Recycled Rubber Mulch for Backyard Playground? Worth The $?

Hi K.,
We have the rubber mulch for our daughters playset and it is worth every penny, soft to land on, wont decompose, fly away or turn moldy....she has only fallen once but i was afraid the wood chips would leave splinters or get in her shoes liek at the parks. The much does not get into the shoes or hurt when wearing sandals and unlike wood mulch it can not be tracked into the house, unless they shove it in their pockets. Never eneds to be replaced either so even though it is more costly in the beginning it saves in the end. We have never had any staining issues,odor or film residue. We purchased ours from Playground World.

Look into it further first. There was an article in the Chicago Trib last fall I believe about how this may not be the best product due to what is contained within the rubber.

Oh, and I just found out a friend of mine will be putting sand for her kids' fort. It only has a slide but she wants to cover bases.

I have some recycled, shredded rubber stepping stones and I love them. But there are some drawbacks to the rubber:

* Rubber mulch may contain harmful substances. Several organizations claim it contains potentially harmful levels of zinc (can harm plants and gradually build to toxic levels in the ground) and aromatic hydrocarbons (think air pollution). Some cheaper rubber mulch may contain bits of wire from within the car tires that get shredded.
* Rubber mulch absorbs heat from the sun. On a hot summer day, the mulch can become uncomfortably hot for children and pets.
* In hot, sunny weather, rubber mulch gives off an an unpleasant, oily smell. This may not be safe to inhale. (I get sick headaches even when I walk into a place that sells new tires.)
* Colored rubber mulch can leave colors on kids' clothes. Some manufacturers don't use top-quality dye, so the colors can run, especially in warm weather. And the colors tend to look harsh and artificial.
* In very cold weather, rubber mulch loses its shock absorbing qualities and doesn't offer the same protection as in warmer weather.
* Rubber mulch blows away more easily than woodchips. A strong wind can send rubber bits flying outside the playground.

Wood chips or bark mulch are more environmentally sound. They will need to be topped off with fresh mulch every 2-5 years. If you go with wood mulch, be sure to ask which types are less likely to splinter or cause injury. (Here on the west coast, hemlock mulch is nice to handle, while other types leave tiny slivers or have sharp edges.)

Google "is rubber mulch safe for kids" for a variety of views before you decide.

We left our grass. I love it, but "trimming" around the playset is a pain and we do have minor wear spots under the swings and at the base of the slide. Regardless, I like the look of the grass.

The logic behind the mulch is that it will cushion the falls. I don't know how much the rubber is, but I think it would be great. Just make sure you frame out the area, put down a landscape fabric to prevent weeds from coming through and then put down the mulch base.

I don't think wood would poke an eye out. You can get different colors and quality of mulch (different sizes). There is a cheap one - that is really just tree branches ground up - very stick like. Then there is true mulch which is more wood chips. And then there's a shredded variety.

I have no doubt the wood would be cheapest, but needs to be added to every couple of years. Just make sure you frame it out and create the right base. It's more expensive up front, but well worth it in the long run.

Also, consider "sealing" the playset if it's wood. Ours was the Rainbow brand. They say the stain is weatherproof - WRONG. It showed so much wear after just one year.

we have that in our back yard and would do it again-mind you it gets really hot here so we chose that for many reasons-we did not want grass-rocks are not safe and we had bark, but it dried out too fast here-my kids fell a couple of times and it does cushion the fall if u put in the correct amt like they say. I did not notice where u lived, but u may want to take climate into account as well and we do not get much rain here. I saw the other post and never really notice a film-we wear old clothes when we go outside-kids are meant to get dirty when they play outside-we just wash up when we are done. Hope this helps-i think it is worth the money. L.

No not a waste!! We had kid mulch for two years, it eventually went away and we couldnt find it in stores. Then we found the rubber. We hesitated but I love it.... It even seems to stay more in place because it is heavier. I dont know that it is ideal for barefoot, it has been too long since we have been outside to play.

I would advise against the rubber mulch for your backyard. Our area park has this, and our daughters always have a bit in their shoes and track it inside when we return home. The black can stain carpet and rub black stains onto clothing. If your son or daughter decides to play in the "dirt," the black cab also stain his hands.

We also have a swingset in our backyard, and regular grass has been fine for us. If this were a public playground, we'd definitely want mulch of some sort, but for a personal area at our home, we didn't feel the need. If you do wish to have a mulch of some sort, I would recommend wood chips.

We ended up getting a couple truckloads of the free wood mulch at the recycling center and then topped it with a couple truckloads of "nice" wood mulch we paid for. We've been happy and not had any splinters or issues in the one summer we've had it. I have two boys who are nine and two.

I do remember there was a website I found (through google) that had specifications about mulch depth for maximum safety from falls.

I really wanted the recycled rubber mulch but just couldn't ignore the price difference and everything I read said either was sufficient. The rubber was going to be $900 and the wood (all "nice" - my original quote) was about $250. The wood we did have to do ourselves where the rubber would have covered delivery cost. But especially with the money we saved with the free mulch (total ended up being about $150), it wasn't worth it to us.

