How to Safely & Securely Anchor Your Trampoline: All Surfaces
✍️ Gary and the Trampolines Ireland Team — Ireland's leading trampoline experts!
Anchor a trampoline on grass with screw-in ground anchors, on a patio with paving blocks or an anchor kit strapped to soil beyond the paving, on gravel with sandbags or long stakes driven through to the soil beneath, and on concrete with masonry anchors or sandbags. Whatever the surface, use heavy-duty fixings and check them after every storm.
| Surface | What to use |
|---|---|
| Grass or soil | Screw-in ground anchors — the simplest job of the lot |
| Patio | Paving blocks, or an anchor kit with straps fixed into soil beyond the paving |
| Gravel | Sandbags, or long heavy-duty stakes driven through to the soil beneath |
| Concrete | Masonry anchors bolted down, or sandbags |
Why anchoring matters in Ireland
A trampoline is a large, light, hollow structure with a sail-shaped net on top. Irish winds routinely reach the point where an unanchored trampoline lifts, and every winter brings reports of one through a fence, on a car roof, or two gardens away.
Weight is not what keeps it down. People assume a big trampoline is too heavy to move, and they're wrong every January.
Anchoring also reduces the day-to-day shifting that loosens bolts and wears the frame, so it extends the life of the trampoline as well as keeping it where you left it.
Anchoring on grass or soil
This is the easy case, and most trampolines are in it.
Screw-in ground anchors go into the lawn near each leg, with the arch over the frame tube or a strap across it. Twenty minutes for a set, no tools needed beyond your hands, and nothing visible once the grass grows back around them.
Two kits cover it:
- 8-pack ground anchors — 30cm galvanised stakes with a 7cm arch, driven over the frame. Eight fixing points, and the right choice for a trampoline that stays put.
- 4-pack with straps — corkscrew anchors into the soil with webbing straps over the frame and buckle tensioners. Four fixing points, but the straps unclip in seconds, so it's the better option if you move the trampoline to cut the grass.
On an exposed or coastal site, or with a 14ft frame, plenty of people fit both.
Length matters more than you'd think. A short stake in soft ground is doing very little. Look for at least 30cm, and check them again after a wet winter when the ground has softened.
Anchoring on a patio
Paving blocks
Large, heavy blocks placed around the base of each leg, with the frame strapped down to them using ratchet straps or heavy bungee cords. Cheap, effective, and it leaves no marks on the paving. The downsides are appearance and the fact you can't easily move the trampoline afterwards.
An anchor kit with straps
Where your patio is bordered by soil or lawn, drive anchors into the ground just beyond the paving and strap the frame down to them at an angle.
The 4-pack anchor kit with straps is designed for exactly this — corkscrew anchors into the soil, webbing over the frame, buckles to tension it properly.
Don't try to drive a ground stake into a paving slab. It won't hold, and you'll crack the slab.
Anchoring on gravel
Gravel is awkward because stakes deflect off the stones instead of biting.
Sandbags
Fill several bags, place them around the base of each leg, and strap the frame down. Straightforward, and easy to remove when you want to move the trampoline. Use proper builders' sandbags rather than anything decorative — they need to survive a wet winter.
Long heavy-duty stakes
If the gravel layer is shallow with soil underneath, a longer stake will pass through the stones and grip the ground below. You need real length for this — a stake that only reaches the bottom of the gravel is doing nothing.
Anchoring on concrete
Masonry anchors
The permanent solution. Bolts set into the slab with a hammer drill, with the frame bolted or strapped to them. It's the strongest fixing available and it will not move. It's also permanent, so be certain about the position first.
Sandbags
The reversible option, same as gravel. Less secure than bolting down but enough for most sites, and it lets you move the trampoline later.
Hard surfaces are worse than grass, not better. People assume a trampoline on concrete is going nowhere because the ground is solid — but nothing holds the legs down, and paving offers less friction than turf does.
Whatever surface you're on
- Check the anchors after every named storm and re-tension any straps that have slackened.
- Inspect the mat, springs and frame at the same time — small tears are cheap to fix and expensive to ignore.
- Take the net off before a severe storm warning. The net is what catches the wind.
- On an exposed or coastal site, consider an inground trampoline. A frame sitting 20cm above the lawn gives the wind very little to get hold of, and no anchoring problem at all.
We stock 8-pack ground anchors and the 4-pack anchor kit with straps, along with the full BERG replacement parts range. Free delivery on orders over €300, 48 hours on items in stock.
Not sure what suits your surface? Call 01 960 1641 (ROI) or 028 3756 8930 (NI) and tell us what the trampoline is standing on and how big it is.