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Bonded rubber playground mulch, otherwise know as bonded rubber in the industry, is a great way to introduce a unitary surface to your playground area or a walkway that has some cushion to it, or for your tree wells and planters, or simply as a skid resistant and fall solution. The system has the advantage of providing great impact attenuation for your kids without the daily and weekly raking associated with loose rubber. The surface works great on areas that have a pitch to it as the installed thickness stays the same over the years. I get a lot of calls from residential home owners that either want to replace the wood mulch around their jungle gym or want to bond the existing loose rubber mulch they have. This article show you how to do either step by step,
If you already have loose rubber mulch in your play area, you can skip the step that has to do with procuring the rubber. The rubber mulch will have to be cleaned of any loose debris before you can use it. Any organic material present in it will decompose over time leaving air pockets and voids within the surface that will eventually cave in.
Figure out how much bonded rubber mulch and binder you need for the square footage and thickness you want by using our calculator here: https://trassig.com/products/bonded-rubber
You can either get the rubber mulch from us or source it locally at your hardware store. Make sure you buy the elongated rubber mulch, not the nuggets. Lowes and Home depot carry both. If you already have loose nuggets, it's ok. They are a bit harder to trowel and you might have edges sticking out. Elongated rubber mulch is easer to work with.
Get your aromatic binder here: https://trassig.com/collections/playground-rubber-binders/products/aromatic-binder-5-gallons The amount of binder you need is based on the weight of the rubber you have. For every one hundred pounds of rubber you will need 18 pounds of binder. Our binder comes in 5 gallon pails, which contain 42 pounds of binder each and 55 gallon drums, which contain 484 pounds of binder. The pails are a bit easier to work with but the barrels are more cost effective.
Prepare the site: Remove all organics (grass, mulch, debris....etc). Again, anything that is organic will decompose later. this step is very important to make sure your surface will last for years to come. Read this article about proper site prep.
Install and compact crushed stone aggregate. This can be road base, or 3/4" crushed stones with fines. Recycled aggregate is the best because it interlocks well. If you only have access to clean crushed stone, introducing stone dust on top and compacting it again will ensure the stones do not move. If you are able to walk on the surface after the prep and you cannot dislodge the stone, you have done a good job.
You will need the following tools for your bonded rubber install: Long gloves, a rounded trowel, a spray bottle with water and handsoap to lubricate your trowel, a wheelbarrow lined with garbage bag liner to mix in. If you are doing a large area you might want to get a mortar mixer. Finally, you will need some type of guage to help you trowel at a consistent depth. For example if you want a 1.5" base, use a 2x4 piece of lumber. Your depth ideally has to mach your fall height. Although in a residential environment, you do not have to adhere to the CPSC and ASTM codes that public playgrounds have to, it is nice to know that your kids will be safe when they fall. Most walkways are troweled at 1.5" to 2". You can use our fall height calculator to know what the ideal thickness should be. The calculatoer is here: https://trassig.com/products/bonded-rubber. Most jungle gyms are about 7 ft heigh, so the thickness has to be around 3 inches.
Make sure you have a clear and warm day ahead. Anything over 50 degrees is ideal and no rain forecasted. The binders you will be using do not like water.
Mix the batch of rubber and binder thoroughly with the aromatic binder. Make sure all the rubber is wet with binder and that it is mixed evenly. If you have an uneven concentration of binder in the rubber, you will see some unsightly foaming after the surface cures.
Trowel the mix at the thickness desired thickness using your gauge. Pad the rubber mix gently and smooth it as needed to ensure all the rubber strands are flat. Below is a video that shows that motion.
Let the area cure for at least 24 hours.
