Children's Outdoor Playset

[dmccarty]

Re: Children\'s Outdoor Playset

PVC slides. My kid's play set has a plastic slide of some kind.

Its REAL fun when she goes down the slide, you grab her and
YOU take the HUGE static shock that she just generated! /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Later...
Dan

 

[Harv]

Re: Children\'s Outdoor Playset

<font color=blue>YOU take the HUGE static shock</font color=blue>

Oh, yeah -- I forgot to mention that part.

 

[Frank_Mulligan]

Re: Children\'s Outdoor Playset

Time for me to revive this thread!

My wife wants me to build a wooden playset for our 1 year old daughter. I'll admit it, we would also like to use the swings! There is a local place that builds swingsets out of 4x4 cedar, and as you could imagine they are quite pricey (starting as $1500!). The store chains (Toys R Us, CostCo, BJ's) have wood kits, but from looking at the cedar they use I'm sure it wouldn't support me or my wife.

Anyway, I was wondering if it was safe to use pressure treated lumber. I like the idea of running a router down the edges and recessing the bolt heads.

 

[dmccarty]

Re: Children\'s Outdoor Playset

Frank,

Of course its not safe to use PT lumber after all its CCA which
is arsenic. The EPA just banned the future use of CCA PT lumber
starting in a few years.....

Now if PT is so bad. Evil. Deadly. Why is there not a recall on
all products that use PT lumber? Especially childrens playsets?

I skimmed through the EPA's report on WHY they banned CCA
PT lumber. Never did I see a word such as "will" or "does"
used to indicate the CCA PT wood caused any harm in normal use.
I saw lots of "maybes", "could," "might," etc. I saw lots
of wishy washy but never a certainty.

A coworker had a playset he did not need. Its PT. I picked it up
and my kid plays on it. I don't worry about her playing on the
swing. But I don't let her lick the wood or or suck on it either. But
I would not let her eat a metal playset either.....

I was looking at a house kit that was made of 6x6 PT timbers. I read
quite a bit on health effects on CCA PT wood. How the CCA migrates
from the wood in soil, water, etc. There is some movement when the
CCA is wet and it does move into the soil. If you are growing veggies
in that soil it MIGHT pick up some of the CCA. But the plant had to be
planted real close to the wood. And even then it was iffy on what harm
would occur. I would play it safe and not eat veggies from a raised bed
built of CCA PT wood.

But I'll let my kid play on the swing. Her only exposre to the wood is when
she climbs in to the fort and slides down the slide. When on the swing
she does not touch any wood.....

The play set I have is made out of 1x4s I think. Very flimsy material but it
does work. The thing does loosen up over time and racks out of square. Not
a safety issue I just don't like the looks of it. I think more stout wood would
prevent this....

Later...
Dan

 

[Argee]

Re: Children\'s Outdoor Playset

If your concerned about the ill effects of PT lumber wear a dust mask while working with it. When the project is finished, put a coat of poly urethane on it. Seals the arsenic inside so your children aren't exposed to it. It is being phased out. The C- Copper C- Chromium A- Arsenic will be replaced by two new treatments. The Copper will stay but the other two are gone. I'll have to look the new ones up when I get to work and post them later. Regardless of the chemicals, rest assured the new treatment will be more $$. If CCA was or is so bad, why haven't we seen any news bulletins on its long term ill effects? CCA lumber and arsenic has been around for years. Used moderately I don't believe it produces any ill, long term effects other than to kill and ward off insects (termites) from eating the wood. Isn't that what we're after? They produce a stronger (.60 retention) for submergible applications. I thinks it's the save the owl group at the cost of the forest mentality thats taking it off the market.

 

[snowman]

Re: Children\'s Outdoor Playset

"The store chains (Toys R Us, CostCo, BJ's) have wood kits, but from looking at the cedar they use I'm sure it wouldn't support me or my wife."

Frank;

I bought a $249 wood swingset from Toys R Us about two years ago for my then 1 year old. It's basic - has a nice slide, can have three swings (or swing "implements"), can climb up both ends (ladders), has a rope ladder. It holds me fine (I swing while my son does; not too high, mind you).

I pulled it apart when we moved last year and stuck it back together again; was simple.

I ripped one of the support beams (that the swings hang on) when I mowed under it with my tractor; one of the swing's chains got hooked on my ROPS and I didn't notice it until too late - pulled out the swing and broke the support. I just replaced it with some basic wood and it's as strong as ever.

Now that I'm at a bigger place (more land), I want to just buy a pile of lumber and build something myself; create it "on the fly". However, the $249 set I have is more than enough to keep a 1,2, or 3 year old happy at this point.

My neighbor has one of the larger, more expense ones with the tube slide, etc. and when I look at it, all I can think of is that I can just buy the lumber myself and nail it all together for probably much cheaper.