We have frequently been asked how to install a trampoline safety skirt – is there a right and a wrong way? The simple answer to that is yes and doing it right can make the difference between a 5 minute job and a couple of hours struggling!

For those that don’t know what a safety skirt is, it is a fine mesh fabric accessory that wraps around and covers the outside of the trampoline legs, stopping small children and pets from crawling under the bouncing area which can be a danger when someone is jumping on top. There are also handy pockets on the side to keep shoes, drink bottle, phones etc safe and tidy while you play on the trampoline. It’s also good to encourage the children to put jewellery, watches and other sharp objects in them so they can’t catch on or damage the fibres of the jump mat.

All of our skirts come in a clear plastic bag and the instructions are printed on the outside – well worth a quick read. The correct way to install the skirt is to wrap the length around the outside of the trampoline legs and clip the ends of the buckles together. If safety enclosure poles are already attached to the legs, the skirt goes on the outside of them as-well. Any slack is taken up by tightening the buckle straps.

One person can install the skirt but two pairs of hands are handy to get to this stage. Next job is to do up the ties on the top of the skirt around the circular frame of the trampoline, ensuring the ties are roughly in line with the vertical legs. If you find the ties are on the bottom of the skirt by the ground – you’ve put it on upside down, start again!! Next, put in the ground pegs to keep the skirt from riding up the frame and it also discourages pets from trying to crawl under any gap left. Final job is to dispose of the plastic bag responsibly – avoid those choking hazards!

We get a few phone calls from customers saying the skirt won’t go on as it’s too small. On every one of those instances it is because the correct steps of the installation instructions have been ignored. They have tried doing up the ties on the circular frame first and when you then try to do the buckles up they are a couple of feet apart and impossible to get near each other, making it look like the skirt is too small.

I won’t go too much into the mathematics of it (as it uses things like radius, pi, hexagons or octagons) but if for example you have a 10ft diameter trampoline with 3 legs it has a layout something like this:-

If you walk round the outside of the trampoline, the circumference of the circle is nearly 31½ft but by going as the crow flies from leg to leg it is only 30ft. This will explain the couple of feet difference, even more on bigger trampolines.