Tie Down Your Trampoline

A few weeks ago, we had a big, scary storm with lots of high winds.  My daughter was looking out the window right when she saw the wind pick our trampoline up off the ground and slam it up against the house, onto it’s side.  Our new trampoline.  The one with the net that goes around it that the kids absolutely love!  The one their grandparents got them for Christmas.  I wanted to run out there and fix it right then, but I opened up the back door and could barely get it closed again, the wind was so strong.  Right about that time, the hail started falling.  I’m sure glad I wasn’t out there at that moment!

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The bad thing about this happening is that a couple weeks before, we had noticed that our trampoline was moved about a foot from where it originally was.  We knew the wind was capable of picking it up, but we hadn’t done anything about it yet.  My friend had told us we could bend rebar and stake it down, but we knew we’d have to heat it up in order to bend it and that sounded like something that would take time and some effort, so we just put it off, thinking we’d get to it soon.

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After we had experienced the storm that threw our trampoline, it was definitely time to stake it down.  We were able to save it, although it did have some damage.  Some of the netting circle metal pieces were bent, one of the main net holding poles was bent and one of the plastic pieces that you attach the net to had broken.  I called the company and they were asking $39 per pole.  Is that not ridiculous?  They also wanted $30 for a set of 6 plastic pieces.  Shipping was going to be additional. What a racket!  The whole trampoline only cost about $150 on Black Friday at Christmas time, so there was no way that I was going to spend that much for each replacement piece!  My husband was able to bend the metal back to where it needed to be and then we used a strong epoxy to glue the plastic piece back together.  We’re going to need to find an alternative fix for that plastic piece because the epoxy hasn’t been holding.  Duct tape works for a time, but as soon as it rains, that no longer holds either.

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To stake it down, he bought several C Braces from the local farm store that were big enough to go over one of the bottom poles.  He also bought 2 long spikes (or nails) for each metal piece that go deep down into the ground about 8-12 inches.  I didn’t get any before pictures of the spikes, but you get the general idea by looking at these pictures of what they look like after.

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After having these installed, we had another large storm come through.  I kept my eye on it and it did not budge.  Of course, you’ll want to check it regularly to make sure the stakes are not coming up.  I’m so glad to have the peace of mind that my trampoline is not going to smash through my windows!  I hope that you will take a little extra time to do something like this if you haven’t yet.  I have heard too many stories about trampolines blowing away and getting ruined!
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