Playground Floor Tile Thickness for Fall Safety

When choosing the right flooring for your playground, you’ll need to consider many factors. An outdoor playground will require flooring that can withstand the environmental conditions it will face, including UV light, precipitation, and temperature fluctuations. You’ll also need to choose the product that allows for an easy installation, and that’s well-suited for your application.

But even more importantly, your playground flooring needs to be an appropriate thickness for the playground and the equipment in use in the space. Because playground floor tile thickness can correlate to the flooring’s fall height rating, the flooring thickness really needs to be a consideration when you choose a flooring product.

Playground Safety Matting Thickness Options

At Greatmats, we’ve carefully curated a selection of flooring for playground use that includes thick outdoor play mats, thinner products for areas where reduced impact is expected, and everything in between. As you get started, these safety mats for playgrounds might be just right for your needs.

Sterling Playground Tiles

Sterling Playground Tiles are commercial-quality, durable outdoor rubber tiles. They’re available in an array of colors and thicknesses. These modular playground flooring tiles feature an interlocking design and can be installed over surfaces like concrete, asphalt, and aggregate material. Their interlocking channels create tight connections, and adhesive is required for the installation.

You’ll have your choice of the following Sterling Tile thicknesses and fall height ratings:

• 2.25-inch tile for a 4-foot fall height
• 3.25-inch tile for a 6-foot fall height
• 4.25-inch tile for an 8-foot fall height
• 5-inch tile for a 10-foot fall height

StrongPlay Playground Tiles

The StrongPlay Playground Tile is a rubber interlocking tile suitable for use with indoor and outdoor playgrounds. This 1.75-inch rubber tile offers a 4-foot ASTM fall height rating. Its high-traction surface helps to prevent slips and falls, whether it’s wet or dry. These playground tiles feature dowel pin connectors and should be installed with adhesive.

When paired with the StrongPlay Playground Foam Underlayment, these tiles can be up to a 10-foot fall height rated.

• StrongPlay Playground Tile plus StrongPlay Foam Pad 1 Inch: 6 Ft. fall height rated
• StrongPlay Playground Tile plus StrongPlay Foam Pad 2 Inch: 8 Ft. fall height rated
• StrongPlay Playground Tile plus StrongPlay Foam Pad 1 Inch plus StrongPlay Foam Pad 2 Inch: 10 Ft. fall height rated

Max Playground Rubber Tile 2.5 Inch

The Max Playground Rubber Tile 2.5 Inch is available in multiple thicknesses. This tile is designed for outdoor use. Its UV fade resistance ensures excellent performance, and the tile is designed to let water drain around and beneath it for safety.

The 2.5-inch-thick tile offers a 5-foot ASTM fall height rating when it’s fully adhered to a concrete or asphalt base or over a compacted aggregate base.

Determining Appropriate Safety Matting for Playgrounds

If you’re unsure of the specific fall height protection that your playground will use, start by measuring the distance from the ground to the highest playground platform that children will stand on. This is your fall height. Fall heights are often measured in feet, so if your equipment stands 7.5 feet high, round up to 8 feet. If you anticipate adding higher equipment to the playground, you may want to use that equipment’s measurement to determine the desired fall height rating, so the flooring you install now will be suitable for any future modifications you make.


Once you understand your playground’s fall height rating needs, you can narrow down your flooring choices by only looking at products that offer an appropriate fall height rating.