Homemade Playground

[dooleysm]

With a 15 month old son and another on the way in September my wife decided we need a swingset/playground/whatever you call it at home. All I heard was a chance to use the tractor and power tools and I signed right up!

We found an area that is 35'ish square-ish that borders the driveway/turnaround on two sides, a side walk, and the lawn. I'm currently in the process of peeling away about 4-6 inches of topsoil. I'm planning to line the side that borders the lawn with RR ties and then fill the void with something kid feet friendly. My current thought is pea gravel, but that's the first question I have, what should I put in here?

I'm pulling the sod away because I have a semi-elaborate setup planned and I didn't want to have to weedeat/mow around all that. I first thought about wood chips/mulch, but I figured I'd spend all my time weeding that huge area and it wouldn't be very foot friendly. My driveway is crushed limestone and it's not very foot friendly either (I'm talking bare feet here, in case it's not obvious). I thought sand, but I figured that would be pretty weed prone too, and be very inviting for stray cats. Not to mention, I'd have to deal with sand tracked all over the house for the next 15 years. Pea gravel is the only other thing I've come up with that will be relatively easy on bare feet and not be too weed prone.

So, there's the first hurdle, what to put under/around the playground. What about a weed barrier underneath? I'm figuring that since i'm putting a good amount of rock (or whatever) in that any geo-textile will not be necessary, am I right?

 

[GT2]

With a 15 month old son and another on the way in September my wife decided we need a swingset/playground/whatever you call it at home. All I heard was a chance to use the tractor and power tools and I signed right up!

We found an area that is 35'ish square-ish that borders the driveway/turnaround on two sides, a side walk, and the lawn. I'm currently in the process of peeling away about 4-6 inches of topsoil. I'm planning to line the side that borders the lawn with RR ties and then fill the void with something kid feet friendly. My current thought is pea gravel, but that's the first question I have, what should I put in here?

I'm pulling the sod away because I have a semi-elaborate setup planned and I didn't want to have to weedeat/mow around all that. I first thought about wood chips/mulch, but I figured I'd spend all my time weeding that huge area and it wouldn't be very foot friendly. My driveway is crushed limestone and it's not very foot friendly either (I'm talking bare feet here, in case it's not obvious). I thought sand, but I figured that would be pretty weed prone too, and be very inviting for stray cats. Not to mention, I'd have to deal with sand tracked all over the house for the next 15 years. Pea gravel is the only other thing I've come up with that will be relatively easy on bare feet and not be too weed prone.

So, there's the first hurdle, what to put under/around the playground. What about a weed barrier underneath? I'm figuring that since i'm putting a good amount of rock (or whatever) in that any geo-textile will not be necessary, am I right?

I went thru the same thing. My thoughts were that pea gravel would get drug in the house in the kids shoes.
I went with wood chips ( not beauty bark!). I layed that black landscaping cloth down first.
Its been 2 years and no weeds!

 

[hazmat]

My daughter (21 months) is going to be jealous when you get your playground up before I do.

I talked to a landscape architect about playground materials. Wood mulch or chips is generally considered the best value. I think she said you can get special "rounded" chips. The ultimate in "fall protection" is rubber mulch (recycled tires), but it costs $1,000 for a 2,000# pallet of the stuff & creates a future disposal problem.

The CPSC has some good publications on playground safety. playground pubs document #325 (intended for public playgrounds) is the most comprehensive.

As you may already be aware, there are tons of companies out there who will sell you the various components - slides, swings etc. There are some that will give you a plan & you prep your own lumber for them. I can't really recommend any, as I have yet to do any business with any of them.

For ideas - check out this company CedarWorks Wooden Swing Sets: America's Premium Swingsets they have a really cool online design tool. Request their free catalog & DVD, my daughter likes to look at all the "babies" in the pictures while Dad is thinking about building her a playset.

 

[firemanpat2910]

You might want lanscape timbers instead of RR ties. The ties are covered with black goo. I also agree the bark instead of sand. I would cover with the fabric then bark or pebbles

 

[dooleysm]

I was going to go with the RR ties because that's what I've got separating the gravel drive from the yard, just for matching those (I used them because they were free). I'll have to think some more on that issue, but I think you guys have convinced me on the wood chips. I bought 10 yards back in Feb. for around $150. I haven't priced pea gravel yet, but I have a feeling it's going to be more than that. I don't really know how much fill I'll need, but based on the pile of topsoil I've moved so far, I'm thinking at least 20 yards.

