Sunken trampoline

[Stepawayfromtheminirolls]

I'm currently arguing debating with DH about garden toys and have nearly won the battle about a trampoline. But he's making it difficult by saying it would have to be a sunken/in-ground trampoline. Because of lockdown it's hard to get an estimate at the moment, has anyone had one installed recently and can give me an idea of cost?

I take it you've not owned a trampoline before? Because making large structural changes to your garden (a massive hole is needed) is short sighted if you end up with children who are bored of it within a few months.

Also - if you do this, go big. A sunken trampoline is more permanent than a normal trampoline. It's usual for a pre-schooler to be fine with, say, an 8ft. But (if your children do stay interested long term - if) when you have a 10yo wanting four mates round to play, or a 15yo wanting to jump stunts, you're likely to want 14ft plus.

I have four children, only one of who has consistantly used the trampoline (two who use intermittently in the summer and one not interested). We've been through four trampolines in 13 years - 8ft, 10ft and two 14ft.

It's worth noting that the high frequency of families getting bored with trampolines means that they are fantastic value for money second hand. Indeed you can often pick them up free on Facebook because families can't be bothered to dismantle it themselves. They are actually very easy to dismantle and put up when you know what you're doing.

I mention this because it's worth spending up to £30 on a second hand normal trampoline for the summer, before investing in a more perminant sunken one. Just buy it for the summer and dismantle by autumn if you so wish. Then you can see how it is used and if the size is right etc.

We contemplated a sunken one in Lockdown 1 when we were redesigning a section of the garden. Decided against it in the end.

I forgot to answer about cost.

Depends on access to the area. If your hole in the ground has drivable access for a mini digger and site a skip next to the hole - then costs will include:

• 1 day mini digger hire - £100
• Skip hire - £100 (possibly 2 skips, depending on size of trampoline and amount of earth removed)
• timber/cement/membrane for wall re-enforcement plus two days labour for two people - £500 (extra day if you want them to build the trampoline and tidy garden afterwards).

All of this is approximate and totally dependant on where you live. Labourer prices are massively different around the country and even within a locality.

It will be significantly more expensive if you do not have access to the garden for a digger, so has to be dug by hand. Likewise massive difference if you can't place a skip directly next to (or near) the site for the hole, meaning the soil has to be wheelbarrowed away. Both more costly due to it taking much more time so having to pay for more labour.

We were going to DIY ours. You don't need much skill. Just the hard graft of digging a very, very big hole and shifting a massive amount of soil to a roadside skip. We decided it wasn't worth the effort and I've planted a whole load of shade tolerant woodland creepers under the trampoline so it doesn't need to be mowed.

My neighbours had a sunken one and they said it was a pain

They had to rescue the rabbits a few times

You'll be creating somewhere for the rainwater to collect. Above ground much more practical and easy to move on if it's not a hit.

Thanks for the reply I very much like the plan of picking up a cheap second hand one first. Hopefully that would mean that I can get some quotes too in case we did go ahead with a sunken one.
Quite embarrassed by how quickly I was outed as a trampoline virgin 😂

@FATEdestiny - wow, what fantastic replies.

DH ordered a decent quality one for our two that would hold an adults weight if required and a decent quality net. We had it up for years but was hardly ever unless they had friends round then they all wanted to go on it at the same time. We didn’t have any accidents. As DS got older he used to mess about doing footballing inside the trampoline and would often bounce and throw a ball or catch a ball with me. I would try a cheap decent brand second hand one first but get a quality net for safety.

Where I come from they are fitted sunken as standard. They are much safer. There was never a problem with animals getting stuck underneath as they should have a gradual slope.

Thanks all for your replies. I think we are going to try a second hand above ground one for now, and then we'll see I guess. Also, as we don't have drivable access to the back garden, digging the hole could be a right PITA!