This early childhood center in Kansas City, Kansas had three playground areas completely redone. New equipment was installed first and then we came in and installed synthetic turf. The total square footage was around 11,000. Playground synthetic turf surfacing has the appearance of traditional grass, without all the maintenance. Playground synthetic turf surfacing is a two-layer system. Under the synthetic turf is a 100% recycled, non-contaminated, post-industrial cross-linked closed cell polyethylene foam. The padding gives the surface its shock absorbing property and provides consistent fall protection. The foam comes in different critical fall height (CFH) thicknesses needed for a playground to meet Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and ASTM standards. Our synthetic turf playground surface drains quickly, is highly durable, requires minimal maintenance, is IPEMA certified, ascetically pleasing and ADA compliant.
Our experienced crew installed the synthetic turf over the center’s existing poured in place surfacing. Since the existing poured in place surfacing still met critical fall height requirements, this meant that the early childhood center could save money and forgo the foam padding layer of the synthetic turf. Our synthetic turf playground surfacing is specifically designed for “high use” playgrounds and has high traffic durability. We also use a revolutionizing infill called Hydrochill Cooling Sand that can lower the surface temperature of your synthetic turf surface by 50 degrees! Hydrochill is an evaporative cooling system that absorbs moisture and slowly releases it to help cool your surface. This is a great addition to have on playgrounds.
Our certified playground surfacing installation crew has installed a couple of poured in place playground surfaces in Chanute, Kansas. The city has specific graphic designs that they always want to incorporate into the rubber surface. Since the surface is custom poured on site, nearly any mix of colors and designs can be implemented into the rubber playground surface. Your imagination is your only limitation! The city goes with a non standard three color mix for their main surface color. Our favorite color combination that they have gone with is a light blue, dark blue, and black mix. Our crew poured bright orange and light grey splashes and accent designs under and around the playground equipment to help make the surface pop. The graphics were easy for our veteran installation crew to create. This poured in place rubber surface was installed using aromatic urethane binder. We also install surfaces with aliphatic urethane binder. Aliphatic binder is UV resistant and clear in color which helps the EPDM colored rubber wear layer maintain its vibrant and beautiful color.
The playgrounds at each of Chanute’s parks are designed to be handicap accessible to allow everyone the chance to to play. The park district chose a poured in place rubber playground surface because it is ADA compliant, meaning that it meets or exceeds the standards set forth in the ASTM F1951 Standard Specification for Determination of Accessibility of Surface Systems Under and Around Playground Equipment. Poured in place rubber surfaces also meet or exceed the standards set forth by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). The depth of their playground surfaces are both 2.5” and 3.5” inches with a critical fall height (CFH) of 6 and 8 feet to be safety compliant.
Ecoturf Surfacing expertly installed bonded rubber mulch playground surfacing for this day school in Wichita, Kansas. The day school chose to go with a red rubber mulch color to accent their playground equipment. Our other bonded rubber mulch color options are blue, brown, green, sandstone, and black. This day school playground required a surface with a 6 foot critical fall height (CFH). The CFH is determined by measuring the highest equipment platform to the ground. The fall heights of the equipment pieces were 6 foot, which means they required a 2.5 inch surface depth to be compliant with ASTM F1292 Standard Specification for Impact Attenuation of Surfacing Materials Within the Use Zone of Playground Equipment and Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) Standards.
In addition to meeting and exceeding ASTM and CPSC standards, bonded rubber mulch playground surfacing is also low maintenance, extremely durable, and aesthetically pleasing. What is unique about a bonded rubber mulch surface is that it is installed all in one layer. Cities especially like this aspect of the bonded rubber mulch because if a kid happens to tear up a piece of the surface, it isn’t noticeable because all 2.5 inches of the surface look exactly the same. Bonded rubber mulch is also made with 100% recycled tires! This makes it a great option for state playground recycled tire grants!