Landscaping
Rubber mulch calculator
A 12 × 10 ft play set with the 6 ft use zone around it is 528 sq ft, and at the 6 in of shredded rubber the safety handbook calls for that is 10.27 cubic yards — 8,213 lb, 347 bags of 0.8 cu ft or 5 one-ton super sacks, about $2,472 with fabric and a border. In a flower bed 1.5 in is enough: 17 bags for 100 sq ft. Rubber is bought once; wood is topped up every year.
Written and edited by Pablo Ruiz Quintero
Last reviewed 2026-09-26 · Nothing you type leaves your browser
Rubber mulch calculator
Where it goes, and how deep
Under play equipment the depth is a safety figure; in a bed it is only a look. Rubber is bought in 0.8 cu ft bags or by the ton.
6 in of shredded rubber protects to a 10 ft fall height (CPSC).
The play structure's footprint.
528 sq ft to cover.
6 in to a 10 ft fall height.
6 ft added on every side.
Uneven ground, spills.
About $0.22 a sq ft.
Keeps it in the zone.
You, with a rake.
Used only to pick a regional labour rate. It stays in your browser.
528 sq ft of rubber mulch at 6 in
5 sacks
10.27 cu yd · 8,213 lb · $2,472 with freight, fabric and border
Deep enough for a 10 ft fall
6 in of shredded rubber protects to about a 10 ft fall. Check the product's ASTM F1292 rating against the tallest platform.
Bags or bulk
By the ton wins here.
347 bags of 0.8 cu ft would be $2,776; 5 one-ton super sacks with freight, $1,988. Rubber in bulk is priced by weight, about 800 lb to the cubic yard.
Rubber, or engineered wood fiber
528 sq ft, bought once against topped up every year.
What to buy
- 5 super sacks, 10,000 lb
A one-ton super sack from a playground or landscape supplier, priced by weight. You need about 8,213 lb.$1,813 - Freight
Freight for super sacks on a pallet, delivered by truck with a lift gate.$175 - 528 sq ft landscape fabric
Under the rubber, so weeds do not root through it.$116 - 92 ft of border
Playground border timbers or plastic curbing, so the rubber stays in the zone.$368
What it costs
National average. 528 sq ft of rubber mulch 6 in deep on landscape fabric, with a border. Not included: removing old surfacing or grading the ground.
Wood, bark and straw mulch — yards, bags, pallets and top-ups — on the mulch calculator; turf instead, on the artificial turf page.
Worth knowing
- 528 sq ft at 6 in, with 5% extra is 277 cubic feet — 10.3 cubic yards, about 8,213 lb of rubber: 347 bags of 0.8 cu ft (4.6 pallets) or 5 one-ton super sacks.
- Super sacks win here: $1,988 delivered against $2,776 in bags. Bulk rubber is priced by weight, and a sack is 2.5 cubic yards.
- 6 in of shredded rubber protects to a fall height of about 10 ft; for anything taller, use a product tested to ASTM F1292 for that height.
- The area includes the use zone — 6 ft on every side of the equipment, the space a child falls or jumps into. In front of and behind a swing it extends further: twice the height of the pivot.
- Against engineered wood fiber, 12 in: $1,319 now but $3,695 over ten years with the top-ups, against $2,472 for the rubber, which is bought once. Rubber also stays deep under swings, where wood is kicked out.
- Rubber mulch gets hot in full sun, can float off in a downpour, and is hard to separate from roots once weeds grow through. Landscape fabric under it and an edge around it keep it where it was put.
On this page — 4 sections
Bags or tons
The short version
- Playground, 12 × 10 ft with use zone: 5 super sacks or 347 bags.
- 6 in under play equipment — about a 10 ft fall height.
- Bags win small, sacks win big.
- Bought once; wood is topped up every year.
Rubber mulch is sold two ways. At the store it comes in 0.8 cubic foot bags; from a playground or landscape supplier it comes by weight, in one-ton super sacks of about 2.5 cubic yards each, delivered on a pallet. The volume is the same arithmetic as any mulch — area times depth — and the weight is about 30 lb a cubic foot. At a few dozen bags, bags are cheaper; past a few hundred, super sacks and their freight are.
347
Bags
528 sq ft at 6 in
5
Super sacks
8,213 lb
$2,472
Playground
Fabric and border
17
Bags for a bed
100 sq ft at 1.5 in
MaterialsEstimator, Rubber mulch and playground surfacing price survey · checked 2026-09-26
| Bags | Super sacks | |
|---|---|---|
| Playground, 528 sq ft | $2,776 | $1,988 with freight |
| Big playground, 1,344 sq ft | $7,056 | $4,163 with freight |
| Bed, 400 sq ft | $528 | $538 with freight |
| Handling | 0.8 cu ft, carried by hand | A ton on a pallet, moved by barrow |
Under play equipment
Under a swing set or climbing frame the depth is a safety figure. The federal playground safety handbook wants loose-fill surfacing kept at least 6 in deep for shredded rubber — about a 10 ft fall height — and 9 in for wood chips and engineered wood fiber, across the whole use zone: 6 ft beyond the equipment on every side, and further in front of and behind swings. Covering only the footprint leaves bare ground exactly where children land. A border timber or plastic curb around the zone keeps the rubber in it.
