Skip to main content

Main menu

  • Playground
  • Surfacing
  • Parks
  • Athletics
  • Aquatics
  • Play
Home
  • Playground
  • Surfacing
  • Parks
  • Athletics
  • Aquatics
  • Play
  • With Community Helpers the Play Lady Receives the Fred Rodgers Helpers Award
  • Keeping the Fun in Fundraising
  • See Accessibility Through the Eyes of a Child
  • Outdoor Play for Children with Intellectual Disabilities on Playgrounds
  • Keep a Tight Maintenance  Schedule

Breadcrumb

  1. Home
  2. Surfacing
  3. Maintenance
  4. Keep a Tight Maintenance Schedule For Loose Fill Surfacing 

Keep a Tight Maintenance Schedule For Loose Fill Surfacing 

Maintenance
March 01, 2007
Profile picture for user Curtis Stoddard
By Curtis Stoddard on
  • facebook-f
  • twitter
  • envelope
  • print
198
Keep a Tight Maintenance  Schedule
Keep a Tight Maintenance  Schedule

Playground surfacing takes a lot of abuse; thousands of little feet are constantly pounding, pushing, kicking, and grinding at the surfacing.

Occasionally, through sloppy installation, playground surfacing takes a pounding and gets ruined before children even get a chance to play on it. Quality of installation is one factor to consider when selecting loose-fill surfaces. It requires a proper depth of material and installation to function as the manufacturers intended.

Adequate safety surfacing is determined by two factors: impact attention and head injury criteria (HIC). These are both formulas developed from when a test computerized head form falls on the surface.

Impact attention and HIC readings are determined by the type of surfacing, quality of the surfacing product, and depth of the surfacing. For example, it takes twelve inches of loose-fill or tub ground wood surfacing (engineered wood surfacing) for a twelve-foot fall height. If the surfacing falls below twelve inches, you will not have the required impact attention and HIC values and need more depth. If the surfacing is filled with gravel, dirt, fabric, or other impurities, you will not have the required critical fall height because these
items are not as resilient.

Take a look at the photos that accompany this article. The contractor decided it would be easier to install the drainage, fabric, and surfacing before installing the playground equipment. When the play equipment installer arrived, the contractor jumped on his tractor and proceeded to move the wood surfacing, creating a mix of gravel, fabric liners, and engineered wood surfacing mixed together. Essentially, the contractor ruined the engineered wood surfacing, which is a costly mistake.

Mixing the gravel and fabric with the wood contaminated the product and reduced the impact attention and HIC values. The exposed fabric liners pose a trip hazard and eliminates the intended function of separating the wood surfacing from the ground. This mistake will eventually lead to the premature decomposition of the wood product, and children are likely to pull at the fabric, which may create another safety hazard.

This example makes it clear that the protective surfacing should be installed after the play equipment. If equipment is being added to an existing area, care should be taken (with hand tools, do not use heavy equipment) to keep the wood surfacing clean and free of impurities. Care should be taken with the fabric liners, so they can be reinstalled flat on the ground.

Loose-fill surfacing also requires daily maintenance, especially in high-traffic areas. Examples of areas that need daily replacement are at the bottom of busy and high traffic areas. Examples may include: the bottom of the slides, swings, fireman’s poles, or other places where surfacing is moved around by children's feet. A common solution to this problem is installing rubber mats under some of the surfacing at these high traffic points.

Loose-fill surfacing also needs to be replenished regularly. The frequency of replenishing depends on the type of product, amount of use, weather, and other factors. Correct depths of surfacing should be replenished annually at a minimum.

Surfacing is one of the most important aspects of a safe play area as approximately 70 percent of all playground accidents are falls. result from falls onto the surfacing below. Do not overlook the installation and maintenance of loose-fill surfacing, since it very well may be the most important aspect of safety on your playground. 

Add new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
About text formats

Plain text

  • No HTML tags allowed.
  • Web page addresses and email addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
Profile picture for user Curtis Stoddard
Curtis Stoddard
Published 16 years ago
Last updated 7 months ago
198
2
min read
A- A+
  • facebook-f
  • twitter
  • envelope
  • print

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter

More About

Sep 01, 2003
Maintenance

IPEMA Certification Program for Playground Surfacing

Playground Magazine
Mar 01, 2006
Maintenance

Synthetic Turf Surfacing Option

Playground Magazine
Sep 01, 2005
Maintenance

The Importance of Choosing Correct Surfacing

Playground Magazine
Triax History and ASTM F1292 Were Parallel Paths
Jun 20, 2017
Maintenance

Triax History and ASTM F1292 Were Parallel Paths

Rolf Huber
Mar 01, 2003
Maintenance

Decorative Surfacing

Playground Magazine
Triax playground surfacing test equipment
Feb 16, 2021
Maintenance

Performing Reference Drops is as Important as Calibration

Rolf Huber
Mar 01, 2013
Maintenance

New Eovations Technology Creates Tougher, More Durable Composites

Playground Magazine
Nov 01, 2001
Maintenance

Surfacing Explained

Playground Magazine
Aug 01, 2004
Maintenance

Look Out Below

Playground Magazine
Aug 01, 2006
Maintenance

2006-2007 Buyer's Guide Industry Biographies

Playground Magazine
Dec 01, 2003
Maintenance

Crystal Ball 101

Playground Magazine
Playground
Sep 27, 2016
Maintenance

Standards as a Measure of Consistent Performance

Rolf Huber

Maintenance Professionals

Rubber Smart Surface, LLC
Rubber Smart Surface, LLC
Manufacturer
More
Triax Touch
Triax Touch
Services
More
Discount Playground Supply
Discount Playground Supply
Manufacturer
More
River Rock Resurfacing
River Rock Resurfacing
Sales Rep
More
GFactorGo
GFactorGo
Services
More
Home

Follow Us

Play and playground news and information since 2001

  • instagram
  • facebook-f
  • twitter
  • pinterest
  • linkedin

Company

  • Playground Magazine
  • Contributors
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe

Copyright © 2001 - 2023 Playground Professionals, LLC

Footer menu

  • Contact
  • Privacy
  • Terms and conditions