Types of coatings used in the construction of playgrounds

Covering children's playgrounds is one of the main guarantors of the safety of your little ones. Of course, it is impossible to protect from all injuries, but you can soften the blows of a fall and reduce the number of abrasions and bruises with the help of sand, grass or gymnastic mats.

Therefore, if you decide to build a children's playground yourself or order the installation of such a playground from specialists, do not forget to take care of good flooring. This will protect both your little ones from injuries and you from unnecessary worries.

The relatively low cost of flooring made from different materials makes it quite easy and quick for anyone to find the right product. We will tell you in this article what advantages and disadvantages different coverings for a playground have.

Artificial Grass for Playground

This covering on the playground, football field, and recreation area successfully replaces a natural grass lawn. Its quality is so great that since 2005 FIFA has allowed matches to be played on artificial turf fields.

Making sports turf is similar to carpet weaving. The dense polymer canvas (base) is quilted with polyethylene threads (tufts of grass). The process is called tufting. Artificial grass carpet is sold in rolls.

A polyethylene lawn is not fertilized, watered or mowed, but maintenance is required. Weeds manage to grow through the artificial carpet and have to be removed. Many types of artificial grass are periodically sprinkled with quartz sand. This is how the playing properties of natural lawn are reproduced. Sand bedding is used when equipping high-quality playgrounds and sports fields.

Sports fields are covered with artificial grass Source sportcover.ru

Artificial turf in open areas is laid on crushed stone bases. It is possible to lay synthetic grass on sand; this option is not recommended for sports fields due to the instability of sandy soil. In some cases, the base for installation is concrete or asphalt.

The main requirement for a loose base is hygroscopicity. For concrete or asphalt, there must be a slight slope for water to drain. In addition to green, white synthetic grass is produced. Inserts are made from it - marking elements.

Sellers offer different types of artificial grass.

Based on the type of blades of grass, the coating is divided into:

• monofilamentous;
• fibrillated.

In the first case, a bunch of grass is obtained from one polyethylene strip. In the second, only the upper part of the strip is cut into conditional blades of grass. Monofilament coating is difficult to distinguish from natural. Fibrillated is cheaper and wear-resistant.

Artificial turf is visually indistinguishable from natural grass Source gazon360.ru

In relation to adding quartz sand, grass is:

1. Non-backfilling . The length of the grass blades is from 4 to 10 mm. Used in low-use playgrounds or as a decorative element.
2. Half-filled . The length of the grass blades is from 7 to 35 mm. It is preferably filled with quartz sand. The amount of sand introduced affects the hardness of the field. The less sand, the softer the field.
3. Zasypnaya . The length of the grass blades is from 40 to 70 mm. It is filled with a mixture of sand and rubber granules. Used on professional football and rugby fields.

More often than synthetic turf, rubber surfaces are used on outdoor children's and sports grounds. They are cheaper than artificial grass, require almost no maintenance, and have “athletic” properties.

Overview of surfaces for outdoor sports grounds

An outdoor sports ground is not uncommon these days. Sports grounds are built in the courtyards of apartment buildings, in country houses and in the private sector. The basis of any sports ground is its surface. Comfort and training results will depend on how well the coating is made. The covering must be non-traumatic, reliable and comfortable.

There are two types of surfaces for outdoor areas: natural and artificial. Natural coatings are environmentally friendly, safe, and aesthetically pleasing, but they require constant care. If you decide to make a lawn for a sports field, you will have to constantly sow, water and cut the grass. In addition, natural coating is difficult to make in the cold season. Artificial turf does not require special costs or effort to care for it. Let's look at the most popular artificial surfaces and their features.

Crumb rubber is the main component of soft coverings

Crumb rubber is obtained from old car tires. They are sorted, the side rings are cut out, and crushed. Metal and tissue components are extracted from the resulting particles. At the final stage, the crumbs are divided into fractions ranging in size from 0.7 to 7 mm.

Crumb rubber from tires Source akmgk.ru

The crumb inherits the chemical composition from tires:

1. Rubber. Typically this is a mixture that may contain natural rubber, styrene butadiene rubber, butadiene rubber and isoprene rubber.
2. Carbon black. The common name is soot. It makes up a third of the volume of all the components from which tires are made.
3. Silicic acid . Partially or completely replaces carbon black.
4. Sulfur . Together with silicic acid it is a vulcanizing agent.
5. Vulcanizing activators (stearic acids, zinc oxide).
6. Other Supplements.

