Homemade Playground

[mboulais]

Monkey bars are separate from the swing beam.

My current idea was to have an elevated 'fort' on one end of the swings with a 4x4 corner post and another 4x4 3.5 inches away with the swing beam (a 4x6 I was thinking) bolted between the two posts. The other end of the swing beam is going to be supported by an 'A' frame structure. I was planning 2 swings, one on each end of the beam near the support and a small baby/toddler style swing in the middle, to be changed to a trapeze bar later on.

I wasn't sure about the 4x6, but there's an architect down at the shop I was going to ask before I proceeded. I'll probably use the same support method even if a stouter beam is needed.

For the monkey bars, the main question I had was what to use for the bars. Wooden dowels would be the easiest to anchor so they don't spin, but I don't think they'd hold up very well. I'd like to use some steel pipe, but I can't figure out how to anchor them in place. Any ideas?

I appreciate the advice so far guys, it's helping to cement my ideas before I start building (I've got a buddy coming down Memorial Day weekend to help me knock this thing out).

The 4 x 6 will work great. I've done it before (12ft long). When you attach your swings drill all the way though and use eyebolts, not screw eyes. You may want to add one more 4x4 and move the swing beam to the middle of the fort to improve stability. or support it like this.

 

[MossRoad]

I bought the smallest plans and hardware package available for the Turbo Slide (corkscrew slide). It was a 4x4 platform with a ladder up to it and the slide. That's it. I then expanded it to 4 x 6 and added a swing set to the side with two swings and a set of rings. I also enclosed the bottom around the legs to make a fort. On the top, instead of buying the cloth canopy, I used some of our giant reed grass stems (similar to bamboo) to make a tropical looking hut cover over half of it. I topped it off with a Jolly Roger pirate flag.

I think the advantage to this was that I got all the hardware to mount the slide, and the basic ideas for the construction in the plans and I didn't have to think about it too much. Stretching it out was very easy, and I ended up saving about $500.00 over the larger kit by doing this way. It has been up for 10 years with the original PT lumber. No warps or breaks with the exception of the wooden ladder rungs, which a couple need to be replaced.

 

[CtRick]

When I put mine in 4 years ago I dug down about 20". Then I put about 12" of bark mulch and 8" of "playground approved" mulch on top. I didn't put anything around the perimeter to avoid trip hazards. It came out very well. The only problem came when they built the playset (i bought from a company that assembles them too), the stakes they put to keep the thing from tipping wouldn't reach the ground, I had to go out and get longer ones.

Rick

 

[dooleysm]

We went to the local park last night to take some measurements. They had a much finer wood mulch than I had seen locally. It was very springy and had been in place since 2001. My wife's got a distant relative that is the facilities guy for the local schools, so she's going to check with him to see where they get that stuff. I also found that the swing beams were at 8.5 feet and that seemed like plenty. I guess the 12' I was planning was overkill!

I'm planning on using my PHD to dig 3' holes for all my posts. I was going to put some concrete in the bottom of each hole for a 'footer' of sorts and then put the posts on top of those footers and pack in at least 2 feet of dirt around the posts. I figure this will be enough to anchor the playground down, but still let me remove it some day in the future with my FEL.