Rubber crumb coating for the yard, paths, playground

Landscaping is a complex and expensive undertaking. One of the headaches is how and with what to pave the yard, paths, car parking. For a while, paving slabs were popular. But it has a significant drawback: it is slippery under the snow, it is difficult to chip off ice from it. So they are looking for a replacement. One option is rubber crumb coating. For the courtyard of a private house – this is a very good choice. If you want to first evaluate the quality and characteristics of the coating, go to the playground near McDonald’s. It is covered with just this material. The surface is soft, springy, puddles do not stand, ice does not hold in winter. The surface is porous, but can be easily cleaned with a water jet. Otherwise, with so many children, it would be clearly “worn out”, but it always looks fresh. 

Of what do

Rubber coating was originally used in production in noisy or traumatic areas. It turned out to be so convenient that it gradually migrated to houses, garages, and household plots. But solid rubber mats or tiles are not very comfortable, and the aesthetic value is questionable. But the rubber crumb coating is much more attractive, practical, and more convenient.

Rubber crumb coating is made from recycled materials. Grind rubber products. Car tires are considered the best for recycling. But such raw materials are more expensive, since it is necessary to remove the cord, and these are metal or synthetic fibers. This makes recycling more difficult and the coating itself more expensive. But using a different rubber can cause the surface to become sticky after a while. It decomposes low-quality rubber. So when buying, pay attention to the uniformity of the composition. The fewer color blotches in the black crumb, the better.

Materials

Rubber crumb coating is elastic and wear-resistant. The surface is slightly loose, porous. Water does not stand in a puddle, but seeps into the lower layers. Rather, to the base, covered with polyurethane. So for the normal drainage of water from open areas – the yard, porch, paths – do not forget about the formation of a slight slope (about 1 cm per 1 meter) and runoff.

Despite the fact that the surface is loose, dirt can be washed off with a stream of water. Of course, paint and other similar substances cannot be removed in this way, but sand, clay, etc. – easily. More importantly, the ice crust on the surface breaks. The water definitely freezes. But under load, the ice crumbles and the surface is not so slippery because of this. Walking on it is quite comfortable.

Another advantage of crumb rubber coating is a wide range of operating temperatures. The material withstands winter without problems down to -30°C, it can be heated up to +50°C, which is also a good indicator. This means that you can use this coating in the yard, in an open area.

Scope of use

Based on the properties described above, you can determine the scope:

• Playgrounds. The activity of children will not endure every coating, but experience has shown that this coating copes with the load. And it’s also safe. With a thickness of 10 mm, the cushioning is sufficient so that the child does not receive abrasions when falling.
• In the garage. Resistance to oils, gasoline, solvents is normal, but it will be very inconvenient to remove such stains, and not everyone will succeed in washing with a stream of water. Only if there is water in the garage or it is located near the house. In general, not the best option.
• On an open or covered parking area near the house or in the country. You can lay out the entrance to the garage. If you don’t expect to carry out repair work or start / brake abruptly on the site, it’s a good option. Cars and SUVs do not have any effect on this coverage.
  

• For stairs. It is very important that the steps in the rain, in cold weather, are non-slip. Crumb rubber coating in this sense is one of the best options. If you make a slight slope so that the water drains, there will be no problems.
• Sports facilities: running tracks, sports corners. For these objects, shock-absorbing ability and ease of cleaning are important, which is just characteristic of this material.
• For entry, driveway, yard, terrace, garden paths. The coatings for these sections of a private house are subject to high requirements for the aesthetic component. Even the monochromatic coating looks very good. You can also make different patterns.

As you can see, the scope is wide. But that’s not all: crushed rubber slabs can be used as paths in the garden, put between the beds. It can be used at the entrance group, and not only outside, but also inside – in the hallway.

Forms of release

Rubber crumb coating is available in three types:

• Crumb in bulk into kilograms. Before laying, it is mixed with a special polyurethane-based binder and applied to the surface with a spatula. Forms a seamless finish.
• In the form of a tile. The dimensions are usually 50 * 50 cm, but there may be options with a side from 20 cm to a meter. Depends on the form in which these tiles are made.
• In the form of a tape. Tape width – 30-50 cm and more, length – up to 10 m.

An important characteristic of crumb rubber coating in the form of plates and tapes is thickness. The thinnest plates and tapes are 10 mm, then in increments of 10 mm – 20 mm, 30 mm and 40 mm. What thickness of rubber coating to use depends on the place where you will mount it. For the pedestrian zone – paths, porch – a thickness of 10 mm is enough. On the playground, slabs or mats with a thickness of 20 mm can be laid. In the parking lot in the garage, the same or greater thickness will do.

Rubber coating in the form of crumbs can also be different. The main parameter is the grain size. It is better if it is small or medium. This coating can be colored or black. Black is cheaper, and twice as much. The point is the pigment – high-quality coloring pigment is expensive. And it must be of high quality, otherwise the color will quickly go away. You also need to look at the uniformity of the crumbs. It is desirable that the rubber is homogeneous.

How to choose crumb rubber tiles

As already mentioned, there can be any raw material for the manufacture of tiles and mats from crumb rubber. The coating, which is made from recycled car tires, has shown itself to be the best in operation. Without foreign impurities. If we talk about tiles or roll coating, then on the one hand the tile is colored, on the other – black. The presence of impurities can be assessed by the black side. If there are no colored particles, most likely there are no impurities.

