Project guide
Playground surface
The one job here where the depth is not about looks or plants. It is what a fall lands on.
- TimeA day, plus the digging if the area is not contained yet
- DifficultyEasy work, and the one job here where getting it wrong matters
How much playground mulch do I need?
- Playground chips at 12 inches: one cubic yard covers about 27 square feet at 12 inches, so 300 square feet takes about 11.5 cubic yards (roughly 4.6 tons).
- Pea gravel at 12 inches: one cubic yard covers about 27 square feet at 12 inches, so 300 square feet takes about 11.5 cubic yards (roughly 15 tons).
Work out how much playground chips I need …and the pea gravel
What the job involves
Marking out the area a fall could land in, containing it, draining it, and filling deeper than the finished depth because loose fill compresses. The handbook these figures come from is written for public playgrounds; nothing in it gets easier because the equipment is in a back garden, so this guide uses it as written.
What you need, and roughly how much
Playground chips
The surfacing, at its installed depth
12 inches installed
Wood chips go in at 12 inches so that once they have settled they are still at the depth the handbook requires. CPSC states plainly that loose fill compresses under use and weather, and that is the entire reason the installed figure is the deeper one. What is sold as engineered wood fibre is a product designed and tested for this job; ordinary landscape chips are not the same thing, and the handbook says to check whether a material has been performance tested at all before it goes down.
One cubic yard covers about 27 square feet at 12 inches, so 300 square feet takes about 11.5 cubic yards (roughly 4.6 tons).
Good for: Under and around equipment a child can fall from. At this depth the handbook's table rates wood chips for a taller fall than either sand or pea gravel. Not for: A play area meant for toddlers, or for children who still put things in their mouths: the handbook says to avoid loose fill there altogether. Chips from treated wood, or from wood whose treatment is unknown, are out as well.
3 listed yards publish a price for this.
How much playground chips for my area? See the yards near me
Pea gravel
The mineral alternative, at the same installed depth
12 inches playground surfacing, installed
Pea gravel goes in at the same 12 inches, and for the same reason: loose fill compresses. The handbook's table rates it for a shorter fall than wood chips at that depth, so the height of the equipment is what decides whether it is enough here, and the rating has to be at least the fall height of the tallest thing a child can be on. It is a loose fill like any other, so the warning about toddlers and mouthing applies to it too.
One cubic yard covers about 27 square feet at 12 inches, so 300 square feet takes about 11.5 cubic yards (roughly 15 tons).
Good for: A play area where the fall height of the equipment sits inside what the handbook's table gives this material at this depth. Not for: Equipment tall enough that the table's rating for pea gravel falls short of it. The rating is a ceiling, not a suggestion, and it drops further in a hard winter where the ground freezes.
5 listed yards publish a price for this.
What else you will need
- A border that will hold the fill in. The handbook asks for a method of containing it and does not treat that as decoration.
- A drainage layer if the ground beneath holds water. Standing water takes the protection out of loose fill.
- Something to mark the minimum fill level on the equipment legs, so topping up is a check rather than a guess.
- Wear mats for under the swings and at the slide exit, where the fill is kicked out fastest. Not sold here.
How to do it
- Mark out the area a fall could land in around every piece of equipment, and plan to surface all of it.
- Check the fall height of the tallest thing a child can get onto against what your chosen material is rated for at this depth.
- Put in a border that will hold the fill where you put it.
- Get the drainage right before any fill goes down, because standing water is what takes the protection out of it later.
- Fill to 12 inches, which is deeper than the level you are trying to keep, on purpose.
- Mark the minimum level on the equipment legs so a top-up is something anybody can check without a tape.
- Rake it back and top it up on a schedule, and never let it sit below the minimum.
Common mistakes
Filling to the depth you want to keep
Loose fill compresses, so the level it goes in at and the level it has to stay at are two different figures. Fill to the installed depth and the maintained one is what you are left with.
Letting it get thin under the swings
CPSC says never to maintain loose fill below its minimum, because shallower depths are too easily displaced and compacted. Under the swings and at the slide exit is where it goes first, and where the handbook says to pay special attention.
Surfacing only the footprint of the frame
The area that needs surfacing is the one a child would land in falling from or getting off the equipment, plus the room to walk around it. It is not the patch the legs stand on.
Calling grass or hard ground a surface
The handbook does not count grass or dirt as protective surfacing, because wear and weather take the give out of them. It is explicit that concrete and asphalt should never be directly under equipment.
Letting it sit in water
Standing water in loose fill reduces how well it works and drives compaction and decomposition, and the handbook notes the protection can drop again in winter where the ground freezes.
Yards near you that carry it
600 listed yards carry mulch; 455 listed yards carry gravel. Set your area and the nearest come first, by distance and never by price. Every yard, by state · Playground chips prices · Pea gravel prices