..has anyone done this? I’m expecting its needs retaining walls of some sort in order to bring the lawn up to the side of the 3-4′ hole. Stone and some drainage.. but never seen methods used.. any links or suggestion would be appreciated. (city folks coming up this weekend what to know what its going to cost.. 🙂 Thanks
Arthur
From building boxes and fitting face frames to installing doors and drawers, these techniques could be used for lots of cabinet projects.
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Replies
anyone?
Patience ia a virtue.
GIVE ME AN............. F!
Put astroturf on top to amaze the neighbors when you jump.
Now THAT'S an idea - how about the one where you just land flat on your back and bounce. Tell 'em it's easy; they should try it on their lawn.
Forrest
thanks folks.. you're very funny.. and appreciate the j/bumps.. I know someone out there has done this..http://www.notsobigbuildingcompany.com
Back in the late 60's I used to go to a commercial trampoline center that had the mats mounted over pits.
It's not that critical that you have a straight sided hole in the ground because the edges of the trampoline don't deflect much. It's only in the center that you need to verify the clearance. You'll probably find that you will need less than 2 feet in the center to prevent bottoming out.
Pick the biggest tub of lard you can find to jump on the mat and measure the center deflection. That will be your guide for the depth of the pit.
Avoiding a straight sided pit also makes it easier to mount and anchor the frame and prevent cave ins.
Don't forget to put in the poles for the pulleys and the safety harness. Some fool is going to want to do something fancy and will need the help.
Was a gymnast in school and something strikes me as not being safe about this.I know u would think falling off side would be safer lower to ground but sorry cant quite literate my second thoughts.I do know most injuries are from falling thru the springs(or at least one leg and groin).So if ur at ground level where does the errant leg go? Tramps are built 3-4' off ground just not for the dipping of the net i believe.That one apparatus is probably responsible for more injury than any other.A ny thoughts?
I grew up with a neighbor kid having a tramp dug into the ground. It was the old square kind.
We did some pretty stupid stuff on that tramp and just like the free standing ones accidents are inevitable!
I didn't think that they we were any more prone to injury then if we were using one standing out on the floor. We were taught in gym class to spot, maybe some of what they taught us actually rubbed off!
That one apparatus is probably responsible for more injury than any other
George Nissan(sp?) trampoline extraordinar
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Nissen
Had a trampoline manufacturing plant in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, he quit selling them in the US because of the law suits, only sold them overseas. That's when the round ones came into the country, a bit safer, and most likely cheaper.
Doug
Back as a teen we use to visit a fun center, puttputt, driving range, go-karts and the like.
In a separate fenced area they had several rows of square, level to ground over pit trampolines you could rent by the half hour.
Buddy jumping on a middle one pulled a 'hey, watch this'.
heh heh That's really what he said, too.
So he runs and jumps up on the middle tramp with the idea of bounding over the gravel separation on to the next trampoline.
As he hits the first tramp he springs up over to the next and lands with his head stuck between the gawdawful sized springs on the edge of the tramp, crouching there like an ostrich with his head stuck down in the pit. Funny as ten but it did scratch him up pretty good.
True, things can be dangerous.
be wary of creative teen stonies
half of good living is staying out of bad situations
Back as a teen we use to visit a fun center, puttputt, driving range, go-karts and the like.
We had the same thing.
Our tramp was that game that had two tramps sorta side to side or front to front, with backs and sides on them, in the middle was a net with a hole high up and in the center, you had to shot a ball through and try to keep your opponent from catching it.
I dont know how some of us lived through the crap that we tried. I've never seen a guys head stuck in the springs but I've seen plenty guys that wished thats the part of their anatomy that made contact.
Can you say Aaaaaahhhh with a really high pitch
Doug
I happened to see that same guy yesterday and was reminding him of that story.
He still didn't think it was very funny. Roar!
HELP! GUNNER IS THE NAKED CARPENTER!
be making new old times daily
half of good living is staying out of bad situations
Some people have no sense of humor!
First thing that comes to mind is a corrugated drain pipe turned edge ways. Believe it or not they make big ones and sell buy the foot. Will this be a round trampoline?
Also think cheap and safe! The kids will grow up and move away very quickly. PT framing and PT plywood?? Draining is another issue. can you drain to day light with the existing topo?
