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Rubber play mats are designed to provide traction and impact absorption to create a non-slip and padded play area for children to safely play on without worry of injury. Rubber tiles for playgrounds are made of resilient tire-derived recycled rubber that give them long-lasting durability in both indoor and outdoor settings. Rubber is the best material for creating soft play mats as it can offer both safety and long-lasting durability in the face of heavy wear and tear as well as changing weather conditions. In addition, they are available in various thicknesses, making it easy to choose the right thickness according to the equipment present on the playground. Furthermore, rubber indoor/outdoor play tiles are easy to install which cuts installation costs.
“Eco-Sport 3/4-inch” Interlocking Rubber Flooring Tiles
Why Do You Need a Play Mat?
You need a play mat to create a non-slip play surface and to protect children from injuries caused by falls onto a hard play surface. Children can be careless when they are playing, making it important to install a shock absorbent play surface to ensure safety. Rubber play mats will provide a soft barrier between a hard surface and the force of an impact caused by a fall. Falls account for the majority of playground related injuries, making a rubber play mats essential for safety. Case in point, “79% of ALL playground injuries involve falls. Falls also account for 90% of the most SEVERE playground injuries” (brainline.org). A fall onto soft play mats will be less likely to cause life-threatening injuries than a fall onto a hard surface. Rubber retains a low compression set, allowing it to provide a buoyant surface that offers cushioning. Some rubber tiles for playgrounds are available with a waffle-patterned underside that allows for extra flex under an impact. In addition, rubber retains a high tensile strength, allowing it to remain intact for years under heavy wear and tear, such as impacts and abrasions.
Are Play Mats Worth It?
Play mats are well worth it as they can protect children from dangerous life-threatening injuries. Falls are inevitable when it comes to children, and it can result in injury without the proper safety measures, such as rubber play mats, put in place. For instance, “Each year in the United States, emergency departments treat more than 200,000 children ages 14 and younger for playground-related injuries” (cdc.gov). The addition of rubber play mats will not provide a 100% injury-proof surface; however, it will significantly reduce the chances of injury by creating a padded play area that is a softer surface. Furthermore, padded rubber tiles for playgrounds are made of resilient rubber materials. They are made of durable tire-derived recycled rubber which gives them long life in abrasive settings. Vehicle tires are faced with abrasive terrains and impacts daily without suffering much damage – this same durability is seen in the performance of rubber play mats. Additionally, the outdoor play tiles will not be damaged by harsh environmental factors, including UV rays, ozone, oxygen, and moisture. Therefore, not only are rubber play mats excellent safety products, but they are also cost-effective and long-lasting products.
“Eco-Sport 1-inch” Interlocking Rubber Flooring Tiles
“Eco-Sport 1-inch” Interlocking Rubber Flooring Tiles
- This rubber surfacing can be permanently installed using adhesive glue
- Great for use as gym flooring, flooring for a basement, outdoor deck surfacing, playground surfacing, trade show floors, and more
- Ramps available upon request. The sloped ramps are great for use as safe entry points and are useful for getting wheeled equipment onto the mats
Surface Protection: Since these rubber floor tiles are 1″ thick, each outdoor tile is perfect for protecting the base surfacing of an area. Heavy objects and/or a high volume of foot traffic can damage surfaces like wood. By installing this durable rubber surfacing, you are essentially adding a barrier between your area’s base surfacing and outside stresses like treadmills or sofas.
DIY Flooring: Another feature that makes these recycled mats so popular is their ease of installation. It makes a great do-it-yourself project, saving you the unwanted additional expenses of hiring third party installers. Each outdoor tile comes with pre-drilled holes on each side. These holes are meant for special connector pins (sold separately) that hold each tile firmly together. The beauty of interlocking floor tiles lies in their easy to install nature. Save yourself some extra time and money with these rubber floor tiles!
Are Play Mats Safe?
