TuffShell TopCoat An Alternative To Replacing Your Playground, Recreation Surfaces
Solon, OH - Safe Structure L.L.C.'s TuffShell Top Coat, a revolutionary aqueous-based coating specifically designed to extend the life of existing pour-in-place and rubber tile floors, provides a cost-effective and easy alternative for replacing playground and recreation area surfaces.
Safe Structure is a Solon, Ohio-based company that designs and produces comprehensive and innovative surfacing systems and surfacing solutions primarily for the recreation industry.
A polymeric top dressing, TuffShell TopCoat is designed to serve as short-term solution for repairing old and worn pour-in-place surfaces at playgrounds, water parks, tennis courts and running tracks. Easily applied with a paint roller, the coating can extend the life of these surfaces by two to three years, while adding a fresh coat of protection and color. Depending on weather conditions, TuffShell Top Coat can dry to the touch in as little as one hour, and play can resume in as little as four hours. TuffShell Top Coat comes in a variety of colors, including clear.
Because TuffShell TopCoat is an aqueous-based material, it contains no solvents or heavy metals such as mercury or cadmium, or any other harmful dioxins that can harm the environment by leaching into the ground water. TuffShell is sold in kits, with each kit containing five gallons of this coating. However, if the surface has suffered substantial damage, TuffShell will not make the surface conform to ASTM F1292-04 and F1951 standards.
Pour-in-place surfacing, which currently is the desired surfacing for most commercial applications with more than 5 million square feet installed annually, has an average life expectancy of five years.
With the average playground measuring 2,000 square feet and the average cost to replace a pour-in-place or tiled surface estimated at $12.50 square feet, the average estimated cost repair cost is about $25,000. The cost of repairing the same 2,000-sq.ft. surface with TuffShell TopCoat is estimated at about $6,800.00
Replacement funds to install a new playground surface typically reside in capital improvement accounts, where repair funds are usually a maintenance line item for parks and school budgets.
"This postpones a huge capital investment decision, and provides an option to repair the surface rather than replacing it," adds Tom Siebert, Safe Structure President and Managing Principal. "This truly helps the decision makers plan better, and extend their budget funds for other capital expenditures."
In 2004, East Elementary School in Upper Sandusky, Ohio, used TuffShell TopCoat to repair a relatively new rubberized surface beneath its merry go round.
"After three years of daily use, the surfacing has held up quite well," said East Elementary Principal Michael Courtad. "Thanks to TuffShell, the surface is still in excellent shape."
Safe Structure also manufactures Puzzle Play, a modular-designed playground surfacing solution that is on track to change the entire playground surfacing industry.
SOURCE: Safe Structure L.L.C.