The area around a swing set can benefit greatly with the use of safe and shock absorbent rubber swing set mats. It is important to install swing set flooring to provide safety flooring for kids to lower chances of serious injuries when falling from a swing. Swing set flooring is made up of post-consumer rubber materials that make them extremely resistant to damaging environmental factors, allowing them to be used as outdoor play area tiles. In addition, the tiles make it easy to customize the size of the protective surface, allowing them to provide sufficient safety padding around both single-axis and multi-axis swing sets. Furthermore, because most swing sets are located outdoors, rubber swing set mats are made of resilient and weatherproof rubber materials that will allow them to provide safety padding for years in harsh environmental conditions.

How Do You Prepare the Ground for a Swing Set?

You prepare the ground for a swing set by installing shock absorbent rubber swing set mats under and around the swings for durable and long-lasting safety flooring for kids. Surfaces, such as grass, dirt, or concrete, are not safe surfacing options for swing sets as they offer little to no shock absorption. Rubber swing set mats offer superior shock absorption due to the material’s excellent compression set. Rubber’s low compression set allows it to give a “bounce” that offers ample padding between the hard subfloor and the force of an impact. Having a low compression set offers more resilience whereas the “higher the compression set the lower the resilience…” (sciencedirect.com). The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission highly recommends a shock absorbent surface to help prevent serious injuries from falls off playground equipment. Even grass and artificial turf, although seemingly shock absorbent, cannot provide sufficient safety flooring for kids as environmental factors can easily alter their shock absorption (cpsc.gov). Because swings are moving pieces of playground equipment, it is important to ensure shock absorbent swing set flooring that extends far enough to provide padded protection around the playground fall zones, or use zones. A use zone refers to the “surface under and around a piece of equipment onto which a child falling from or exiting from the equipment would be expected to land” (cpsc.gov). The use zone of a swing set will extend further out because swings are moving pieces of playground equipment.

It is important to ensure sufficiently padded swing set flooring around the swings that extends far enough to provide a protective surface in case a child jumps or falls from the swings while in motion. There are two types of swings commonly found in playgrounds: single-axis swings and multi-axis swings. Single-axis swings move in two directions in a forward and backward movement. Single-axis swings move in a forwards and backwards motion and require protective rubber swing set mats not only directly under the swing, but also around the area the swing extends out to when in use. The Consumer Product Safety Commission recommends protective rubber swing set flooring to the front and rear of a single-axis swing should extend “to the front and rear of a single-axis swing a minimum distance of twice the height of the pivot point above the surfacing material measured from a point directly beneath the pivot point on the supporting structure” and the area to the sides of the swing should extend a “minimum of 6 feet from the perimeter of the swing structure in accordance with the general recommendation for use zones” (cspc.gov). The playground fall zones around multi-axis swings should extend around the entire perimeter of the swing area because multi-axis swings, such as tire swings, swing in more than two directions, unlike single-axis swings. The protective surfacing around multi-axis swings should extend out 6 feet from the point directly under the pivot point plus the length off the swing (cspc.gov). Due to the movement of swing sets, it is important to install sufficiently shock absorbent safety flooring for kids under and around both single-axis and multi-axis swing sets.

What is Best to Put Under a Swing Set?

It is best to put unitary interlocking rubber swing set mats under a swing set due to their resilience, customizable installation, and environmental resistance properties. Interlocking shock absorbent rubber swing set mats are the best to put under a swing set because they will stay in place and provide long-lasting padding. Unlike loose-fill surface materials, rubber swing set mats will stay in place when children use the surface under a swing to kick off or stop. Loose-fill materials will easily be displaced when used as swing set flooring which makes it unable to provide sufficient shock absorption. Additionally, interlocking outdoor play area tiles are easily customizable to fit the necessary areas under and around a swing set for sufficient protective surfacing. Solid interlocking crumb rubber mats are customizable by connecting the tiles together with small connector pins that are inserted into the holes that line the sides of each tile. On the other hand, interlocking drainage mats (ideal for installation over grass) can be customized by connect the tiles together by their puzzle-like edges. The drainage mats are also available as individual mats that are perfect for placing over the ground directly under a swing. Furthermore, the rubber materials used to create rubber swing set mats, both the solid mats as well as the drainage mats, are made of versatile rubber materials that can be used both indoors and outdoors without worry of environmental damage. Recycled rubber crumb and reclaimed rubber are the two materials commonly used to create playground and swing set flooring. Both materials derive from durable post-consumer vehicle tires allowing them to provide excellent abrasion resistance as well as resistance to harsh UV rays, ozone, oxygen, and moisture. This allows them to remain durable and long-lasting outdoor play area tiles that will provide superior shock absorption for safety flooring for kids.

Rubber swing set mats are made of resilient recycled crumb rubber and reclaimed rubber that offer superior shock absorption capabilities that cannot be matched by other materials, including rubber loose-fill materials. Made up of interlocking tiles, the outdoor play area tiles are easy to customize for both single-axis and multi-axis swing sets. Swing set flooring must be large enough to cover the playground fall zones, or use zones, around the swings in case of a fall off the swings. The rubber materials used to create the mats derive from repurposed vehicle tires, allowing them to remain durable, abrasion resistant, and environmentally resistant flooring option. Overall, rubber swing set mats are the ideal protective surfacing option for the ground under and around swing sets.

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