Artificial Turf?

[Abigail]

Does anyone have (or know someone who does have) artificial turf under their swingset or outdoor play area that is a "cushion" for their fall zone? I've got sand right now, but it's not layed out on the ground yet as I'm still trying to decide on what to use. Does anyone have photos to share????

My plan right now if I don't change my mind is to put down the sand we have and then lay outdoor carpeting over it so the kids can't actually play with the sand. I just wish someone else out their did this and wrote about it and took pictures to help me!

[itlw8]

I saw that on tv but they used a special 3 inch thick pad under the turf.

[Childminder]

I have commercial outdoor carpet over 12 inches of wood chips under my set and LOVE it. If you do a search here on daycare.com you will find the subject has been discussed previously. Not sure why the photos flipped sideways but here are some closeups and the other thread has the entire play yard.

[Sprouts]

how often do you have to change the mulch if u have the carpet over it? It looks great and very mess free!

[Childminder]

Almost four years it has been down and we still don't have to change it. Dh tamped it well and it has not reduced in depth at all.

Here is the thread with the complete pictures of the playground: https://www.daycare.com/forum/showth...ght=playground

[snbauser]

If you are under licensing guidelines, make sure you check with them first. I love the idea of putting an outdoor carpet over the mulch to cut down on the mess but when I asked my licensor and she asked her boss, I was told no. The reasoning was that they/we could not easily measure the depth of the mulch in various locations to make sure it was deep enough. I even tried asking about not totally securing the edges so the carpet could be pulled back and was told no.

[Abigail]

Childminder,
Did you do all this yourself? Did you lay down a tarp over the dirt then put in the mulch then the carpet over it? How did you secure down all the layers? When you walk on it is it wobbly or did it flatten out over the years? I wonder if sand would continually move?

We have about 10 wheelbarrow piles of sand in the garage and I know that is not enough but it is enough to get started. I'm wondering if it would be a bad idea to do sand on the bottom then wood mulch on top the carpeting?

DANG I wish more studies were done on this! I'm going to have to see what the stores have for widths of outdoor carpeting to know how wide I can make it too. I don't have anything for fall zones and our licensing isn't too strict, but I will send an email.

[countrymom]

how did he tack it down. I have peastones now (well I've had it for 10 yrs) but now I'm deciding do I pull it all apart and fix it up, how does it hold up in snow.

[Childminder]

Childminder,
Did you do all this yourself? Dh an I did it together.Did you lay down a tarp over the dirt then put in the mulch then the carpet over it? No tarp How did you secure down all the layers? We brought in wood chips we got from the road commission for free, we were able to dig what we wanted so we didn't have sticks or branches to deal with. We used a lawn roller and a hand tamper to pack it to a firm 12 inch layer and laid the strips of outdoor carpet over it, cutting it to fit corners and such. We then stapled it to the outer beam with a staple gun and used landscape fabric staples (they are about 5-6 inches long) and "stapled" the seams together. When you walk on it is it wobbly or did it flatten out over the years? It never was wobbly or uneven because we tamped the woodchips first. I wonder if sand would continually move? I doubt it would move if tamped but we wanted the cushion of the chips for a fall zone protection.

We have about 10 wheelbarrow piles of sand in the garage and I know that is not enough but it is enough to get started. Try the sand with the chips over it? I'm wondering if it would be a bad idea to do sand on the bottom then wood mulch on top the carpeting?

DANG I wish more studies were done on this! I'm going to have to see what the stores have for widths 6 foot and 12 of outdoor carpeting to know how wide I can make it too. I don't have anything for fall zones and our licensing isn't too strict, but I will send an email.

Hope this clarifies some of your questions.

[Childminder]

how did he tack it down. We used a staple gun and landscape fabric staples. We were doubtful that the landscape staples would hold but it has gone through three years of wind, rain, snow and kids and still looks like we just put it down! I have peastones now (well I've had it for 10 yrs) but now I'm deciding do I pull it all apart and fix it up, how does it hold up in snow. Holds up great we just use the shovel or snow blower and it works great. For leaves or rain or sand we just use the leaf blower and it cleans up in just a couple of minutes

Try contacting companies that replace golf and soccer domes with astroturf and you can buy the used carpet from them for pennies on the dollar.

[countrymom]

the rug will cost me roughly 200 dollars, and about 100 dollars in wood chips. Hmm I have to run this by dh. Can you buy the staples at lowes or home depot.

[Childminder]

the rug will cost me roughly 200 dollars, and about 100 dollars in wood chips. Hmm I have to run this by dh. Can you buy the staples at lowes or home depot.

Walmart , lowes, Home Depot, KMart, Ace, etc…

[Abigail]

If you are under licensing guidelines, make sure you check with them first. I love the idea of putting an outdoor carpet over the mulch to cut down on the mess but when I asked my licensor and she asked her boss, I was told no. The reasoning was that they/we could not easily measure the depth of the mulch in various locations to make sure it was deep enough. I even tried asking about not totally securing the edges so the carpet could be pulled back and was told no.

I contacted licensing last week. They have NO guidelines or requirements for a fall zone. Only Child Care Resource and Referral does. I called a local company that installs playgrounds for daycares and local parks and they said if I did sand with carpet over it outdoor that soon the sand would be compacted down that it would be more rock solid than the actual grass. So I decided NOT to buy extra sand than the free stuff the concrete guys left us. We have about an inch layer of sand that was techinically "free" to fill the 12 by 23 foot play area. Right now it's just used like a sandbox and VERY messy even just with a few toddlers. I did this narrow enough so I can still put carpet over it with the idea of making a play zone not necessarily fall zone.

The person who did wood chips under carpet.......does anyone ever get hurt when they fall? Do you have a wood border?

[jokalima]

I have commercial outdoor carpet over 12 inches of wood chips under my set and LOVE it. If you do a search here on daycare.com you will find the subject has been discussed previously. Not sure why the photos flipped sideways but here are some closeups and the other thread has the entire play yard.
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Hello, how do you call that kind of fencing that you have?

[Childminder]

The person who did wood chips under carpet.......does anyone ever get hurt when they fall? Do you have a wood border?

I have never had anyone get hurt. (knock on wood!) It feels more of cushion than the recycled rubber mats that they use at the parks near us and those are federally approved. It is hard to describe the feeling when walking, or running, it is has a firm base with just a slight give.

We have 6"X6" pressure treated beams stacked 2 high to confine the wood chips. Where it looks like they are not that high is because we dug out a hole 12" deep and placed the beams down into the ground around the perimeter of the hole.