Should I Till My Old Playground Mulch Before Adding New?
- According to the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC), about 50,000 children visit emergency rooms each year as a result of injuries sustained on playgrounds. Of these, 80 percent are the result of a fall from playground equipment. Maintaining the surface of your playground properly can prevent playground injuries.
The CPSC states that initially a playground surface should consist of at least 9 inches of loose material, such as wood mulch or engineered wood fiber. All kinds of mulch will settle and compact over time. Therefore, 12 inches of material is necessary to retain a 9-inch thickness. - You need to rake, till and add materials to your playground regularly, according to Backyardcity.com, an Internet retailer of playground safety equipment. Rake as often as once a week to maintain a soft surface. But even frequent raking won't stop the natural process of compacting and settling, particularly in high traffic areas. You will need to till whenever your playground surface feels dense.
Expect to add new mulch at least once a year. Spread Tech, another retailer of playground safety equipment, states that "to prevent non-compliance with federal regulations, you will need to do this once every year." Federal regulations may not apply to your backyard, but they are based on safety studies and therefore should be heeded. - Since spreading playground mulch over hard surfaces such as concrete or asphalt is strongly advised against by the CPSC, merely adding new material over compacted old material won't suffice either. Instead, thoroughly rake and till the entire surface area before applying mulch. This will ensure the fluffiest, softest surface for your children to play on and will pay big dividends in injury prevention. You'll also find that less new material will be necessary to achieve the 9-inch thickness standard if you till the old material first.
The CPSC recommends marking the original 9-inch depth on playground equipment on first application so you can constantly monitor the thickness level over time.