The best safety surface for your playground will be the one that meets your individual site and budget requirements. The surface needs to last many years outdoors, ideally with the minimum of maintenance (as its important to note that surfaces with maintenance requirements have both a labour and ongoing budget implication), and it's essential that the surface meets the required critical fall height (CFH) for the equipment and offers ease of accessibility for all users. Other factors to consider include: 

Durability

Does the surface require ongoing attention to maintain its safety properties? Matta surfacing requires minimal ongoing maintenance, so has little labour or budget implication.

Hygiene

Can any nasty substances or harmful objects such as dog mess or needles be easily hidden within the surface? Not in Matta surfaces!

Damage

What are the flame retardant properties of the surfacing? As part of BS EN 1177, safety surfaces are tested to ensure that if a small source of ignition, such as a lit cigarette or vandals, no damage will be caused to the surface. However, if a fire is started by vandals, you should consider how the surface will react to prolonged exposure to burning debris. Matta surfacing is flame retardant in such situations, ensuring that your playground & surfacing installation is protected as much as possible.

Ease of repair

If damage does occur, how easy is it to fix and what will the repaired surface look like? i.e. will it look patchy and untidy? Will the repaired area present a weak spot in the surface? Matta surfaces are long lasting, durable and vandal resistant, however should a repair be required, its a quick and easy job to remove the damaged tiles and replace them with new ones, leaving the surface looking as good as new, with no patchy finish or weak area.

Drainage

How easily does surface water drain away? Matta surfaces are designed to be free draining even in the wettest of conditions.

Customer service

What levels of service or aftersales support does the supplier provide? Matta surfaces have a 10 year guarantee and all installations are provided with a certificate of installation, and care details. Matta have been installing playground safety surfaces for over 15 years, so you can be confident in our levels of aftercare service!