DRAFT v0.1 for review — 28 July 2026 · Technical sign-off required · Production version to be designed as a branded PDF download
A working guide for specifying wetpour as a complete system, matched to its application. Part A profiles the application; Part B turns the profile into system decisions; Part C lists the evidence to require for each decision. The principle throughout: classify the use first, then let the system follow.
Part A · Profile the application
Answer these before choosing any ingredient. Incomplete answers here are the root of most mismatched specifications.
| ✓ | Question | Record |
|---|---|---|
| ☐ | Application type | Local play / high-volume destination play / MUGA-sports / splashpad / pathway / other |
| ☐ | Users and volumes | Age groups; typical and peak daily footfall; seasonality |
| ☐ | Safety function by zone | Equipment locations and critical fall heights (EN 1177 applies to zones, not vaguely to sites) |
| ☐ | Exposure | Sun/shade; temperature range; rainfall; standing or treated water; salt air; frost |
| ☐ | Wear pattern | Footwear types; wheels/buggies/machinery; concentrated paths under swings, slides, goals |
| ☐ | Design life | The honest figure from the asset plan — and who owns the surface's condition through it |
| ☐ | Programme constraints | Installation season and weather window; access; acceptable closure time |
| ☐ | Maintenance reality | Cleaning regime and inspection frequency the operator will actually sustain |
Part B · System decisions the profile drives
| Decision | Driven by | Watch for |
|---|---|---|
| Granule — named product & manufacturer | Exposure, design life, colour ambition | Category names ("EPDM"/"TPV") in place of products; formulation not traceable |
| Granule geometry / grading | Wear concentration, strength requirement, texture, drainage | Geometry treated as aesthetic; finer, denser matrices where loading concentrates |
| Binder type | Material compatibility, colours, climate, cure window | Binder unstated, or chosen without reference to the granule and setting |
| Binder ratio | Granule surface and geometry; performance required | "More binder" used to mask material shortcomings — performance plateaus, cost doesn't |
| Thickness — by zone | Critical fall heights; loading per zone | One site-wide thickness: over-spends quiet zones, under-serves wear paths |
| Wet-area provisions | Splashpads and wet play | Continuous wetting, treated water and barefoot use ignored by dry-land clauses |
| Installation requirements | Programme, season, site conditions | Cure time/weather window unstated — three open days of weather risk nobody chose |
| Testing regime | Whole profile | Granule-only data; compliance claimed for the material rather than the installed system |
| Maintenance & aftercare clauses | Operator reality, design life | Year-five condition contractually nobody's problem |
Part C · Evidence to require, per decision
| ✓ | For… | Require… |
|---|---|---|
| ☐ | The granule | Product identity and manufacturer; ageing/weathering evidence (e.g. EN 14836); named, dated aged installations in comparable exposure |
| ☐ | The system's strength | Composite tensile to EN 12230 — for the specified granule, binder and ratio together |
| ☐ | The safety function | Impact attenuation to EN 1177 on the specified build-up and thickness, per zone |
| ☐ | Compatibility | Granule–binder compatibility confirmed from a single technical source |
| ☐ | Wet areas | Evidence of behaviour under continuous wetting and treated water; slip performance barefoot |
| ☐ | Consistency | Production quality controls; confirmation supplied material = tested formulation |
| ☐ | The installation | Installer method statement covering mixing ratios, laying conditions and cure protection |
The one-line test
Read the finished specification and ask: could a different application's name be substituted at the top without changing a word below it? If yes, the specification hasn't yet met its application — go back to Part A.
Where to go from here. Rosehill matches surface systems to applications formally — performance class, geometry, binder ratio and thickness following from the use. Bring us the Part A profile and we'll develop the specification with you, project-specifically and without charge: tpv.rosehill.group/science-of-performance.
Published by Rosehill Sports & Play, a division of Rosehill Group. Rosehill manufactures both Rosehill TPV® granules and Flexilon® binders at Sowerby Bridge, West Yorkshire — designed to work as one system.