fall height (CFH) must be correct around all the playground equipment in the soft play areas. Safety is paramount and we think that safety surfaces for playgrounds should be professionally laid at the correct depth in these facilities.

Below is a video of the wetpour safety surfaces being installed for a playground:

If you’d like any more information about the playground safety surfaces and the sports facilities we install, please visit https://www.softsurfaces.co.uk/ and fill in our contact form. We would be happy to discuss any queries you have regarding a playground safety surfacing project and one of our team members will be able to provide you with details of specifications and costs.

What play area safety surface designs would you choose for your playground?