Play mats are extremely safe as they can provide both non-slip safety and impact absorption that creates a safe playground experience. Rubber naturally possesses a high coefficient of friction, allowing it to retain its traction even when moisture is present. In addition to rubber’s natural traction properties, rubber play mats are made of recycled rubber which has a unique surface texture that helps further in improving traction. Recycled rubber tiles for playgrounds are made by recycled rubber crumb that have essentially been glued back together. This process of re-adhering crumb rubber back into a solid product produces a traction-enhancing surface texture that adds to rubber’s natural traction properties. Rubber play mats also promote safety by providing a cushioned play surface that absorbs the force of impact. With most playground injuries being the result of falls, it is important to install playground padding to create a softer landing surface. They have been tested against ASTM F1292, the standard for impact absorption required for playground surfaces, and can provide sufficient shock absorption for a safe play surface. Rubber tiles for playgrounds are also available in 4 thicknesses of 3/4″, 1”, 2.5”, and 3”, allowing you to find the correct thickness according to the height of the equipment present at the playground.
Which Playmat is the Best?
A rubber playmat is best due to its excellent weatherability, non-slip surface, and impact absorbent properties. Rubber play mats are made of recycled rubber crumb that has been re-adhered into a solid product. Recycled rubber crumbs derive from post-consumer vehicle tires that have been ground up. Due to their vehicle tire composition, rubber play mats will not be damaged by outdoor environmental factors, allowing them to be used as outdoor play tiles for extended periods of time without suffering damage. In addition to their durability, soft play mats made of rubber can also offer both non-slip safety and a cushioned surface. Rubber’s natural traction-enhancing properties and unique surface texture offers a safe, non-slip play surface. Rubber is also an extremely impact absorbent material that can offer sufficient padding between the hard subsurface and the impact, creating a safe, padded play area.
Playground Slide Landing Mats
- Traction Qualities: The surface texture of the rubber mats makes for a slip-resistant surface that will help reduce trips and falls and kids land on the mat.
- Increased Safety: The rubber surface reduces the uneven ground surface that may have developed due to wear and increase safety by evening out the ground level.
- Ground Wear Protection: The 5mm thick rubber playground slide mat is the ideal gauge to added a layer of wear surface above your playground surface.
Inexpensive Floor Protection:
A rubber mat for bottom of a slide is an ideal way to protect playground floors. Playground slides mats are a useful tool in maintaining the lustre of a playground and adding life to heavy impact and traffic areas under playground slides. Wear by abrasion will cause erosion over time. In a playground play areas will wear from repeated impact and contact. This form of wear is caused by contact between shoes and playground floor material. Since the landing area of a slide is immovable, the surface around the landing location will always suffer more damage and ear than other parts of a playground. If a playground’s floor surface is made from rubber tiles, pour-in-place rubber or turf, this abrasive wear will cause a loss of material by the passage of hard shoes over the surface. The damage to playground flooring can be expensive and pre-empting the damage by using a rubber mat for the playground slide’s landing surface that will protect your investment.
Why Are Play Mats So Expensive?
Play mats are so expensive due to their installation costs; however, rubber tiles for playgrounds are easy DIY projects that can be done without the extra installation costs. For instance, other playground flooring options, such as pour-in-place rubber surfacing and mulch, “The average cost to install a playground is about $500. When it comes to the ground or base, there are many materials available, meaning the final price can vary drastically from $1 to $15 per square foot” (homeadvisor.com). Interlocking rubber play mats cost anywhere from $21.85 to $44.50 – the price per tile is decreased with the purchase of 50+ tiles. They can be installed without hiring an installer simply by connecting the tiles together through small plastic connector pins, cutting extra installation costs. With this easy DIY installation method, interlocking playground padding is a cost-effective protective playground surfacing option.
Having a padded play area for children is essential for maintaining playground safety in both indoor and outdoor playgrounds. Rubber tiles for playgrounds will increase traction and is designed provide an impact absorbent padded play area that will protect children from serious life-threatening injuries. Their tire-derived recycled rubber composition allows rubber indoor/outdoor play tiles to remain intact and reliable in the face of harsh UV rays, ozone, oxygen, and wet weather conditions. They will also remain reliable when faced with constant impacts caused by playing children, allowing for long-life. Not only does the recycled rubber composition give it long life, but it also produces a unique surface texture that adds to rubber’s natural traction-enhancing properties. Best of all, its DIY installation method cuts costs in hiring someone to install your playground surface for you. Rubber play mats are safe and long-lasting playground surfacing options that will provide excellent traction and cushioning.
“Eco-Safety 3-inch” Rubber Playground Tiles