I've already ordered the DVD and am heading to check out the CPSC pubs right now.

Thanks for the insights so far. I've got more questions coming...

 

[HomeBrew2]

... CPSC ...

Has the American society degraded so far that young parents must resort to federal government publications to provide a safe play environment for their children? Having read the publications on the referenced site, I am at a loss as to why there needs to be multiple manuals to prescribe common sense

 

[MossRoad]

I used pea gravel because wood chips eventually rot and become black soil at the bottom of your playground, you have to replenish them every couple of years, the kids get splinters, and if you have a 100 year rain, they end up in someone else's yard, as they float. The pea gravel has never been an issue in my kids' shoe soles.

If you are set on wood chips, just be sure you have good drainage under the playground.

 

[MossRoad]

Has the American society degraded so far that young parents must resort to federal government publications to provide a safe play environment for their children? Having read the publications on the referenced site, I am at a loss as to why there needs to be multiple manuals to prescribe common sense

We played on asphalt playgrounds... I remember lots of bandaids and ice in a washclothe back then. Anyone else remember that fantastic thud in you brain and that bright light you would see when your head hit the asphalt just before you blacked out? I don't recall any serious side effects. Anyone else remember that fantastic thud in you brain and that bright light you would see when your head hit the asphalt just before you blacked out? I don't recall any serious side effects.

 

[kwolfe]

I still have just gras around my kids swingset fort thing. I have looked into playground mulch, and rubber mats. I did happen to find one interesting idea online. A compay around here uses a submat and then places artificcial turf on top of it. That would keep the weeds out, easy on the feet, and would keep the dirt out of the house. As long as the drainage below the turf was good, sounds like a interesting option.

These guys are down the road from me. They have some decent products.
Zeager, Innovative Products from Renewable Resources

 

[gsganzer]

It's funny that this post just came up. I just bought a playset yesterday from Lowe's. They had a pretty fancy one on sale for $1099 that included all the lumber and hardware.

I looked at building one myself, but by the time I bought all the hardware and lumber and my time to construct (my time is short at the moment) I couldn't make it work out. The kit comes in four boxes and will take me about 4 hours to construct, I already have the level spot. I'll rent a sod cutter for a few hours and "roll-up" the lawn. I can use the sod around the tank in back.

If you want a hardware-only "kit", go to this site and check out the clearance section.

Here's my thoughts on lumber. If you use pressure treated, plan on a lot of warping and twisting, as well as splinters. A friend of mine built one with PT and it was a wreck after 2 years with all the warping and twisting. My true preference would be cedar, but the cost gets prohibitive, plus most cedar around here is rough cut and would need to be planed and/or sanded. A good compromise is a good quality yellow pine or fir with a good stain/sealer, but in dimensional sizes other than 2 x 4 and 2 x 6's is probably more difficult to find then dimensional cedar. Again, you'll need to router edges and ends to make them smooth.

In the long run, you only need the thing to last until your kids are about 8 years old. After that age, they typically don't show any interest in playsets.

 

[tuolumne]

I have 5 kids (11 mo. to 5 yrs.) so we are rather familiar with using playgrounds! By far the best surface material you can get is recycled tire mulch. It is comfortable to walk on, won't degrade, and makes good use of scrap rubber. The civil engineers in my firm spec this most often for elementary and municiple playgrounds. IF I recall correctly, the stuff that looks like bark mulch goes for a premium of $400/yd or thereabouts. The stuff that looks like shredded tires is dirt cheap, which I guess is quite literal in this case. The expensive stuff is treated with anti-microbial coatings and such. Otherwise, well rounded uniformly sized peastone feels pretty good to fall on as a number 2 choice. If you're looking for swingset/playscape ideas, details or structural considerations, I built countless hundreds of them through my teenage years. Despite this, my kids swing on a 16' pair of 2x10s lagged into some trees, and a slide that rests on a 4' high stump with some rungs!

