Playground Suppliers Blog

The Benefits of a Poured-in- Place Surfacing Maintenance Program 

Poured-in-Place Surfacing or Wet Pour as it is called in the UK is a impact absorbing safety surfacing used in many playgrounds. What makes these types of surfacing systems so popular is the ability to custom design the surface with amazing graphics, its ability to accommodate various fall heights requirements (Head Injury Criteria)  in and around the play structure, wheelchair accessibility and the retaliative low cost of maintenance over the life of the surface. Many playground owner operators are under the false impression these type of surfaces are maintenance free, which is not the case. 

These types of surfacing use a combination of ground rubber or EPDM (ethylene propylene diene monomer) which is a synthetic rubber for the wear or top layer and a MDI ( Methylene diphenyl diisocyanate)base polyurethane binder (glue) to hold it together. Over time Ultra Violate Light rays for the sun attach and break the MDI backbone of polyurethane causing it to fail. Once the polyurethane binder fails, the granules of rubber dislodge from the surface which is called "surface granulation" and the surface develops thin spots, holes and becomes less safe and non compliant.

Owner/operators should walk their poured-in-place playgrounds and check for signs of granulation, soft spots, holes, gaps and shrinkage on the surface. For areas that are damaged, you will need to call a surfacing contractor to repair it or purchase a rubber playground repair kits such as Fast Patch.

A simple test for granulation is to vigorously scuff the surface in several location with your boot or shoe to see if rubber separates or granulates from the surface. If it does, then you will need to re-coat the surface with a specialized coating to halt the granules. In the surfacing industry, this is called "Roll Coating" and is a modified version of the binder used when the system was installed. Roll coating is typically done by the original installer of the playground surface, but there are products available like Maxx Clear that allow the owner operator or their maintenance crews to apply the coating themselves.

Like cleaning and waxing your car, Poured-in-Place Surfacing can last a lot longer with simple inspection and maintenance.