Most playsets are installed right on the grass of their owner’s backyard, but, as you may have heard, grass isn’t the most ideal ground covering for under a playset.
What to put under a playset? Playset ground covering can include mulch, rubber mulch, other rubber products, pea gravel, or sand. Mulch is one of the most commonly used materials because it looks nice, is inexpensive, and it is easily accessible.
In this article, I will outline the advantages and disadvantages of each of the ground coverings commonly used under a playset so that you can make the right decision for your family.
Related: How To Make A Sandbox Under A Playset
Playset Ground Covering Materials
Many families choose to put their playset up over grass. Grass seems pretty soft, and you would think it would help in a fall, but it simply will not.
Using a ground covering under your playset will be far more effective at preventing injuries from falls than grass.
In addition, ground covering will make mowing your yard much easier. You won’t have to worry about getting your lawn mower around the playset equipment or trimming up the grass around the posts and slide.
Ground Covering Materials
Considerations When Choosing Ground Covering Material
When selecting a ground covering for under your playset, there are a number of things you will want to consider.
First of all, you will want to consider the safety of the material. How much protection from injuries does it offer? Is the material safe to have around children? Will it harm them if it gets in their mouth?
Fall ratings are available for most materials you would consider putting under your playset. Fall height ratings tell us “an approximation of the fall height below which a life-threatening head injury would not be expected to occur” (source).
Basically, a fall height tells us the height from which someone could fall without getting a life-threatening head injury. This does not mean that someone would not get hurt, only that it would be unlikely for a life-threatening head injury to occur.
Beyond safety, you will also want to consider the cost of each material. Most ground covering materials can be purchased fairly inexpensively in bulk, especially if you don’t need it delivered, but the rubber options tend to be more expensive.
You will also want to consider whether the material will attract pests like carpenter ants or neighborhood cats.
Finally, you must consider how the material will look in your yard, and if that matches your personal preferences.
Mulch and Wood Chips
Mulch and wood chips are often lumped together, but they are not the same material. Wood chips are essentially chopped up bits of wood. Most wood chips are about 1 to 5 inches long and smaller than 3 inches across (source).
Mulch on the other hand is shredded pieces of wood. The pieces are much finer than wood chips. Mulch is also often treated with chemicals and dyes.
Mulch and Wood Chip Safety
Both mulch and wood chips offer protection from serious injuries during a fall, but wood chips offer a little more.
According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission Public Playground Safety Handbook, laying out 9 inches of wood chips under your playset will help prevent injuries from falls up to 10 feet high.
Mulch, on the other hand, will only help prevent injuries from falls that are 7 feet high.
Beyond safety, mulch and wood chips have the same advantages and disadvantages. They are both safe around children if they are untreated.
Treated mulch and wood chips may contain harmful chemicals and dyes, but many use food grade dyes and non-toxic treatments. Check with your supplier for details on how the wood chips you want to buy were treated.
CCA
Pressure treated wood available before 2003 was treated with a wood preservative known as CCA. CCA stands for chromated copper arsenate and it contains compounds of chromium, copper, and arsenic.
In 2003, the EPA and the lumber industry decided to discontinue the use of CCA as a wood preservative because of the dangers of arsenic exposure.
Pressure treated lumber is now treated with alkaline copper quaternary or copper azole, which are both thought to be safe. Many people still choose to avoid pressure treated wood, just to be on the safe side.
You will want to be sure that your wood chips and mulch were not made by breaking down old pressure treated lumber.
Cost
Wood chips and mulch can sometimes be obtained for free from tree cutting services. As long as they only chopped up trees and not lumber, you should be fine to get wood chips this way.
If you can’t find wood chips or mulch for free, then you can purchase it in bulk. To get a 9 inch thick ground covering over the entire play area of your playset, you’re going to need a lot of wood chips.
Wood chips and mulch prices will vary depending on the seller, but they generally cost between $15 and $30 per cubic yard. A cubic yard would be about enough to cover 30 square feet at a 9 inch depth. There may be costs associated with shipping if you cannot pick up the mulch yourself.
You will want to get enough mulch to cover the area in 12 inches of mulch as mulch will settle shortly after it is laid out. If you lay it out 12 inches deep, it will end up being 9 inches deep.
There are some maintenance costs with mulch and wood chip because they will start to decay overtime. You will need to add fresh chips every 1-2 years depending on how fast wood breaks down in your climate.
Pests
Mulch and wood chips will attract insects to your playset. Mulch and wood chips hold moisture in the ground, which is why gardeners often use it in their flower beds. The cool moist environment provided by wood chips and mulch is similar to the underside of a rock, and when you lift a rock, you usually find a few insects living there.
Mulch and wood chips can also provide food for certain insects. This is especially true if the mulch or wood chips have not been treated.
Rubber Options
Rubber mulch, rubber tiles, and pour-in-place rubber all offer great and long-lasting protection from fall related injuries. Of all of the materials available to put under a playset, rubber materials offer the most protection from fall related injuries, but it is also the most expensive.
Rubber mulch is the most commonly used rubber material around playsets because it can be made to resemble wood mulch, and it is usually the least expensive of the rubber options.
Rubber tiles are easy to install and long lasting, but not all rubber tiles offer the same protection against injuries from falls. Some people like the look they lend to a playset’s play area, but some feel very strongly that they are an eyesore.
Pour-in-place rubber surfacing doesn’t come cheap, but it does offer the best protection against injury from falls. Generally, it is used at public playgrounds and schools, not around home playsets.
Safety
Rubber mulch is amazing at protecting against injuries from falls. You only need to lay out 6 inches of material, compared to 9 inches of the other materials, and those 6 inches with help prevent injuries from falls up to 10 feet.