Crumb rubber is produced not only in the process of recycling car tires, but also directly from ethylene propylene rubber. This material is synthesized at chemical plants and is called EPDM or EPDM rubber. Available in the form of granules ranging in size from 1 to 4 mm. The elastomeric properties of crumb rubber obtained from recycling old tires or as a result of the synthesis of EPDM rubber are practically the same.

EPDM rubber granules Source www.olympicsports.kz

Types of lawn grasses for northern latitudes

Before purchasing seeds, you need to pay attention to their variety. Lawn grasses were imported from warm European countries, so they may not take root in special climatic conditions. But there are special species suitable for harsh northern conditions. For example: red fescue, thin bentgrass, perennial ryegrass, meadow bluegrass. These herbs are not afraid of frost, are resistant to all climatic conditions, and have a powerful bark system.

The optimal result is obtained from a mixture containing each of these herbs.

Seamless rubber coating

This coating is called seamless, monolithic or self-leveling. To install it, crumb rubber and a binder are required. It can be multi-component, but more often one-component polyurethane glue is used. In screw or planetary mixers, a working mixture is obtained from crumbs and glue.

The technology for laying crumb rubber is similar to asphalt paving. In small areas, the working mixture is leveled manually, using rollers or hand rollers. When filling large areas, automated pavers are used.

Manual laying of seamless rubber coating Source 9ban.ru

Up to 4 cm of crumb rubber is applied to loose soil. It is enough to put 1 cm of the working mixture on leveled concrete or asphalt. In addition, the concrete is pre-primed with polyurethane glue. This increases the wear resistance of the coating.

To obtain the highest quality coating, a two-layer “pie” is laid on the base. The bottom layer of the “pie” is coarse crumbs. Its thickness is 80-90% of the entire coating. The remaining 10-20% is occupied by the top layer, consisting of small crumbs with a granule size of 1 mm.

When filling critical areas, for example, athletics tracks, the top layer is applied by spraying. This technology increases the “athletic” properties of the rubber coating, but makes it more expensive.

Ethylene propylene rubber granules are produced in white, blue, green and other colors. Crumb rubber obtained from old tires is colored black due to the soot it contains. To give it a variety of colors, powder pigments are added to the working mixture before pouring. The multi-colored area pleases the eye, and the bright, contrasting markings help during competitions.

Colored crumbs made of ethylene propylene rubber Source www.intereco.ru

Seamless laying of rubber coating from crumb rubber is a technology that allows you to obtain the highest quality, safe, multi-color coating for a small playground and a large stadium.

Multi-color seamless coating on the playground Source tramplinsport.ru

See also: Catalog of companies that specialize in playgrounds, as well as landscape design and landscaping.

Decorative lawn for yards and cottages

A decorative lawn is a great way to improve any area; it is the most popular type of landscape design. Lawns of this type include parterre, garden, meadow and Moorish lawns. It all depends on your capabilities and preferences.

Attention! Lawn special forces are protecting the environment. It turns out that there is a special type of herbal mixtures. The so-called special purpose lawn. It is planted on road slopes, near industrial enterprises and airfields. These plants are resistant to gas pollution and burning. In addition, they are able to absorb noise, humidify the air and clean it of dust and gases.

For a small, spectacular flower garden, the best solution is a parterre lawn. A garden lawn is suitable for landscaping a large area with a garden, gazebos and ponds. Lovers of exquisite landscape design will love the Moorish lawn, and country lovers will love the meadow options.

Rubber tiles

A tile is a product based on rubber crumbs. At the manufacturing plant, the crumbs are mixed with a binder and a dye is added. After that, rectangular rubber plates are formed by cold or hot pressing.

The common shape of the tile is a square with a side of 0.5 m. Its thickness varies from 1.6 to 4 cm. When pressed, a relief pattern is extruded on the upper surface. It gives the covering of playgrounds an attractive appearance and increases the anti-slip properties of the covering material.

Rubber tiles Source images.ru.prom.st

At the same enterprises where tiles are made, rubber paving stones are produced. She goes to pave the paths. The paving stones are given not only a rectangular, but also a shaped shape, which allows adjacent elements to hold each other.

The method of laying tiles is “butt joint”. There are blind holes in each side of the rubber square. The tiles come with sleeves that are inserted into the holes. The resulting joints are of the tongue-and-groove type. These simple but reliable locks keep the tiles from moving.

Soft coverings for children's playgrounds on the street or in the yard are exposed to active exposure to the external environment. Children playing cause injuries to the coating. As a result, the site has to be repaired from time to time. From this point of view, rubber tiles are the most convenient covering option.

Rolled rubber coatings

Rolls are laid faster than other types of crumb rubber coatings. Their use is justified when paving large areas. In terms of composition and manufacturing method, rolls differ little from tiles.