U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, Public Playground Safety Handbook (Publication 325) · checked 2026-09-26
Rubber or wood, over ten years
Rubber costs more on day one and nothing after, because it does not decompose. Wood is cheaper to start and is bought again: engineered wood fiber under a playground is installed 12 in deep to compact to 9, then topped up about 2 in a year as it packs down and is kicked out from under the swings; bark in a bed loses about an inch a year. Over ten years that usually hands it to rubber on cost — and to wood on everything else a garden needs.
| Rubber | The wood alternative | |
|---|---|---|
| Playground, first year | $2,472 | $1,319 |
| Playground, ten years | $2,472 | $3,695 |
| Bed, ten years | $158 | $266 |
| Feeds the soil | No | Yes |
| Hot in full sun | Yes | No |
MaterialsEstimator, Mulch price and packaging survey · checked 2026-09-16
What goes wrong
Before ordering
- The use zone measured, not just the equipment.
- 6 in under play equipment; the product's fall-height rating checked.
- Bags priced against super sacks with freight.
- Fabric and a border ready before the rubber arrives.
01Covering only under the equipment
Children land beyond it.
Instead — 6 ft all round.
022 in under a swing set
It does not protect a fall.
Instead — 6 in, or the depth on the product's rating.
03No border
Rubber migrates into the lawn.
Instead — Timbers or curbing round the zone.
04No fabric
Weeds root through and take the rubber with them.
Instead — Landscape fabric first.
05Rubber against the house
It burns once lit.
Instead — A gap or stone near walls.
- 01Measure the areaFor a playground, the equipment footprint plus 6 ft on every side; for a bed, its length and width.
- 02Choose the depth6 in under play equipment, 1.5 to 2 in in a bed.
- 03Work out the volumeSquare feet times depth in inches, divided by 12, gives cubic feet; divide by 27 for cubic yards.
- 04Convert to bags or weightDivide cubic feet by 0.8 for retail bags, or multiply by about 30 lb for bulk sold by the ton.
- 05Price bags against super sacksBags win on small areas; super sacks with freight win past a few hundred bags.
- 06Lay fabric and a border firstSo weeds stay under it and the rubber stays in it.
For beds that should feed the soil, the mulch calculator works out yards, bags and pallets of bark — with last year’s mulch subtracted.
Bark and wood mulch- Shredded rubber
- Recycled tire rubber cut into mulch-sized pieces, steel removed. The loose-fill playground surface.
- Rubber nuggets
- Chunkier rubber pieces, mostly for landscape beds.
- Super sack
- A woven bulk bag holding about a ton of rubber mulch, delivered on a pallet.
- Use zone
- The area around play equipment a child can fall or jump into: at least 6 ft on every side, more in front of and behind swings.
- Critical fall height
- The fall a surfacing protects against at a given depth, tested to ASTM F1292.
- Engineered wood fiber
- Wood fiber made for playgrounds, installed deep and topped up as it compacts.
- Containment border
- Timbers or plastic curbing around a play area that keep loose fill from migrating.
- Landscape fabric
- Permeable fabric under the mulch that keeps weeds from rooting up through it.
Common questions
- How much rubber mulch do I need?
- Square feet times depth in inches, divided by 12, in cubic feet. A 12 × 10 ft play set with its 6 ft use zone is 528 sq ft; at 6 in that is 10.27 cubic yards with 5% extra — 347 bags of 0.8 cu ft or 5 one-ton super sacks. A 20 × 5 ft bed at 1.5 in takes 17 bags.
- How much rubber mulch do I need for a playground?
- At least 6 in of shredded rubber across the whole use zone — the equipment plus 6 ft on every side — which protects to a fall height of about 10 ft. For a 12 × 10 ft set that is 528 sq ft and 8,213 lb of rubber; covering only the footprint would be 120 sq ft, and the child who jumps off the side lands on dirt.
- How many bags of rubber mulch do I need?
- About 11 bags of 0.8 cu ft per 100 sq ft for each inch of depth: 16 bags per 100 sq ft at 1.5 in, 21 at 2 in and 63 at 6 in. A pallet holds about 75 bags.
- How much does a cubic yard of rubber mulch weigh?
- About 800 lb, or 30 lb a cubic foot — so a one-ton super sack is about 2.5 cubic yards. Rubber is heavier than bark per yard and it does not soak up water.
- How much does rubber mulch cost?
- About $6–$11 a 0.8 cu ft bag, or about $145 a cubic yard in bulk super sacks plus freight. For the 528 sq ft playground, $2,776 in bags or $1,988 in super sacks delivered; $2,472 with fabric and border, and $2,868 spread by a landscaper.
- Is rubber mulch cheaper than wood mulch?
- Not at first, and usually over time. Under a playground, engineered wood fiber is $1,319 the first year and about $3,695 over ten with top-ups, against $2,472 for rubber bought once. In a bed, hardwood bark is cheaper to start and catches up by being replaced: $266 over ten years against $158.
- How deep should rubber mulch be?
- 6 in under play equipment, for a fall height of about 10 ft; 1.5 to 2 in in landscape beds, where it only has to cover the ground. Rubber does not break down, so what is laid is what stays.
- Do you need landscape fabric under rubber mulch?
- Yes, more than under wood: weeds that root up through rubber are hard to pull without taking the rubber with them, and fabric keeps the rubber from mixing into the soil.
- What are the downsides of rubber mulch?
- It adds nothing to the soil, it gets hot in full sun, it can float off in a downpour, and it is flammable once lit. Under a swing set those matter less than the fact that it stays 6 in deep; in a flower bed they are why most gardeners use bark.
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About the author
Pablo Ruiz Quintero — Editor
Editor of MaterialsEstimator. Decides which documents count as a source, what every default value is, and where the line sits between what the reader parses and what the engines compute.
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