A mini trampoline in a small home: space, ceilings and storage

A rebounder is small. The space it needs while you are on it is not. This guide uses the figures for the BERG Fitness Trampoline 110, the one we sell. Get a tape measure before you read on.

Floor space

The frame is 110 cm across. The legs splay slightly, so it is about 125 cm across the feet. That is the patch of floor it stands on.

BERG's manual then asks for at least one metre of clear space on every side. Added up, that is a circle about 3.1 m wide with nothing in it: no coffee table, no sofa arm, no wall.

Few small rooms have that much empty floor all the time. Most people make it by moving a chair or a table before they start. If you cannot clear a metre on every side, the room is too small for it.

Ceiling height

The manual asks for 2.4 m overhead. That is a typical ceiling height in a modern Irish home, which means many rooms only just meet it and some do not. Do not assume. Measure floor to ceiling at the spot where the rebounder will stand.

The arithmetic shows why it matters. The frame sits about 32 cm off the floor. Someone 1.8 m tall who stands on the mat has their head roughly two metres up before they bounce or lift an arm. A gentle bounce with the feet barely leaving the mat adds little. Arms overhead add a lot.

• Attic rooms: measure the lowest point of the slope inside your clear circle, not the highest. Many fail.
• Under the stairs: nearly always too low.
• Light fittings and fans: never set up under one, whatever the ceiling height.
• Older houses and extensions: ceiling heights vary from room to room. Measure each.

If your ceiling is under 2.4 m, the room does not meet BERG's stated clearance. We would sooner you found that out now than after delivery.

The floor underneath

The manual says the surface must be level, and the rebounder must not wobble, tip or slide. Each leg has a non-slip rubber foot.

• A level, solid floor is what you want.
• On smooth tile, laminate or polished wood, a thin non-slip mat under the feet is common sense.
• Do not stand it on a loose rug that can slide.
• Thick, soft carpet can let it rock. Test it before you bounce.
• It is for indoor use only, so the patio and the balcony are out.

What the neighbours hear

There are two kinds of noise. The first is the rebounder itself. This one hangs its mat on 36 elastic bands, with no metal springs, so there is nothing to creak. That helps in the room you are in.

The second is you landing. Each bounce pushes down through four feet into the floor, and that thud travels through a timber floor to the room below. Bands do not remove it. We have no decibel figure and will not invent one.

What does help:

• Keep the bounce low. A feet-on-the-mat bounce puts far less into the floor than jumping.
• Put a mat under the feet.
• Use a ground-floor room if you have one.
• Pick your time of day, and tell the people below what the noise is.

Storage

All four legs fold flat against the frame. The frame itself does not fold, so what you are putting away is a disc 110 cm across.

We do not know how thick it is with the legs folded, because BERG does not publish the figure. So do it the other way round. Measure the gap you have in mind, under the bed or between the wardrobe and the wall, and check it is at least 110 cm wide and 110 cm deep or tall. Then ring us on 01 960 1641 with the height of the gap and we will check with BERG.

Standing on its edge behind a door or against a wall is the simplest place. If you have the model with the stability bar, the bar clicks out without tools and is stored beside it.

Apartments

An apartment can work if three things hold: you can clear the 3.1 m circle, the ceiling is 2.4 m, and the people below can live with the sound. Modern apartments often pass the first two. The third depends on the building and on how you bounce.

We do not know the weight of the rebounder, so we cannot tell you how easy it is to carry up stairs. Ask us if that matters.

Before you order

If the room passes, the Fitness Trampoline 110 page has the full specification, and the questions page covers delivery and returns.