What else do you need to check if you are going to buy crumb rubber tiles? A range of options:

• Run your hand several times along the edges of the tile, along its back and front sides. If the product is of normal quality, with a sufficient amount of binder, nothing will fall from it. If the technology is broken, crumbs will fly off.
• Examine a few tiles. If the goods from storage and transportation have chamfered corners, crumbled sidewalls, cracks appear, look for something else.
• Check out the geometry. You can look visually or fold two or three tiles with faces close to each other. If you have a ruler or level handy, you can use them. Ideally, there should be no deviations. Really acceptable are very small – a millimeter or less.
• Bend the tile in half, press down the fold with your palm. If it is of normal quality, nothing will happen, if it is bad, cracks will appear, it may fall apart.
  

• Look at the front layer. The coloring should be uniform, the surface is even, not loose, slightly “smoothed”.

If all tests are passed successfully, you can buy. There is another criterion by which you can roughly determine the quality of a tile – this is the price. Unfortunately, cheap options usually fail the tests.

Laying rubber tiles and mats

Rubber coating for the yard of crumbs in the form of slabs and mats should be laid on a dry, even surface. The maximum allowable difference is 3-5 mm per meter of surface. Moreover, it should be a smooth rise or fall, without holes and humps. If necessary, curbs and limiters are installed before laying the coating. Before laying, the surface is cleaned of dust, dirt, if there are greasy stains, they must be removed, washed and then dried.

Mats, rubber crumb tiles are glued to a two-component polyurethane adhesive. Sometimes it is advised to replace it with bitumen – it is cheaper and easier to work with. But bitumen has a lower adhesion, so the rubber coating for the yard of a private house can peel off. If you want to have a durable coating – use polyurethane glue.

Before laying tiles, the surface must be primed. Primer – the same glue, only diluted in half with a solvent (white spirit, for example). A thin layer of primer is applied to the prepared, even and dry base. He is allowed to dry, then laying begins. The glue is mixed, applied to the rubber coating (less convenient) or to the platform (more convenient), the coating is laid, trying to prevent air from getting under the surface. Tiles are leveled, pressed evenly. You can move on to the next piece.

What is good about roll coating and rubber crumb tiles? They can be placed on compacted sand, leveled and compacted soil, making sand and gravel bedding and tamping. So that gravel and sand do not mix with the soil, separate them with a layer of geotextile (density 200 g/m2 or more). You can lay tiles without borders, but with borders it looks better. A convenient option if there is no hard coating on the tracks, for example.

Laying a seamless coating of crumb rubber

Rubber crumb yard cover does not require a level base. It itself perfectly hides and evens out irregularities, but it is worth remembering that the minimum crumb layer is 4-5 mm. If it is thinner, there is no guarantee that it will retain its properties. That is, if after applying the rubber crumb you want to have a flat surface, the cavities will have to be filled with it. This will increase consumption, which means that the rubber coating will be more expensive. Therefore, it is better to pre-seal the largest depressions, to cut off the protrusions. Pollution and crumbling fragments must also be removed. Otherwise, problems may arise during operation – delamination from the base, followed by the destruction of the rubber coating. The prepared base is also primed with a mixture of glue and solvent, after which you can start laying.

When the base is ready, the crumbs are mixed with glue. For small areas, this can be done in large buckets using a drill with an appropriate nozzle. For work, you will need spatulas – metal or plastic – as you like. The mass sticks to any surface – and to spatulas too, so it will be necessary to lubricate them with something. This can be a multipurpose grease (WD type) or a thinner. With this composition, you will have to wipe the spatula constantly – otherwise you will not level the superimposed layer of crumbs. The laid layer remains elastic for about 40 minutes. This time is enough to eliminate all the flaws made during application, to connect the sections so that no seams are visible. The monolithic rubber crumb coating dries for about a day, then it can be used.

What is good about a seamless rubber crumb coating? High maintainability. Even if a piece has come off somewhere, it is cut out with a knife, the remains are cleaned off with a chisel, the surface is cleaned, primed (a mixture of epoxy glue and white spirit). You can put up a payment. The only negative is the difference in color. Over time, it will be erased, but a new patch stands out. There is a way to turn this disadvantage into a virtue: to make a patch in the form of a picture. Get decoration.

Tiled, rolled or seamless?

Even having decided to use crumb rubber coating on the site, it is not always easy to decide which one is best for you. In this paragraph, we briefly describe the features and capabilities of each of the release forms. This will help you make a choice.

• Chit. This type of cost per square meter is the cheapest (with a layer thickness of 10 mm). But this is without taking into account the preparation of the base, but only for the components of the coating itself. Of the features: it fits only and exclusively on a rigid base, although it is not at all necessary that it be even.
  

  

• Tile. Due to the large thickness, this is the most wear-resistant material, but expensive. It can be laid both on a rigid base (but always flat), and on sand or sand and gravel bedding.
  

  

• Tracks (rolls). Thickness 10-15 mm. Easy to lay – just roll out on a prepared base. Can be laid on a rigid base or on sand. Not as wear-resistant as tiles, they can go astray, when laying on sand, you need to fix the edges. More suitable for the garden, greenhouses – for laying between the beds. In the garden or on the lawn, they are no longer very convenient, since smooth lines cannot be realized with their help.

In general, you need to select the type of crumb rubber coating depending on where you are going to lay it, what kind of base you already have or what kind you are ready to make.