How to Install an Inground Trampoline

$375
Medium
Ever since I was a kid I’ve loved inground trampolines. We had them at my grandparent’s house and at their cabin. They were so easy to run on and off of, take turns on, and were super convenient for us as kids.
When I was a teenager, we had an above-ground trampoline at our house. I was in charge of mowing our home lawn for years. It was tedious and annoying having to recruit one or two family members to help me move the trampoline half way through my lawn mow so I could mow under it.
My brother had an above ground trampoline with a net. His kids sometimes played with it. Then he had it installed inground and now the kids never stop playing with it. They don’t need help getting on or off, and there are fewer injuries and less fighting.
For these reasons, I decided we would have our trampoline installed inground.
I got two quotes for it and was shocked when it came to $1,500.00 for one and $2,000.00 for the other. Because we were already paying for new sod we didn’t have enough saved to also pay an additional 2k for an inground trampoline install.
I did some Google searching and came across this great tutorial on AllThingsThrifty-awesome site by the way- and we followed it (for the most part). We had to use some different materials and made a mistake along the way—our fault. I’ll tell you the mistake we made and how we ended up fixing it in the steps below.
It cost us about $375 to install our trampoline. So by doing it ourselves we saved $1,125!
Plus, I got a great deal on the trampoline itself. I saved $117.00 (got it for $150.00) at Walmart the day after Thanksgiving!
Here is the finished Inground Trampoline. My SON loves it! My husband and I actually love to jump on it too.
It is the BouncePro 14′ trampoline. It has almost 500 reviews which I read very carefully and almost 5 stars. Its really a quality trampoline for a very reasonable price—even at it’s retail price. You can find it at Walmart here, or Amazon here.


The supplies we used are listed below.


IMPORTANT- Before starting a digging project you’ll want to call your city service ‘call before you dig’ (usually it is free in most cities). Google yours. They usually require 48 hours notice and will mark major things that you don’t want to hit and break while digging. Most back yards do not contain major pipes like water, sewer, etc. but to be sure just call them, it will bring you peace of mind and prevent a potential issue.


Here’s how we installed our trampoline inground.
First, we rented a little excavator from HomeDepot. We rented the largest one they had but it was still pretty small… which worked great because we didn’t have to take down our fence to get it into the backyard. My brother-in-law who is a heavy equipment driver said he’d dig the hole for us. It was so funny seeing him on this tiny machine. Since he is used to much larger machines he said he felt like he was digging out a teaspoon of dirt at a time. We had a good laugh about that.
Before he began we laid the trampoline down where we wanted it and spray painted on the ground around it; then he worked his magic. In about 3-3.5 hours we had a perfectly sized hole. If you don’t have a gate to worry about, I’d recommend renting from another heavy equipment rental place so you can get a bigger machine and the digging goes faster.
While he was digging the hole my husband and I set the entire trampoline up. We made sure to put the trampoline mat and springs on it (so that it would make it sturdy and the correct shape).
After the digging, my son had a super fun time sliding down the sand mound.


For full instructions and steps, check out my blog post linked below:
Anita - Live Like You Are Rich
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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Frequently asked questions
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  2 questions
  • Lei14465581 Lei14465581 on Jul 01, 2017

    Just curious, is that cement or bricks encircling the trampoline? thx

  • Cassi Cassi on Feb 14, 2019

    Tried this about ten years back and it kept filling with water... what do you do drain the run off and keep the walls from becoming collapsed and filling in?

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