The rubber mulch is great but it stains clothing and shoes. I would stay away from bark or wood mulch. That can create a mess and it's not very safe.

We don't have a playground, but a friend does have the rubber mulch. I like it because of the texture, BUT, my daughter had her shoes off once and her feet were BLACK. It's hard to wash off.

My son's daycare uses mulch and every spring/summer when they play outside he has all kinds of scrapes and cuts from the mulch. Last year he got a huge scrape right under his eye (he was fortunate the mulch didn't hit his eye). So I highly suggest not to get the mulch. But the others are right in that the recycled tire mulch does stain but as long as your kids has play clothes on that you don't mind get stained I'd definitely go that route over mulch.

Ms. K., I don't know how old you are, but did your parents have rubber or wood mulch in your play area.. ? Probably not. I know mine didn't. Kids are going to get bumps and bruises etc.. regardless of how parents try to protect them... Put them in a bubble and they will be safe.. Can we do that? NO.. Just let them play in a normal enviroment. I think regular grass would be a better solution to the other 2 options...

go w/ playground wood mulch. it is different from regular wood mulch in that it is run through a sander so there's no sharp edges, splinters, etc. and its much easier to install/remove than gravel. A fall surface is a must. yes, our swing sets were on grass when we were kids but my monkey bars at school were over asphalt too. hopefully we've learned something in 30 years! I know three kids who've broken bones with the playset over grass. our nanny's kid fell straight back off of ours within 2 days of finishing installation - hit the back of her head first. if we hadn't put the fall surface in, there's no doubt she would have had a concussion. that alone made it well worth the $4-500.

We have friends who invested in the rubber mulch. I hate when my kids go over there to play - it ha a film on it that causes the bottom of their shoes and skin (that comes in contact with it) to become black or red - depending on the color.

I know they would not make the purchase again.
If we had a good grassy area in our backyard, I would just keep the grass and not bother with the other stuff (personally).

Good luck.

The wood mulch disentigrates and grows mold. I can't go to my girls school and volunteer at recess because I have asthma attacks when I go near the playground. I would say, not knowing how tall the structure is, that you need a fall zone equal to the height of the play set. If it is 6' tall then you need a 6' area around ti that is free of toys, branches, trees, anything except your fall zone material, our grass is our material. I have been on the shredded tire material and it was very squishy. I don't have any material around our playset but I am usually outside if the kids are on it and I don't allow any play that is risky (I am not fun to play with).

We have it, love it. It's in a shady area, so getting too hot is never a problem. The type sold by my local playground (playground world) distributor does not stain or leave a film...can go in dryer w/clothes and doesn't harm anything. Also contains no metal pieces, etc. But I know that some rubber is different because they made a huge deal about how special this rubber was. For us it was actually cheaper than wood mulch because tho' the sq ft price was very high, there was no installation fee. Since we knew we couldn't apply the wood mulch ourselves (too many time constraint issues) the application fee + the mulch fee for wood ended up costing more. The only minor thing about our rubber mulch is it always ends up in the kids shoes and gets tracked in the house. But for us was well worth it. I would just investigate the type of rubber mulch before deciding, there should be samples at the store that you can check and see if it leaves stains, etc. Good luck!

We used "Kid's Carpet" mulch which is a wood mulch, but softer than some other mulches. If you call around to places that sell a variety of mulches they should be able to help you. It cost a little more than the other mulches but is biodegradable, looks good, and the children never had a problem with it.

We have 3 young kids so as you can imagine, I've been to many backyards over the years with playgroups, birthday parties and hanging out with friends. Very very few people I know have mulch or something other than grass under/around there playsets - and those that do have them simply because it was in place when they bought the house. It rains very often around here in the summer so our backyard is always somewhat soft - the normal yard/grass is sufficient -- we've had dare devils jump from the very top of the playhouse (so maybe 15' off the ground) and walk away unscathed. I also don't know anyone who's had a kid break a bone or get hurt playing in their backyard (but several who got hurt in park playgrounds where there is mulch).

Now, where we lived in CA, something was definately needed and almost everyone had wood mulch in their backyards around playsets. Then again, the ground was rock hard because it just didn't rain between March and October. Mulch is annoying because you need to replace it every couple of years. Also, you need to continually rake it so it's at least 6" deep everywhere. If not that deep, it's more danger than the normal soft ground/grass. I hate the fact that most playgrounds at parks are not maintained other than dumping mulch every few years.... I always see piles of mulch under the equipment and bare dirt at bottom of slides/ladders/open areas where it's needed.

I've had sand. Evey cat from two miles found it! The the fleas found it...what a mess! Mulch doesn't seem to be much help. I put up landscaping timbers, then l used newspaper for a weed bblock, then used pea gravel (looks like rocks for a fishbowl) You can buy it at Home Depot bythe bag...but I'd suggest finding a concrete co that will sell it by the truckload. This gravel is smooth little rocks. It has been a toy in and of itself! And when the little pebbles jump outside of thier perimiter...they hide in the grass! So you don't have misplaced mulch all the way around. I would also suggest (as the other poster did) to have the set sealed!