What is under your swing set? Wood mulch? Rubber mulch? Grass? Rocks? Something else?
Our new house has a great swing set in the yard, but it is a complete mud pit underneath it, to the point that I loathe sending the girls out to play because they come inside such a mess! I like the "idea" of rubber mulch, but am reading conflicting things about whether or not it's really healthy for kids to be coming into contact with it.
pomegranate / 3375 posts
I prefer playgrounds with mulch (but you have to refresh it every so often). My playground when I was little was over CONCRETE! So safe. 
pear / 1610 posts
Wood mulch! We had our playset for about 1 year before we added the mulch and the grass definitely wore out into dirt/mud. We just built the edging to keep the mulch in one place and we love it.
wonderful pear / 26210 posts
We have grass and don't plan to change it. Mulch isn't a good option because our backyard is a pass through for deer and mulch tends to keep tics.
What about sand or possibly those rubber mats, not mulch?
coconut / 8472 posts
We have this dilemma every year. We have a swingset on the grass and it's kind of a pain. It's hard for DH to mow around and of course the grass gets kind of trampled and doesn't grow that great around it, so DH is constantly trying to regrow it so it's not patchy and full of dirt.
I hate mulch and we already have areas around our house with it. It gets all pollen-y in spring and it tends to migrate. And if you want it to look nice you have to replace it every year. And for us @Looch: has a good point, we back up against woods with deer and ticks and we don't need further encouragement for ticks in our yard.
Rubber mulch is supposed to need to be replaced less often, but it's way more expensive and I feel like it'll still migrate around. Plus the stuff recycled from tires is supposed to be bad for kids.
The other options I've considered is pea stones. I assume they have similar drawbacks to mulch though.
persimmon / 1483 posts
Ugh. We put in a play set last spring and still haven't put anything under it. The grass looks terrible so I want to do something, but mulch is out (we also have deer and ticks and also, our backyard is slow to drain and shaded so the mulch would be soaking wet and gross all he time); rubber mulch is so expensive and I don't like the way it smells. I like the way pea gravel looks the best but my landscaper said that it's a PIA because it ends up everywhere.
grapefruit / 4584 posts
@looch: That's good info about the deer/ticks. I didn't know that. We have a family of deer in the yard (not quite to the swing set, but pretty close) almost daily. I'll have to do my research. Sand seriously grosses me out, both as an animal litter box and as a huge mess getting tracked into the house. I know it's nice and soft, but I don't think I could deal!
@Boogs: Any concerns about health safety on the rubber mulch? I thought that is what we would do, but then I read somewhere that you have to be careful about the source, because it can contain lead/other chemicals (not sure it was a reliable source, just some late night googling that got me thinking...)
@Madison43: yeah, I'm a little worried about the wetness factor too.
Honestly, rubber mats would probably be the best thing, but the set is aging - I wouldn't want to do custom rubber mats because the playset it self may need replacing - I'm not sure.
@littlejoy: I didn't have a swing set growing up, but all my friends who did had theirs filled with rocks. I remember especially liking the kind that came with the sharp sparkly rocks more than the round smooth ones, and taking home rocks from under my friends' swingsets.
pomegranate / 3375 posts
@PinkElephant: Our school had little smooth pebbles ... I have a scar on my elbow from one - I remember it tore through my favorite turtleneck, and I was so sad, hahaha.
There might be some validity to the safety of rubber issue. Though, could you take a lead tester to the place you'd buy them, and do a quick swab? I prefer natural materials (like mulch or rocks), because kids can use them for more than their intended purpose. I guess kids could use the rubber for filling buckets too.
grapefruit / 4584 posts
@littlejoy: Natural materials were my initial thought...I just hadn't considered the tick factor! Time to do some research I think!
pomegranate / 3375 posts
@Madison43: @PinkElephant: I didn't think about ticks (we don't have that issue here). We have pea gravel in our backyard, and it's not too big of an issue. My only complaint is that the rocks get stuck in the bottoms of our shoes. Even with dogs, and lots of foot traffic, the rocks mostly stay in place.
hostess / papaya / 10540 posts
@PinkElephant: I did hear about that recently, by haven't read any great research on it. What I was able to find seemed to discuss the kind of rubber used on tracks and such.
bananas / 9118 posts
Gravel, I didn't really think about changing what's under the swings. Hasn't been an issue, so I'm not going to change it.
nectarine / 2987 posts
Ok, I haven't tried this, but I was just thinking...you know how carpet for outdoor porches comes in squares? What about a few squares of indoor/outdoor carpet? Cheap and easy to replace, and not a problem for mowing because you can just pick it up.
hostess / wonderful persimmon / 25556 posts
Ours is a mud pit, as well. We have considered regular mulch and rubber mulch. We will probably do regular mulch.
wonderful clementine / 24134 posts
@MrsSRS: The problem is that it doesn't provide the cushioning for a fall. I mean, it solves the mud problem.
We have regular mulch. We used landscape timbers to frame the space out so it doesn't really get tracked too far.
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