Splash Pads: What's in a name?

Here at Life Floor, we think a lot about splash pads. We design and manufacture splash pad surfacing; we play on splash pads, too, and sometimes, we even invite our kids. As our involvement in aquatics has grown, we began to notice something unusual: no one seems entirely sure what to call these things. There’s actually a pretty wide variety of names, including: splash pad, splash deck, spray ground, aquatic play pad, rain deck, spray deck, spray pad, spray pool, and spray zone.

The Shape of Things To Come?

Here in Minnesota, we tile the plane all the time, but almost always with squares. We have big dreams to create a hexagon tile (harder to do overseas, but with our manufacturers next door in South Dakota, it’s a possibility we’re excited to explore), but apparently there are even more sides to the argument for different tile shapes, as we learned this week from The Guardian: 

Five Reasons To Ditch Concrete Pool Decks

Without cement, the world would be a very different place. The Romans used it to build and maintain their empire, it remains the material of choice for deep footings or foundations, and it simply can’t be beat if you’re building a hydroelectric dam. However, if you’re installing a pool and not, say, recreating the Pantheon in your backyard, there are better options available. Here are five good reasons to pick something other than concrete or cement for your in-ground pool deck.

,

10 Tips and Tricks to Help You Design the Best Pool For Your Space

,

Choose a pool that fits your personality and lifestyle: Perhaps you’d rather have a winding, lazy river in which to relax, or perhaps you'd rather spend your pool-time swimming laps. Infinity pools are especially beautiful and can compliment waterfront views, while adding slides or diving boards make your pool more entertaining and kid-friendly. In general, think about how you would like to use your pool and how you will realistically use it the most, and try to combine the two to fit your lifestyle.

Five Ways To Make Your Splash Pad Stand Out

Splash pads and spraygrounds are one of the few water features that show up not only in water parks, but also in municipal parks and even in private residences. Getting a sprayground to stand out against the competition can be tricky, but here are five simple ways to make guests' experience memorable for all the right reasons.

Westfield Splash Pad

In the early months of 2014, the Town of Westfield asked MRC Rec and Life Floor to help them with an exciting challenge. They wanted to upgrade the splash pad at their Memorial Pool Complex, but they also wanted to preserve the existing floor design, which had been designed and chosen by members of the community.