The safety ratings of rubber tiles varies widely, but 6 ½ inches of pour-in-place rubber surfacing offers protection from injury from falls up to 12 feet (source). Most home playsets do not even reach 10 or 12 feet!
Rubber tiles and pour-in-place rubber surfacing has the added benefit of being easy to run across, slip resistant, and welcoming of family members with varying levels of mobility.
Is it toxic?
Rubber ground covering options are almost all made out of recycled tires. While testing concludes that recycled rubber tires are safe for a ground covering on a playground, there are many people who are skeptical.
Even if the material in tires is safe, there is concern that tires could be contaminated with other toxic substances, like motor oil or brake fluid, from the cars they were once installed on.
Additionally, tires are not only made of rubber. They have metal wire inside the rubber that helps support the tire. When making rubber mulch, these wires are removed, but occasionally one may sneak in.
Beyond any danger rubber ground covering materials could present to a child playing near them, there are also concerns about chemicals leaching from rubber mulch or rubber tiles into the soil, which would have an environmental impact.
Cost
If you choose to use rubber mulch for the ground covering under your playset, you will definitely want to purchase it in bulk from a supplier. It will save you hundreds of dollars.
It costs $315 plus shipping costs to cover approximately 51 square feet in 6 inches of rubber mulch (source). Prices will vary, of course. You may not need the full 6 inches if your playset does not have very high platforms. Some recommend only a 3 inch depth, but these depths have not been tested.
You will not need to lay out extra mulch to counteract settling like you would need to do if you were using wood mulch, and there is virtually no maintenance beyond raking it out every once in a while.
Pests
Rubber mulch is not a material that attracts insects, pests, and it does not make a suitable material for plants to grow in.
Pea Gravel
Pea gravel is not just any kind of gravel. It is made up of small, smooth pebbles that are almost soft to the touch, and because of this, it is great for use under a playset. You wouldn’t want to put a rougher kind of gravel under your playset.
Pea gravel comes in a variety of different neutral shades. It is often used for landscaping projects like making walkways. If you already use pea gravel in your landscaping, using it under your playset is an easy decision.
Safety
Pea gravel is not as safe as rubber mulch or wood mulch. If you lay out 9 inches of pea gravel beneath your playset, it will help prevent injuries from falls up to 5 feet. This may be enough if you have a smaller playset.
Cost
Pea gravel costs between $20 and $50 per cubic yard plus the cost of delivery, if you need it delivered (source). Many suppliers will allow you to go to them, load up, and haul it off yourself.
If you are going to cover a 30 by 30 play area with 9 inches of pea gravel, it will take at least 25 cubic yards.
Pea gravel does not have any maintenance costs, but it does tend to hitch a ride in pant cuffs and make its way into your house and lawn. You may need to top it off periodically.
Pests
Pea gravel does not attract pests.
Sand
Fine play sand doubles as a ground covering and a play medium. Most children love to play in sand, and for that reason, many families choose sand as their ground cover for under their playset.
Safety
Sand is not the safest option for ground cover under a playset. Sand, even at 9 inches deep, will only help prevent injuries from falls up to 4 feet. This is still better than grass, but not much. Only use sand under your playset, if the playset’s swing beam is less than 4 feet high.
Cost
Play sand costs about $35 per ton. A ton of sand would cover 15-20 square feet if you are going for a 9 inch depth. While all-purpose sand would cost closer to $20 per ton.
Pests
The main pest issue you could face with sand is that it could attract cats, who may mistake it for a litter box. Plants and weeds will sometimes grow in sand, so it may need some extra maintenance (source).
Additionally, sand is often messier than other ground coverings. It seems to find its way into shoes and pant cuffs and your child’s hair. If you choose sand, you might want to have your mudroom ready.
What Not to Put Under a Playset
Now that you know all about the kinds of ground covering you can put under your playset. I will briefly touch upon materials you should avoid under your playset.
Grass is not the best option for ground covering under a playset. It can only prevent a life threatening head injury from falls up to about 3.2 feet, and almost all playsets and swing set have fall risks of higher than 3 feet (source).
Other substances you would not want to put under a playset include crushed stone, concrete, asphalt, dirt, carpet, most artificial grasses, or paving stones. These are all hard surfaces, and they would be dangerous for use under a playset.
How Much Ground Needs to be Covered?
Now that you have picked out which ground covering you would like to use, you’re probably trying to figure out how much need, and how much space you need to cover.
The CPSC recommends 6 feet of open space around the playset on all sides. In front of and in the back of the swings, you will need even more space. To figure out how much space you need for the swing set side of your playset, multiply the height of the swing beam by 2.
If your swing beam is 6 feet high, you will need 12 feet of open space in front of the swing and 12 feet of open space in back of swing.
Ideally, the entire play areas should be covered with a ground covering material. It might seem like a lot, but it really isn’t. Most children reach about 5 feet by the time they are 12. If a 5 foot tall child falls horizontally, 6 feet really isn’t all that much space for them to land.
Additionally, if you use landscape lumber or another material to build up an
edge so your ground covering does not sneak into your yard, you will need that
wall to be beyond the six feet of open space.
Laying Ground Covering Over a Hard Surface
If you have to install your playset on concrete or another hard surface, you will need to add an extra level of covering to the hard surface in order for your ground covering to do its job of protecting your family in the event of a fall.
After the playset is built and anchored to the ground, you will need to lay 3 to 6 inches of loose fill material like drainage gravel over the concrete or other hard surface.
On top of the loose fill material, install a geotextile cloth to prevent erosion while still allowing drainage. Then you can then add the ground covering of your choice at the depth required.
This will ensure that the ground covering you choose can work its best to prevent children from getting injured.