Wetpour Surfacing

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.

Find The Best Playground Surfacing Companies

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’. This 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.

Ideas for Your Wetpour Surface

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

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.

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

Wetpour Playground Surface Designs

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

Wet pour creates a strong, reliable surface with shock-absorbing qualities. The full list of benefits depends on where it’s installed.

Where is Wetpour Installed?

Wetpour is a playground safety option, but surfacing wet pour can be installed almost anywhere that needs it. Sometimes it even stands in for normal garden paths in residential homes.

Wetpour Sub-base Options

A surface like porous stone can be an ideal base for wet pour, but so can hard tarmac or permeable concrete. Usually, your wet pour can go over anything that supports it, so it depends on the location of your chosen playground area.

Wetpour Technical Information and Cleaning

The technical specs of your wet pour depend on the materials used. Rubber granules, polyurethane resin and other materials can all alter the end result. A good resin binder might work well with one material and be BS EN 1177:1998 compliant, but the same polyurethane binder with another base material might not.

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

All UK Playground Surfacing Companies

Please see the latest list of UK Playground Surfacing Companies 2024

Wetpour Companies

There are many amazing wetpour surfacing contractors in the UK.

Quick Links

Best Wetpour Companies Playground Surfacing Wetpour Soft Surfaces Soft Surfaces Ltd