Childrens Play Area

tedimc

After moving in to our house >1 year ago, the attention is now turning to the garden.

We want to put in a kids play area for a swing, slide, etc.

Does anyone have any recommendations or experience with the rubber mats or soft play tarmac? The area will be grassed, but I was thinking about bordering off a dedicated area and putting in the mats to cut down on muck.

Or is sand the best of the lot? I know these things can get pricey, so I don't want to spend a huge amount but I don't mind forking out a few hundred for a decent job.

Any recommendations for swings also?

This will be all DIY.

Thanks

scarepanda

This is something I'm very interested in as well. We're between rubber mats or artificial grass. Mainly to cut down on maintenance in the area as it's a pain to cut grass around swing base etc.

I would think sand wouldn't be a great idea as you could have cats etc coming around and using it as a toilet. And also, sand gets absolutely everywhere and for me would be worse than some muck.

tedimc

hi scarepanda - they are my concerns about the sand also.

My only thoughts on the artificial grass is - does is sting like mad if the kids fall on it? I'm thinking back to the days I used to play on astroturf.

Also - what kind of base would you need for it?

scarepanda

Ya, I wondered that as well about the artificial grass, but I don't know how bad it is. I wouldn't imagine it would be much worse than the rubber mats though...

I haven't looked much into the detail of what kind of base or cost either tbh as we're still renting. We're house hunting at the moment, so it's something I've been thinking about for the (hopefully) not to distant future, but not in a position to properly research it if that makes sense as I don't know what area we would have to work with etc.

tedimc

Sure - makes sense, you need to look around at options.

I've seen the artificial grass in a few places (including carpet showrooms). I was surprised how cheap it can be actually. Maybe E5 a square meter.

However, it does get a lot dearer and the more expensive stuff does look better, but for a play area the cheap stuff looked fine.

Roen

Was thinking of this recently as we'll have a need for a play area with a toddler here already and a bun in the oven.
Was thinking of something modular cos the toddler doesn't need a whole lot and no.2 strong son won't be aware of a lot for a couple of years.
Eventually though there'll be a play house and swings etc so the area will grow.
I reckon those rubber mat tiles would be the ticket. I have no idea what kind of base to lay them on though.

I'll post back if I experience a Eureka moment or find a solution.

Cantona's Collars

Roen wrote: »

Was thinking of this recently as we'll have a need for a play area with a toddler here already and a bun in the oven.
Was thinking of something modular cos the toddler doesn't need a whole lot and no.2 strong son won't be aware of a lot for a couple of years.
Eventually though there'll be a play house and swings etc so the area will grow.
I reckon those rubber mat tiles would be the ticket. I have no idea what kind of base to lay them on though.

I'll post back if I experience a Eureka moment or find a solution.

Get some rolls of weedblock material. AFAIK Aldi or Lidl have them this week.
Put down a layer of sand or quarry dust (cheap) and lay the rubber mats on top.
Perhaps some timbers around them to hold everything in place if digging out the sod and recessing them isn't an option.

https://www.halfords.ie/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductMobileDisplay?catalogId=15551&langId=-1&categoryId=311003&productId=978469&storeId=11101

You can also lay the artificial grass instead of mats using the same method.Just tack it down around the edges.