Rolls of crumb rubber Source www.intereco.ru

The rolls are laid end to end. They are connected to each other by tongue-and-groove locks. Parts extending beyond the boundaries of the site are cut off with a carpenter's knife or an electric jigsaw.

The monolithic crumb rubber coating has no cracks, so moisture remains on its surface and, if there is a slight slope, flows off the site. Paving with tiles or rolls does not have this advantage. Water penetrates under the tiles through the joints. To prevent the coating from “floating”, additional measures must be taken.

Requirements for plants

When choosing a grass mixture kit, you should familiarize yourself with the characteristics of each plant included in its composition, otherwise sowing may turn out to be uneven. In general, the herb should have the following properties:

1. Be perennial.
2. Have a soft, silky aerial part.
3. Grow back quickly after cutting.
4. Withstand frost.
5. Have a strong root system to stay firmly in the ground and prevent weeds from multiplying.

Preparation of bases for laying rubber coverings

The thoroughness of preparing the base on which crumbs, tiles or rolled material will be laid determines the durability of the coating. The simplest option is a leveled dirt area. Such preparation is often limited to when applying rubber coating for children's playgrounds in the country, where it is planned to install children's houses, ladders, and swings. But even in this case, it is important that the base is hygroscopic and has a slight slope for water drainage.

Rubber coating on a country playground Source www.sport-masterfibre.ru

• More thorough work is being carried out to prepare the site on which a children's sports and play complex for numerous visitors will be built. Preparatory stages of work when creating a sand base:
• site marking;
• removal of vegetation, soil sampling while maintaining the slope (for water drainage);
• backfilling of the drainage layer, its thickness is usually 10 cm, the material is crushed stone;
• backfilling a 10-centimeter layer of sand onto a crushed stone bed;
• tamper with a high degree of compaction;
• laying geotextile fabric on which a rubber coating will be applied.

Sometimes the preparation of the base is completed by laying a layer of concrete or asphalt. When organizing places for street sports, the concrete or asphalt base is often “inherited”. Whatever base is used, it is necessary that water does not stagnate on it. That is, you need a slope of 2.5 mm for every 3 m of length.

Laying crumb rubber on an asphalt base Source https://blagsar.ru

Equipment and tools for applying crumb rubber coatings

Outdoor children's playgrounds and sports grounds can be of very different sizes. From a few square meters to the size of a stadium with athletics tracks. In the first case, you can use simple hand tools to lay the coating; in the second, you need serious equipment.

• Mixers . Used to obtain a working mixture of crumb rubber and binder. It is possible to use construction and more productive, specialized mixers.
• Trolleys for delivering the finished mixture to the installation site.
• Manual rolling rollers are the simplest tool for leveling the working mixture.
• Heated rollers . When using this tool, a better leveled surface is obtained.

Roller for laying crumb rubber with heating Source i.ytimg.com

• Machine for laying rubber crumbs . A simple mechanical device that evenly distributes the working mixture over the surface.
• Automatic coating layer. A complex device for installing coatings over large areas.

Seamless rubber coating paver Source www.smg-gmbh.de
Spray machine (spray) for applying a mixture of crumbs and a binder.

When laying rubber tiles and rolls, the set of tools is reduced to a regular mallet, with the help of which the covering elements are knocked together.

Briefly about the main thing

In the recent past, the most common type of surface for outdoor playgrounds was natural soil. It was replaced by artificial grass and rubber covering. They make children's games and sports safer. Most rubber flooring is a recycled product. They are made from old, worn-out tires. In terms of production method, appearance and performance characteristics, these coatings meet the requirements of the 21st century.

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What factors need to be considered when choosing seeds

Lawns are not a modern invention.
They appeared more than 3 thousand years ago. The Old and New Testaments contain references to sowing grass. In Persia and China, long before the advent of the new era, grass carpets were cultivated. In order for the lawn to be evenly fluffy, without bald spots, you can sow it with one type of grass or a grass mixture.

Advice. When buying a lawn mixture, pay attention to the names of grass varieties - they must be indicated in full. Most lawn grasses have double names.

When choosing seeds, you need to focus on a number of factors:

• purpose of sowing. Sports and games, special, decorative;
• soil composition, as well as its acidity and type;
• precipitation level;
• illumination of the area. Shadow, partial shade or light;
• ground water level;
• terms of Use;
• appearance;
• frequency of care;
• financial expenses.

Good lawn grass grows back quickly after cutting and remains soft

The most significant criteria of the above are climatic conditions and the purpose of sowing.