How to Prevent Damage from a Large Inflatable Bouncy Castle?

[polar993]

I am hosting a party for one of my kids next weekend, and I have a large inflatable bouncy castle being delivered and setup. It's planned to go in our backyard on my lawn, which is currently in great shape.

I live in Connecticut, where the weather has been getting rather warm. What can I do to prevent the bouncy castle from causing damage to my lawn? The bouncy castle will probably be sitting on my lawn for about 4-5 hours in direct sunlight during the middle of the day.

A few weeks ago I accidentally left a small inflatable raft on my lawn for about 2 hours and it caused this damage! I am very afraid of what a huge bouncy castle will do!

Damage from small inflatable raft!

Should I water the lawn heavily in that area before the bouncy castle is setup? Should I NOT water the lawn the night before?

Currently I am watering the lawn every other day for 40 mins with an automatic sprinkler system.

Any help would be appreciated!

[Allyn]

I can't answer your question; I'm not a lawn person. Some lawn people, I'm sure, will have good advice for you. I just wanted to say that your lawn is lovely. Is that zoysia? I can't say that I've ever seen damage like that from leaving something on the grass for only two hours. Did the raft have chlorine on it (as it might if it were taken out of a pool)?

[applestar]

@allyn has a good point. Another possibility I was thinking of was that the raft might have been a clear one that accumulated too much heat like a greenhouse.

I'm not very knowledgeable about lawns either. That is "not my department" in this house and I don't spend much time thinking about the lawn, so my opinions are just very general observation.

Initially, I was thinking NO WAY a bouncy castle is NOT going to damage the lawn, considering the weight and pressure and all.... But then the weight would be distributed... Maybe it would be OK?

I think there is more likelihood of damage if the grass is wet and ground is soft. Dry hard ground and wilty grass might be less likely to suffer from the smothering and grinding/rubbing effect. Then dismantling and removing the castle promptly, without dragging it around (deflate, fold in place, and lift and away) and watering well might help?

But aren't those things heavy? I've never had one at my own house. Do they need to be like fork lifted in and out? How promptly will the renting company remove it?

...also, I think if the ground is wet and soft, a number of big and little people running/walking around during the party would damage the lawn quite a bit as well. You may have to kind of be prepared to see some damage....

[Allyn]

Applestar makes good points -- ones that I didn't think of.

Our church brought in a bouncy house for a festival last summer, and the grass under it wasn't damaged at all when it was taken down after a couple of days. Yeah, it was flattened, but once the building was removed, the grass recovered quickly. Someone fixed the divots where the anchor stakes were driven into the ground and the grass in front of the door was stomped into mudhole after two days of little feet hammering the same spot on the ground, but the grass under building itself sprang back.