Damaged playground surface?

Yes. We get this all the time. Tree roots have ripped through my poured rubber surface.  The fence company came to repair the fence and in doing so damaged our beautiful rubberized surface. We had some vandalism in our playground, and as result, we are missing a piece of our synthetic turf surfacing. Someone spilled paint on 5 of our playground tiles. We have heard lots of stories from park and rec personnel to daycare owners. This article should shed some light on how to prevent and easily repair your unitary playground surface. (This article does not deal with loose surfacing material).

Prevention of damage to your playground surface

• Do not let stiletto heals on your poured in place rubber surface.
• Do not let maintenance personnel use ladders with sharp bases on the rubber surface.
• If you have a function on the surface, avoid using metal chairs, as these can go right through the EPDM layer of the poured in place rubber surface.
• Use a rubber curb, or wooden barrier between synthetic turf and real grass so mowers do not damage the turf.
• Keep your playground surface shaded. UV rays are very detrimental to poured playground surfaces.
• Don’t let water sit on your surface. Drainage issues should have been dealt with before the surface was installed, but if you have a drainage issue, it can lead to damage.
• Make sure your playground is either monitored by cameras or not easily accessible to outsiders that are not supposed to be there.
• Use a playground rubber surface conditioner or top sealer to make sure your poured in place surface is well bonded together.

Dealing with damage to your playground surface

• If you have damage to your poured in place rubber surface, you can use a DIY patch kit to do the job yourself. Here is a link to a video that shows you how to do it.
• If the damage is to synthetic turf, you need to make a clean cut around the area that is damaged, get hold of a piece of turf that matches what you have, buy some seaming tape and binder and simply seam around the area.
• If the damage is to rubber tiles, make sure you order the right tiles. The thickness and size of the tile have to be the same. If the tiles are of the interlocking type, the job is quite simple. They come apart fairly easily. If the tiles are glued to each other, you will need to cut the area between the tiles with a utility knife and use polyurethane binder to glue the new tiles to the existing one. Make sure that the sub-base has not shifted.