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Wetpour surfacing is a rubber crumb surfacing that often gets used alongside playground equipment, using two layers that can absorb shocks and prevent injuries.

The rubber surface often gets used in public parks, playgrounds, schoolyards, and even some residential gardens or yards.

What is a Wetpour Surface?

Wet pour is a two-layered system including a base shock pad and a coloured top. This is often referred to as ‘rubber tarmac’ or ‘soft tarmac’. Wet pour playground surface is available in a wide range of colours, including yellow, green, red EPDM and much more.

When used, this kind of playground flooring provides an impact absorbing surfacing that can improve safety standards at critical fall height – the highest walkable point on the playground equipment nearby. This makes the play surface a lot safer for younger children.

How is Wetpour Installed

Wet pour safety surfacing has to be mixed in a proper mixer before use, usually to a specific ratio that’s mentioned on whatever components are involved. Once ready, it’s emptied into a wheelbarrow and poured into the right area, flattened with a trowel if needed.

The area can be marked out with borders to make a designated playground flooring space, but wet pour playground surfacing also works without little walls to contain the play area.

Design Ideas for Your Wetpour Surface

If you want to make your wetpour surface better, then here are some ideas to get you started:

Most schools and nurseries choose to brighten the area with a variety of coloured graphics when installing a wet pour rubberised surface.

Fun and interesting designs are used to stimulate children’s minds when playing playground games.

Some pre-schools opt for a black EPDM wet pour surface EPDM, including coloured graphics, which keeps the cost down. Some popular playground surfacing designs include:

  • Hopscotch
  • Number and letter grids
  • Coloured Footprints
  • Snakes and ladders
  • Alphabets
  • Roadways with markings
  • Phonics activities
  • Geometric shapes in a range of different colours
  • Animals and insects

Educational graphics with letters, numbers and phonics are usually popular with teachers as they enable pupils to practise the skills learnt in lessons.

Impact Absorbent Surface

Go above the required depth – if you’re really worried about the impact absorbing properties with critical fall heights, you can use the two-layer system and increase the distance between the top layer and sub base. It might not always work, but it can make a softer surface in certain playground areas.

Use it as a safety surface – wet pour surfacing creates great playground safety surface areas, and the wet pour rubber can be nice padding, even if it’s technically outside the playground fence. It can also be used to make play surfaces, without equipment, that children can run around and play games in.

Use it to beat bad weather conditions – most wet pour rubber is also a very porous surface, even at the base layer.

Rubber mulch can see year-round use in domestic gardens, so the safe surfacing can be an environmentally friendly way to prevent a muddy playground or play area.

Playground Wet Pour Surfacing

Make it wheelchair friendly – using the right materials and having sloping raised areas can allow children in wheelchairs to reach seating areas, higher spaces, or playground equipment that they normally can’t.

Mark out fitness areas – exciting designs and geometric shapes can also be used to separate play areas from a pathway through, guiding children away from awkward spots that a lot of people will want to pass through. A colourful design on the top ‘wearing course’ can make this easy.

Wetpour Surfacing Cost

The average cost per square metre is £29-39 per square metre, excluding base works.

This can increase with different graphics and colour combinations along with the following:

  • Location of a project – Please provide us with the exact address of the project. This has an effect on the wetpour cost per square metre.
  • Access – Car parking or an approximate distance as to how close we get our mixer & van to the site, can our materials be delivered.
  • Storage– Whether we can store our materials, only if necessary.
  • Levels – Type of the surface, is it flat, sloped or even stepped?
  • Total area size in m² – Please state whether it’s one area or a few different areas.
  • Total perimeter in linear meters of surfacing – We need to be able to calculate the amount of materials we need as we’ll lay wetpour surfacing up to an edge.
  • Edge of surfacing – PCC, Timber, Chase Cut, Wall
  • Door Clearance, Gate Clearance
  • What’s the existing surfacing at present – Grass, Concrete, Tarmac, Rubber Tiles?
  • Drainage- Does the area collect water?
  • Manhole covers – Do they require to be recessed or simply overlaid?
  • Play equipment, graphics– Does the area require or have existing play equipment?
  • Colour of surfacing – Black, colour, mixed. Your choice of colours and graphics affects the wet pour costs for your playground facility.
  • Photos of the area – So we can get an idea of what the existing area looks like and what we’ll need to do in preparation.

Wet Pour Colour Range

The full playground safety surface colour range allows you to use surfacing wet pour as an easy way of getting interesting new designs.

Wet pour is available in the following colours:

  • red
  • green
  • blue
  • purple
  • yellow
  • pink

There are plenty more colours available! Get in touch today for an in depth guide and a link to our full colour range.

You can also install a multi coloured design to create your own unique play area surface, however can often be much more costly.

Top Tip: To save cost opt for black or 50/50 blend of black and colour. You can always add some additional preformed graphics to brighten up the area.

This can be anything from extra visual details to safety markings and pathways.

Wetpour Surfacing Specification & Technical Information

A good resin binder might work well with one material and be BS EN 1177:1998 compliant which is exactly what we would use.

This would fall under the Q26 360 architect specification for EPDM rubber crumb.

The technical spec of your wet pour depend on the quality of materials used. Rubber granules, polyurethane resin and other materials can all alter the end result.

If you aren’t sure, you can always send an enquiry form to get more information about what you’re being offered.

You might decide to pattern certain parts of the porous surface with particular themes or colours. The only limits are how long it will take for colours to cure before the next one can be added – all colours are new layers or sections.

Benefits of Wetpour

The top 7 benefits of wet pour surfaces are:

  1. Low Maintenance
  2. Easy to clean
  3. Reduces Impact from falls
  4. Laid in a variety of colours/designs
  5. Usable in all weather conditions
  6. High Durability
  7. Can be laid easily into most shapes

The use of wetpour flooring comes with a host of other advantages when it comes to design, safety and the physical development of children. Wet pour creates a strong, reliable surface with shock-absorbing qualities.

Whilst there may be some similarities when it comes to wetpour and rubber tiles, poured rubber is usually more popular. Wetpour allows you to install exciting designs in a wide variety of shapes without wastage.

If you are searching the web for rubber crumb play area, make sure to contact us today and our team of experts can help you with your project.

Where is Wetpour Installed?

Wetpour surfacing can be installed in the following areas:

  • Schools
  • Nurseries
  • Play Parks
  • Care homes
  • Holiday parks
  • Swimming pool surrounds
  • Sports areas

It can even replace normal garden pathways in residential homes.

Wetpour Sub-base Options

Porous surfaces like MOT type 1 stone can be an ideal base for wet pour, but so can open textured tarmac or no fines concrete.

Usually, your wet pour surface can go over any solid permeable sub base and this all depends on the location of your chosen playground area and budget requirements.

Thank you for your interest in our services! If you have any questions, feedback, or inquiries, please feel free to get in touch with us using the contact form.

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