If you’re designing a new playground or planning a refurb to your existing play area, safety will be your number one priority.

And when it comes to safety, one of the biggest areas of focus is your flooring. Not only are children at risk of slipping and tripping over when playing and running about in your play area but your equipment increases the risk of injury should they fall; either because they are at height (such as slides and climbing frames) or because they move (such as swings, seesaws and roundabouts). Therefore, you’ll need to design a playground with a non-slip, shock-absorbing flooring surface to help mitigate against injury.

So, which surface is best when it comes to safety as well as durability, affordability and how easy it is to install and maintain?

In this blog, we’ll explore the differences between two hot contenders for playground flooring; playground safety mats and rubber mulch.

What are playground safety mats?

Playground safety matting is made up of individual rubber tiles which interlock together to cover any size play area. They can be installed in any combination of colours and patterns to create a unique, fun play area while offering the ultimate in safety. For instance, the Matta range of playground safety mats offer a certified critical fall height of up to 4.5m. They can also be installed over existing surfaces including concrete, grass or even existing damaged and old surfacing.

What is rubber mulch?

Rubber mulch is made up of shredded rubber such as tyres, bonded together to form one continuous surface. It can be laid in various thicknesses and is usually designed to look like wooden bark.

How do playground safety mats compare to rubber mulch?

If you’re deciding between safety mats and rubber mulch for your play area, allow us to walk you through the key differences and demonstrate why we think safety matting pips rubber mulch to the post.

Maintenance

Over time, rubber mulch playground surfaces will wear down in places due to a mix of the weather, being kicked about and general wear and tear. To maintain rubber mulch, you will have to replace damaged areas by adding more rubber mulch and you may even need to top up larger areas over time. This is not only resource heavy but also has cost implications. However, if you choose safety matting, you can simply remove the damaged tile and exchange it quickly and easily. You’ll be pleased to hear that Matta’s safety mats require no maintenance and they’re also flame retardant so they won’t be damaged by any unwanted arson.

Accessibility

While rubber mulch playgrounds are flat and marketed as being suitable for wheelchairs and prams, it’s not perfect as they can cause issues when wheels move across them which isn’t ideal from an accessibility perspective. By comparison, safety mats are laid to have an entirely flat and snag free surface making them incredibly wheelchair and pram friendly for users.

Dirt

As places where children play and babies crawl around, you’ll want your playground surface to be clean and easy to look after. One complaint about rubber mulch is that it can stain hands and feet, tainting them black. Safety mats, on the other hand, don’t stain in this way which eliminates this problem. What’s more, safety mats are easy to clean by simply sweeping any dirt and dust away or you can even hose them down if desired.

Design

While rubber mulch usually comes in a range of colours, you’re likely to find that you have to pick one colour for the entire play area and stick to it. If you want to be a little bit more creative, safety tiles allow you to mix up the design by picking multiple colours. This means you can create patterns or even use a colour system to designate play zones across the playground.

Installation

Installation of rubber mulch is a bigger job than installing safety mats. As rubber mulch doesn’t absorb water, you’ll need to ensure an adequate drainage system underneath – as well as a firm base which needs to be prepared in advance with the laying of a landscaping fabric to prevent weed growth. By comparison, safety mats can be installed directly over concrete, as long as you ensure you’re picking the right thickness to deliver your required critical fall height. To install, each tile interlocks together to provide a durable and stable surface. What’s more, the Recover Matta Playground Resurfacing mats can be laid over existing surfaces to give your playground an instant new lease of life. And if you have a grassy area, you don’t have to remove the grass. In fact, Matta’s Rubber Grass Mats are laid over grass and allow it to grow through so you can still maintain a natural, grassy environment with additional safety protection.

Setting time

Another benefit of safety tiles is that they can be walked over and played on immediately – there’s no need to let it cure as with other rubber playground solutions. This speeds up your installation time so your playground will be in action sooner.

Cost

Rubber mulch will usually cost more than playground safety mats – and it’s not just about the cost of the product. They’ll also need more preparation prior to installation, take longer to install and require more maintenance which makes safety mats more affordable in the short and the long term.

Who provides playground safety mats?

If you’re looking for advice on your playground safety surfaces or you want to find out more about playground safety tiles, make Matta your first port of call. We’re specialists in supplying and installing playground safety surfaces and have been since 1993. Matta is seen as one of the UK’s leaders of safety play surfaces and you’ll find our unique, high-quality matting products being enjoyed at playgrounds up and down the country. All our products come with a 10-year guarantee, require no maintenance and are made of 100% recycled materials.

Talk to Matta today.