Artificial Grass Installation: Playgrounds Safety

Both Spring 50 and SBlade 60 will work for an indoor playground application, between these two products, we will recommend Sblade as it is densier. We will also recommend you to use lawn pads under the turf for extra cushion functions: https://www.globalsynturf.com/playgrounds-safety. For any further questions, please feel free to email us at [email protected], thank you.

This is a very good question. Depending on the temperatures, the time it takes for artificial grass to be completely dry can vary. Kids can almost immediately play on the turf surface after the rain in hot areas but it might take longer for the turf to completely dry out when temperature is cold, Our artificial grass can drain really well, all water will be instantly drained during the rain, only minor moistures/water to might be left on or between the fibers which evaporate quickly in hot temperatures or with some activities. For any further questions, please feel free to call us at 877 796 8873 or email us at [email protected], thank you.

For artificial grass installations, both lawn pads and shockpads will provide the cushions to make the turf feel great. However, shockpad is thin and will only provide minimum cushioning with no fall ratings, lawn pads are thick which can not only provide cushioning but also fall ratings. For an example, a 1-1/4” thick lawn pad’s fall rating is 5’, in another word it will be safe to fall from 5’. Combinations of different lawn pads can provide different fall ratings. In general, the lawn pads cost more than shockpads. To learn more about our shockpad or lawn pad products, please feel free to call us at 877 796 8873 or email us at [email protected], thank you!

There is no specific requirements or recommendations for the blades height when using artificial turf for playground. It is more of personal preference. Given the activities and traffics, regardless the blade height, the turf will mat down sooner than other applications which is very normal. If you would like to see some samples or find a local distributor/dealer, please fill out this online form: https://www.globalsynturf.com/free-quote. Or give us a call at 877 796 8873 or email us at [email protected], thank you.

You can use any type of infills to go with our playground artificial grass, here are some general suggestions:

If budget is not a concern, it will be your preferences of the following:

1.  TCool will keep the playground turf cooler during the hot days.

2. Wonderfill will prevent germs and bacteria 

3. Zeofill will help to neutralize any dog odors (only if you will have dogs on the turf)

If you are tight on your budget:

1. Regular green sand will be a choice of good blend and lower cost than above three.

2. Regular silica sands will be the least expensive way to get the job done.

Please feel free to call us at 877 796 8873 or email us at [email protected] if you have any further questions, thank you.

From functionality standpoint, the weed barrier will work the same for playgrounds as it will for regular artificial grass lawns. Installation will be identical as well: the weed barriers typically is installed right underneath the turf and over the sub base. For any further questions or to share your project details with us, please feel free to call at 877 796 8873 or email us at [email protected], thank you.

The answer is YES. Artificial grass has been installed over septic tanks many times. Turf is one of the true Landscaping Alternatives that is modular, meaning you can pull the turf back, pull the base back, fixed a water main or a septic tank and put the base back and reinstall the turf. In most cases, no one would ever know that the turf had been removed. For any other questions or concerns, please feel free to call us at 877 796 8873 or email us at [email protected], or simply fill out this online form: https://www.globalsynturf.com/free-quote, thank you.

Generally speaking, all different types of infills can be used for playground applications. However, the safest choose will be our wonderfill infill product for artificial grass playground. The wonderfill is not only coated with green color which blends in well with the turf, but also with antimicrobial agent which prevents bacteria and germs from growing. To learn more about the wonderfill product, please visit this link: https://www.globalsynturf.com/products/wonder-fill. For any other questions you might have, you can talk to one of our experts by calling us at 877 796 8873 or email us at [email protected], thank you.

All the infills on today’s market is relatively safe to use for artificial grass installation. The infills are meant to provide extra weight and hold the turf down better and help the blades to stand up. In most cases, if the infills are applied properly, it will sink all the way to the very bottom of the turf, you will not be able to see or get contact with it unless you spread open the fibers and put your fingers into the turf. However, to be 100% safe, we will recommend the wonderfill product which is sands coated with antimicrobial agent to prevent bacteria and germs and is extremely safe for your kids. Here is the link for the details of wonderfill: https://www.globalsynturf.com/products/wonder-fill. Please feel free to call (877 796 8873) or email ([email protected]) us if you have any further questions, thank you.

All infills are fine for use with dogs, and the Zeofill should be considered as one of the best. However, regardless it is natural or not, we always would like the dog owners to be aware to not having dogs to eat or swallow any of infills. Please feel free to call (877 796 8873) or email us ([email protected]) if you have any further questions, thank you.

It is always recommended to use lawn pads under the turf for playground applications, especially for commercial playgrounds which require certain fall ratings. We carry different types of lawn pads which meets different fall ratings, for a 5’ fall, you will need to use 1-1/4” thick lawn pad, for an 8’ fall rating, 2-1/4” lawn pads will be needed. Any thinner thickness of either shock pads or lawn pads will not be sufficient to provide any fall ratings but only to provide cushioning. For residential applications, there is normally no specific fall rating requirements, and homeowners can go with or without lawn pad underpayments depending on the budgets. Other than lawn pads, all other accessories needed for a playground application will be the same as any other artificial grass installations. Please let us know if you have any other questions by phone: 877 796 8873, or email: [email protected] or filling out this only form: https://www.globalsynturf.com/free-quote, thank you.

