From the time a kid learns to crawl, she has a surface upon which to play. She has no idea her parents make extra sure the surfaces upon which she plays is the cleanest and safest. The same goes when you take your kid to the local park or when they hop on the playground at school. They don’t know (or care) about the materials there, they just want to play.

“Parents should understand exactly what makes up the surface of their child’s favorite playground.”

Playground materials have to be two things: slip resistant and Americans With Disabilities Act or ADA compliant. It’s important for all kids to have soft playground surfacing. Engineered wood fiber meets that need. Here’s what parents should know about engineered wood fiber playground covering.

If you are researching soft playground surfaces then you have probably heard about engineered wood fiber. And rightly so might we add.

What Is Engineered Wood Fiber?

Engineered wood fiber is made from the 100 percent virgin soft wood at the heart of the tree. These soft fibers are cut to one to two inch lengths. They’re soft enough to cushion a child if she falls from playground equipment.

They’re also firm enough to enable wheel-chair bound children to play on the playground surface. Since they’re fibrous, rain passes right through them, enabling children to play on them directly after a rain. The wood fibers are then placed around the play equipment.

How Engineered Wood Fiber Works

A playground is usually covered with a layer of gravel for drainage and to prolong the life of the engineered fibers. A layer of landscaping textile is placed atop this to add to the drainage.

Because they’re fluffy upon delivery, the fibers will need two to six weeks to settle. In this state, the fibers aren’t handicapped accessible. Once it’s compacted, however, the playground will be ADA compliant. Playground owners can have the fibers compacted upon delivery, but it takes a little extra to accomplish. After that, though, the playground will be good to go.

Engineered wood fiber playground covering should be installed to a depth of nine inches for optimal benefit. The life of the wood fibers is estimated to be about eight years or more, providing proper maintenance is observed.

This constitutes raking the scattered wood fibers beneath the playground equipment. Topping it off with a layer of wood fibers is recommended to maintain a soft cushion upon which children can safely play.

Benefits Of Sof’Fall Engineer Wood Fiber

Wood fibers are ideal for playground materials due to not including hard parts like bark and twigs. They’re all natural and not chemically treated. Children can play on them without becoming ill. Other benefits include:

Easy on the budget with lower installation costs
Attractive appearance
Safer for children to play on as opposed to synthetic or other types of soft playground surfacing
Supportive of children in wheelchairs, on crutches, or using walkers
Fully tested and IPEMA certified with a ten year warranty and ten million dollars liability insurance
ADA compliant

Your Best Option

Children are amazing. They launch themselves off any available surface, tumble about, climb anything worthy of adventure, and fall often. Having something soft to fall on is what is most important here.The amazing part is that, nine times out of ten, they don’t break their bones. All that launching, tumbling, and falling is indicative of great imagination and the search for fun.

As parents, we all want to see our children having fun. It makes sense to provide them with a soft carpet upon which to have it. Engineered wood fibers were invented with little ones in mind. Superior protection is the name of the game