One of the most common questions we receive at TeamTrampoline is, “How are trampolines measured?” The answer to this question is important for several reasons. First knowing how a trampoline is measured can help you choose a trampoline that’s an appropriate size for your family.
Also, consider that at some point your trampoline may get damaged or have some parts go missing. If this happens, and you are missing the trampoline’s original purchase receipt or the owner’s manual, it will be very difficult for you to buy replacement parts for your trampoline.
Knowing how to calculate the measures for your trampoline will make it much easier to ensure you do not waste your money on parts that won’t fit your trampoline.
Now that you’ve seen why it’s important to understand how to measure your trampoline, we’ll spend the rest of this post discussing how to calculate your trampoline’s measurements.
How to Measure a Round Trampoline
Round trampolines are the most popular type of trampoline in the USA. This is because round trampolines are affordable, they offer a large amount of space to jump, and round trampolines are also friendly for new trampoline users to jump on.
The thing that’s important to note when measuring a round trampoline is that you don’t measure it by its jumping surface. This is quite counterintuitive.
One would think that if they purchased a 15’ Skywalker trampoline that they would have purchased a trampoline that offers 15 feet of space to jump around on.
Of course, a product’s packaging can be deceiving. Everyone remembers being a hungry child that was so excited to eat that big bag of chips only to discover upon opening it that half of the bag was merely air. Don’t tell me you can’t relate 😉
The same is true of trampolines. The true size of your trampoline is measured by the diameter of the trampoline’s metal frame. This means that often around 20% of your trampoline’s advertised size is actually space that you cannot jump on.
Here’s the simple step-by-step to measuring the size of your round trampoline:
NOTE: Before measuring your round trampoline ensure that all springs are properly attached. You’ll also get better measurements if your trampoline is sitting on a level surface.
#1 Start at one outer metal edge of the trampoline and measure straight across to the outer metal edge of the trampoline on the opposite side. This alone could be enough to determine the size of your trampoline.
#2 If you’d like to be safe, however, you can also measure the diameter of your trampoline’s frame again. The only difference is that this time you’ll take perpendicular measurements.
This means that if you went left-right before, now you’ll measure up-down and vice versa. In other words, the lines of your two measurements should form an “X” or “+”.
#3 After you’ve gotten 2 measurements, take the average of them. Taking multiple measurements in this way helps account for human error or other circumstances that could skew your measurements such as a bent frame of a trampoline that’s sitting on uneven ground.
How to Measure a Rectangle/Square Trampoline
Rectangle trampolines offer excellent bouncing heights. They’re also more suitable to gymnasts or athletes that want to train different flips or tricks (under the proper supervision of course).
Unfortunately, rectangle trampolines typically demand higher prices and offer a smaller jumping surface in comparison to round trampolines.
If you’d like a balance between a round trampoline and a rectangle trampoline, your best choice is a square trampoline. Square trampolines offer a nice bounce, but also tend to offer much more space for jumpers than similarly prices rectangle trampolines.
Here are the X simple steps to measuring your rectangle or square trampoline:
NOTE: Remember that you’ll want to use a fully assembled trampoline that’s sitting on an even surface for the most accurate results possible.
#1 Measure the length of your trampoline from the top outer metal edge to the bottom outer metal edge.
#2 Measure the width of your trampoline from the left outer metal edge to the right outer metal edge.
#3 You can repeat these steps if you’d like a better chance of accurate measurements.
#4 The two measurements you’ve taken thus far are the two dimensions you’ll use to talk about your trampoline. For example, if your trampoline had a length of 12’ and a width of 10’ you’d say that you owned a 12’ x 10’ (or 10’ x 12’) trampoline!
Conclusion
We hope this post has helped you learn more about how trampolines are measured. If you’re in the process of shopping for a trampoline, consider a JumpKing rectangle trampoline or a Skywalker round trampoline.
Or, if you already have a trampoline, be sure to check out our awesome list of 31 games to play on your trampoline!