Large play area surface ideas

[fractal]

We have area between the house and the garden that the better half wants to turn into a kids play area. We have an acre of land with lots of trees and grass and plants so space is not as much a premium as it was at the old place. She wants a hard surface area for them to bounce balls and things. Our driveway is sloped pretty steep down from the road making it unsuitable for bike riding and skating. She has talked about putting up a basket ball hoop. The spot she picked out is about 50x100.

I do drive over the area with the truck "occasionally" (truck weighs 7500 empty) and quite often with the tractor, but mostly it gets foot traffic to the garden and chicken coup. It is basically level with a slight slope away from the house. I have finished clearing the old weeds and tilling and am now practicing my box work on it trying to get it more or less smooth.

So far we have considered asphalt (about 3 grand), concrete (about 5 grand) and crushed granite (about 5 grand).

Does anyone else have any suggestions for a hard surface play area, suitable for bouncing a basketball and rollerblades that can tollerate rare vehicle traffic and is environmentally friendly? The thought of removing 60 cubic yards of gravel when the kids get older and we want to turn the area back into grass sends me screaming in terror /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

 

[chim]

Don't rush into it. About 8 years ago, we HAD to have a sand volleyball court. I stripped the topsoil back, set a PT lumber frame to keep the sand/dirt separate, put down 4" of clean crushed stone for a base, covered that with geotextile fabric and added 76 tons of sand on top of that. If it was to be done, I figured I'd give it my best shot.













It got used about 6 times so far..........................chim

 

[Egon]

Them things happen. Interests change.

Sometimes I wonder about a tether ball court out west.

Egon

 

[Hoeman00]

I'd go concrete since the black asphalt will be HOT.
Also when things change u can build a garage over the concrete slab. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[frank_f15]

you already think u are going to tear it out some day, which tell me if u feel u have to do something with it, then use the cheapest blacktop u can. it will come out much easier than concrete. just MHO /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[RichNJKubota]

You may want to price out "soil cement". I've seen articles in various magazines such as Mother Earth News from the 70's and 80's. Check out this web site:
http://www.gearsinc.com/prod01.htm

It could be a nice DIY project if you have the right soil for it.

 

[Egon]

Perhaps consider concrete paver blocks. You can salvage them when the time comes. They are also adaptable to other future landscaping ideas for this area.

Egon