Right – you’ve spent a long time looking at all the options for your climbing frame, visiting the web sites of Selwood, Dunster, Play Crazy, Dunster House, Plum or even Argos. Or you might have decided that none of the ready made solutions is right for you, and you need something custom-built. Maybe you’ll build it yourself, or get the local general-purpose handyman to put something together.
But whatever you do, and however you do it, you need to think about the ground in the area you’re going to site it. And remember, you’ll need space all around the equipment to allow for access and safety – a margin of at least 1.8m (or 6 feet).
Ready-made equipment needs to be placed on a flat horizontal surface – if you’re doing a custom installation, it might be possible to design it to cope with the natural terrain.
You need to decide on the choice of surface around the climbing frame. The simplest solution is to use grass. It’s cheap, and safer than a hard surface. But it’s not ideal – in wet weather it could become messy, and in hot dry weather it can become very hard. Some people will choose artificial grass, which can help to overcome these problems if installed on a suitable subsoil, while still looking like green grass.
Sand can also provide a safe solution, but requires regular attention to keep it looking good and remaining effective. Depending on the type of sand it can get hard when it’s wet (like at the beach), so drainage is important and when dry it can blow in the wind. Then there’s the risk of attention from local cats.
Another solution is bark chippings. If this is well executed it can offer a neat and safe solution, but it will need a top-up every year or so, and the odd raking to keep it looking smart.
There are various forms of rubber flooring to consider. Rubber chippings are similar to bark chippings, but less inclined to get blown away. Alternatively there are bonded rubber bases that look like chippings, but since they are bonded, the particles can’t escape, so it provides an effective low maintenance surface. Yet another use of rubber is with rubber tiles. These again can provide a robust and safe floor, but care is needed in their installation to make sure that they can’t move around, potentially leaving unprotected areas and a trip hazard too.
The main message is that the job isn’t complete when you’ve picked the equipment. As with many jobs, the secret of success is in good preparation. Depending on your chosen solution, it might be a good idea to talk to a professional installer. They will have the ability and experience to offer a range of flooring solutions, and then complete a good solid installation of all the chosen equipment.
