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What It Costs to Build a Playground - Surfacing

Jeff Williams

9 posts

Joined
5/15/2007

What It Costs to Build a Playground - Surfacing
Posted: 15 May 07 10:22 PM Modified By Jeff Williams on 5/15/2007 10:23:47 PM)

I've heard that rubber surfacing is much more expensive than wood chips, even though wood chips are supposedly safe. Can someone tell me how much different in price they are? Does the rubber-type surface eventually get old and have to be replaced?

Thanks if you have any experience or insight with this!

ltoscano

404 posts

www.kaboom.org

Joined
11/8/2006

Re: What It Costs to Build a Playground - Surfacing
Posted: 23 May 07 5:48 PM

Here's a comparison chart I was able to find. However, all this information does vary, so it's probably best to check it against your own research, but it should definitely give a rough idea. The engineered wood fiber (EWF) surfacing needs to be maintained, and raked out often, since it gets kicked out from under swings and at the base of slides especially; and it also needs to be topped off when it gets below the target amount for a certain fall height. The rubber requires less maintenance, but yes, it does need to be replaced eventually (the manufacturer's warranty should tell you about how long it lasts).

Also, if you're figuring in the cost of EWF v. rubber surfacing, you need to take into account the different types of site preparation needed. Rubber is installed over a level concrete pad, and EWF is installed over a level dirt surface. So, if you're starting with dirt and wanted to install rubber, you'd have to add the cost of laying down a concrete pad in addition to the actual cost of the rubber surfacing. Similarly, if you're starting with a concrete surface but wanted to use EWF because it was less expensive, you'd have to see how much it would cost to tear up the concrete pad because after all that site prep you may not be saving that much money in the end. It's really really important not to put EWF directly over a concrete surface.

Thanks for asking such a great question! If you end up deciding on rubber, and you're starting with a dirt surface, you have a couple of install method options (laying concrete and then doing a surface mount installation of playground equipment, or installing the equipment first into holes in the dirt surface and then pouring the concrete pad afterwards), and I can explain those in greater detail as well.

Type of Surfacing	ADA Accessibility	Estimated cost per sq foot	Estimated cost per 2500 sq feet	Fall height to meet CPSC standards with 9 inches of surfacing
Rubber Tiles	Yes	$9	$22,500	12 feet
Engineered Wood Fiber	Yes	$1	$2,500	6 feet
Poured-In-Place Rubber	Yes	$12	$28,000	12 feet
Shredded Rubber	*Yes	$4	$10,000	6 feet
Gravel	No	.5 - $1	$1250 - $2500	6 feet
Sand	No	.5 - $1	$1250 - $2500	5 feet
Grass / Dirt	No	$0	$0	0 feet
Backyard Mulch	No	$1	$2,500	*N/A


* Depends on vendor

snelson

8 posts

Joined
11/8/2006

Re: What It Costs to Build a Playground - Surfacing
Posted: 05 Jun 07 8:15 PM

In my experience, the info Laura posted holds true - the outright cost of poured in place rubber is about 10 time that of wood fibers. However, it may cost even more if you have a lot of site prep to do or could be extra to install the surfacing. Rubber surfacings can be placed on top of concrete or asphalt bases - the method of installing the playground equipment differs between the two bases.

I'm not sure about the life span of rubber - that's a great question to ask surfacing vendors.

Graffiti is possible on rubber, and in some cases getting rid of it could require physically cutting out that portion of rubber and replacing it (if it's possible to just replace a small portion). Another consideration with rubber is heat: the rubber will heat up more than wood chips. I never considered this until a community I worked with noted that on hot, sunny days the rubber surfacing in their park was too hot for the kids to play on.

whampton

27 posts

Joined
11/8/2006

Re: What It Costs to Build a Playground - Surfacing
Posted: 31 Jul 07 9:16 PM

Another less expensive option that some people like to do is install their rubber surfacing over compacted gravel or asphalt. You can dig holes directly through asphalt for your playground, since you canNOT surface mount a playground to asphalt. If you have existing asphalt that you'd like to use for your playground, you can usually send some pictures to your surfacing vendor, who can tell you if the surface is in good enough shape to install rubber on, or if you need to do some patching.

flowerbill1952

46 posts

Joined
2/26/2007

Re: What It Costs to Build a Playground - Surfacing
Posted: 03 Aug 07 9:13 AM

We are currently buying dyed chopped rubber (Treadspread) from Maryland Environmental Services for 17 cents a pound. By their calculator it takes 14 pounds to do a square foot, 6" deep. So that is $2.38 a square foot- if you can get it for this price in other states I think it is well worth it as wood fiber needs to be supplemented about every three years with 50% of the original amount, in our experience. Also as I stated in another thread we have lost big shade trees next to the playgrounds after placing 12" of wood fiber over the roots and those big trees are expensive (sometimes several thousand dollars) to have removed. Hence we are moving entirely to chopped rubber, which by the way is quite different from what I consider shredded rubber. We tried that smaller particle size many years back and found we got alot of complaints about stained clothing and melted rubber in pockets of kids clothes after they went through the dryer. We've had no problems with the newer Treadspread product.

amy2519

29 posts

Joined
12/21/2006

Re: What It Costs to Build a Playground - Surfacing
Posted: 13 Aug 07 12:41 PM

Don't forget about the newest trend in playground covering - accessible turf. Accessible turf installed over cushioned, properly draining bases is available from Zeager Brothers (RecGrass and RecRug), ForeverLawn (Playground Grass), Envylawn, and other manufacturers. Some of these surfaces do not absorb falls from as high as poured-in-place, so check the specifications with the manufacturer. Turf is less expensive than poured-in-place and easier to install. Also, it doesn't get as hot in the sun, and looks more natural. Check out http://projects.kaboom.org/accessibility/UniversalDesign/Surfacing/tabid/20558/Default.aspx for more information.

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