When it comes to the differences between shock pad and lawn pads, function and technical requirements are the key. For shock pad, it is only 8 mm thick, all it does is to provide extra cushioning feel for artificial grass or putting greens, and that is pretty much it. For lawn pads which come in with different thickness (3/4”, 1-1/4”, 2-1/4”), they are not only providing superior cushions, but also can satisfy the technical requirements of fall ratings (GMax). In general, the 1-1/4” lawn pads will meet the requirements of a 5’ fall rating and 2-1/4” pad can meet 8’ fall rating, stacking 3/4” pad on to 2-1/4” pad, you can achieve a fall rating of 12’! Hopefully this answers your question, please always feel free to let us know if you need further explanations or have any other questions by phone, email ([email protected]), or simply fill out this online form: https://www.globalsynturf.com/free-quote

Technically, you can use any of our artificial grass product for your daycare application. I would like to know a bit more of the usage of the to be turfed area, are you plan to use the artificial grass for playground? General landscape or any other purposes? Knowing these details will help me to provide you with better recommendations. Please call or email us with the details, or simply fill out this online form so we can help you out better, thanks: https://www.globalsynturf.com/free-quote

There are some pros and cons for each type of artificial grass when using it for playground applications. Here are my opinions: 

1. Using artificial grass with shorter blades: reality proves that shorter blade turf will be better for playgrounds due to heavy activities and usages.

2. Using artificial grass that can resist better on wear and tear.

3. It is a wrong expectation for grass that never will lay down, such expectation shouldn’t be for a playground turf. More importantly, regardless the turf will lay down or not given heavy traffics and usages, you want the fibers to be acting consistently.

4. Infills is needed not only for help to stabilize the artificial grass, but also increase the resilience of turf fibers while providing additional cushions. In order to easily blend in infills, lower weight (or less dense) turf is preferred.

By what said above, a lot of our products with face weight less than 60 oz will fit the bill. To learn more details about our products, please visit this link: https://www.globalsynturf.com/artificial-grass-specifications-specs

We are here to help by providing free consultations on our artificial grass products and installations, please feel to call or email us or fill out this online form if you have any further questions: https://www.globalsynturf.com/free-quote

The process of installing artificial grass for a playground is pretty much the same as regular artificial grass lawn expect that all of the public playground projects require cushioning pads under the grass. Many residential playground applications don’t have lawn pads under the grass as no special rules or regulations apply, however, all public playgrounds will require the lawn pads to achieve fall ratings for public safety. Let’s look at this in two parts:

1. For general artificial grass installations which will also apply to playground, please check out this link for details:

https://www.globalsynturf.com/installation-guides

2. To install the lawn pads under the artificial grass for a playground application, you won’t need any other special tools, but you will need to take consideration of the thickness of the pads while you are building your sub base. The following is a general reference:

1-1/4” pad can take a 5’ fall.

2-1/4” pad can take a 8’ fall.

If higher fall ratings needed, you will need to stack the pads together to achieve that. Please feel free to contact us by phone, email or this online form if you have any further questions: https://www.globalsynturf.com/free-quote

Generally speaking, I can categorize artificial grass playgrounds as residential and public. Public playgrounds have strict requirements for fall ratings: from 5’ to 12’ or even higher which means people won’t get hurt if they fall from 5’ to 12’. In order to achieve such fall ratings while using artificial grass for public playgrounds, you will need to use lawn pads under the artificial grass to provide enough cushioning. Lawn pads come in as 3/4”, 1-1/4” and 2-1/4” in thickness. To achieve a 5’ fall rating, 1-1/4” thickness lawn pad is required. 2-1/4” thick lawn pad will provide a 8’ fall rating. In order to get higher fall ratings, multiple layers of lawn pads will be required. 

There are no specific requirements for residential playgrounds which in most cases s have multiple usages not only just for playgrounds but also as a regular lawn. In reality, not many people using lawn pads for residential playgrounds due to the cost concerns, cost of installing artificial grass playgrounds with lawn pads will be higher on both materials and installations. If budget permits, I personally recommend to use lawn pads for all playground artificial grass installations. As far as choice of artificial grasses to be used for playgrounds, depends on the frequencies of usage, people can use shorter grass for heavily used playgrounds and longer grass for less used playgrounds. We offer free consultations on all products and applications, please do not hesitated to contact us by phone, email or this online form: https://www.globalsynturf.com/free-quote

UV testing on artificial grass is a very length process which is normally done at our factory. In order to achieve the results of having turf to withhold its color and integrity for 15 years, such product samples should be in a UV testing chamber for at least 4-6 month. We have multiple of such UV testing chambers in our factory, and we conduct UV testing on all of our products: We test every production run of yarns and every production run on finished product, I mean EVERY single product run will be tested! We have the most stringent and vigorous testing procedures in the entire industry to ensure our product qualities to be the simple best on the market. In such a UV testing chamber, accelerated UV to simulate the sunlight will be produced, also we set the environment of the chamber with other weather patterns such as fogs, moistures and rains on a preferred interval of time, so the results of testing on all our artificial grass product can be as close as to reality. Such thorough testing provide us a perfect trace on all the products out there should any problem occurs: we know exactly what production batch, the testing results, in turn to trace down the production lines finding about materials mix, crews working on such production and therefore to identify the cause of the problems and so to solve them. In another word, such UV testing will not only ensure our turf products’ top qualities but also a tool for ourselves to enhance our production and quality control process.

Please feel free to reach us via phone, email or this online form if you have any further questions or comments: https://www.globalsynturf.com/free-quote