Edited 5/26/2006 4:41 pm ET by VAVince
Yes we did it. We dug a hole just under the size of a 15' round trampoline (bowl shaped hole) and set the tramp on the ground (no legs) around it.
We didn't like this,fearing the frame would rust, so we put each of the leg sockets on a paver block, and back filled to the edges. It is level with grade.
We dug our hole too big - had we kept it a foot or so smaller, the springs would still have room to do their thing, but as it is one of the legs has its paver block sliding into the hole, so our tramp looks rakish and sloppy. If our hole was smaller, this would not have happened.
So now we will be attaching the legs--modified--with the ends in 5 gal buckets buried below ground. That is when we get the time. We'd also like to put a light underneath for night jumping.
As for right now, the kids love the trampoline, and everyone who visits thinks its the coolest thing. Some folks have asked how it works with no legs (they don't realize there is a hole) Its fun to run across the yard and take a flying leap onto the tramp and off the other side - 1 jump does it. We joked about putting one every 10 feet or so all the way to the mailbox...
Putting your trampoline in the ground is the only way to go IMHO.
I built one two years ago for a round tramp. Made an octogon wall out of 6x6 treated, sump hole and washed stone on the bottom.
Bear
We put in one for a customer so that it would be flush with the lawn. Basically a sloped walled pit with edging as a lawn border. It had a drain in the bottom which went to the street. We did the sides and bottom with decomposed granite. The trampoline legs make a smaller footprint than the top itself, so you can start sloping the sides from the edges down towards the level bottom.
I've done this several times, mostly in sloped yards so the downhill side is open and the uphill side has grass to meet the tramp. Doing it this way you only have to move have the dirt and it expands the usable area of the yard. I have done it as simply as digging a hole and putting the tramp on. It seemed when I did it that way it was difficult to mow the lawn and the edges of dirt caved in around the tramp.
I dig straight down about a foot and line it with pressure treated 4x4's, and then continue digging at a slop to the center at about 3' which is the manufactures height for legs (don't skimp on this). An important thing about installing one of these tramps though is there is a lot of air displacement with jumping. If you install it without any air gaps around it the spring protection mat will flap up and down quiet loudly. So my preference is to hold it up about 4"-6" all the way around, and this reduces the air problems and makes it easier to mow.
Another thing is that with most tramps you can install the legs without the extensions making tramp a foot to 18" of the ground instead of the standard 3'. This is why I dig down 1 foot with the short legs it extends me up over the grass level.
Good Luck!
Thank you. Your responses were very helpful. Confirmed what I thought were the various options. Having never done it before I just needed to hear what others have done. Thanks again.I also grew up playing on one in the ground. I have incredible good memories of it. I also remember that it used to fill up with water and we would count the days as it drained. It had a metal angle iron frame and was sitting on always semi collapsing block wall soround. ..but it worked well.. Arthurhttp://www.notsobigbuildingcompany.com
Ovolo
Nice web site!
Doug
For the record. Here is how we did it. It works and they are happy. (hopefully my pics come thru)http://www.thesmallbuildingcompany.com
Cool, thanks for posting the results.
Doug
I remember well the shape of the pit under one I played on as a child. That tramp was HUGE. It was at a swim-school and there would be tons of kids on it at once and often several others having slipped through between the springs to the underside in this weird fort with the roof pushing in. Anyway, the shape of the pit was definitely a cone, and deepest in the middle. Holy cow that thing was fun.
It makes me mourn to think how fun that was. I hate that I can't watch kids on them now. Safety expectations are, ah, a little different these days. Now, it is standard to put up a mesh fence of sorts, and crash pads on all sides, especially over the springs. Gym schools use harnesses suspended from the ceiling ($$$).
The saddest thing is that I've now read (and seen video) of too many broken legs simply from having two kids on the tramp at the same time. If one is coming down from height while the mat is rising up toward him, it can generate enough force to snap a bone, even with fairly small, light and well matched kids. The videos are nauseating, and it happens often enough to have been caught on video quite a number of times. So, now one feels obliged to force kids to jump only one at a time. Boooo hissssss.
Ignorance was bliss.
I was also googling around, came across this blog on the topic. Generally going to need a retaining wall, sump pump in most areas. Some specific points about the design of those made for being buried vs just digging a hole and sticking an above ground in there.
https://trampolinesuperstore.com/pages/the-complete-guide-to-in-ground-trampolines