Play areas

A play-area surface has one job that all the other turf surfaces don’t: when a child falls from a play structure, the surface has to absorb the impact below a tested threshold. The standard is ASTM F1292 and IPEMA certifies the system — turf, pad, and base together — against a critical fall height.

We install play surfaces with a closed-cell EPDM foam pad underneath the turf, sized to the fall height of the structure. A swing set at four feet needs a 1.5-inch pad. A two-story treehouse at eight feet needs a 3-inch pad. We don’t install play turf without the pad — putting turf directly over base under a swing set is a code violation in most municipalities and a liability gap regardless.

The turf surface itself is a softer-pile, knuckle-friendly yarn — kids spend more time face down on it than adults do. We use a non-abrasive monofilament with a higher pile and no infill, so it stays soft on hands and knees and won’t scrape on a slide.

Most play installs are 200 to 800 square feet around a single structure, completed in two to three days. Each install ships with the IPEMA certification sheet and the ASTM test reference for the system, in case a local inspector asks.