 

[kwolfe]

I will have to admit that I over spent on my swing set. With two small kids, my time is very limited for projects. My wife insisted that we buy one that we saw at Costco. Ours is similat to the picture attached. It is made out of cedar and redwood. 1 year of use and I have not seen a bit of twisting. Also the hardware that comes with these things is very good.

Would I have liked to build my own....Yes. However this I picked up and put this thing together in one day. It would have taken weeks to draw up plans, buy lumber, cut, and assemble my own.

 

[mboulais]

I just bought one from these guys. I built the one we had at the last house, I just didn't have the time to do it again. These are nice sets, much heavier duty than the other kits I looked at. They are all Cedar and Redwood. I bought one of the Fiesta box kits, their cheaper line (under $2k). If you can find a local dealer, these are good.


Swing Sets, Made From The Finest Wood, for Home Use

 

[NoMo]

We played on asphalt playgrounds... I remember lots of bandaids and ice in a washclothe back then. Anyone else remember that fantastic thud in you brain and that bright light you would see when your head hit the asphalt just before you blacked out? I don't recall any serious side effects. Anyone else remember that fantastic thud in you brain and that bright light you would see when your head hit the asphalt just before you blacked out? I don't recall any serious side effects.

That's too funny!

Of course, the effects might be something we are just now beginning to realize... like now having to rely on government publications to provide a safe playground for our kids (or short-term memory loss).

 

[dooleysm]

I like the idea of wood chips over rubber mulch or even pea gravel because as someone mentioned, kids grow up eventually and I imagine I'll be taking this thing out some day. Wood chips will be alot easier to get rid of or reuse in the future. Rubber mulch would be a nightmare to dispose of. After more digging last night the pile of topsoil looks to be a tri-axle worth to me. I think I'm going to have to go with whatever's cheapest.

My inlaws own a construction supply house, so I get a pretty good deal on my materials. They do carry the kits there, but they can't even buy those for what HD and Lowes sell theirs for. If I were to buy a kit from HD I'd probably be asked to leave the family I already got some nasty looks for buying 3 sacks of play sand there (which the inlaws don't even carry)!

I'm grateful for all the opinions though, so keep 'em coming!

 

[hazmat]

Has the American society degraded so far that young parents must resort to federal government publications to provide a safe play environment for their children? Having read the publications on the referenced site, I am at a loss as to why there needs to be multiple manuals to prescribe common sense

Yes - most of the stuff is common sense, but it seems we as a society are often lacking it.

A couple of the publications have some actual engineering information that may be useful to someone designing their own playground. For example the measurements on protrusions, entrapment angles, clearances for various equipment etc. will save the "designer" lots of head scratching. May also raise awareness to something they may not have thought of.

We (the taxpayers) have paid good money for this information - might as well use it.

dooleysm

As much as I'd like to design my own playset from scratch - in the interest of time, I'll probably do as others have mentioned - buy a kit & assemble it myself. Plenty of tractor time to level a spot & plenty of tool time to put it together. For not much more money than the materials alone - I'll save dozens of hours of head scratching.

Since you can get a deal on the materials - I suggest finding & buying a set of plans. $100 is well spent on this - the plans I've found are less. They are often free if you buy the hardware kit - swings slides etc.

 

[dooleysm]

Hazmat,

What do you think the value of plans would be? I've been thinking this over for the past several months and have a pretty good idea of what I want that is customized to the space I have. It seems pretty straightforward to me. The only questions in my mind are the beam size to hold the swings and the width/height of the 'monkey bars'. Those were some of the questions I was going to ask next. I'm not wanting to sound cocky or like a smartass here, I'm just wondering if there's something that the plans are going to tell me that I'm not thinking of (or that the good folks here won't point out )

I just talked to the local pea gravel supplier and they want $27.25/ton for pea gravel. They claim that there's about 1.5 tons/yard. Based on the pile of topsoil I've taken out, I think I'm going to need on the order of 20-25 yards of fill material. That's roughly $40/yard for pea gravel versus wood chips I can get for no more than $15/yard (that was the price for 10 yards, there may be another price break in there that I'm not aware of for more yards). It's looking more and more like wood chips are the way to go.

 

[hazmat]

The value of plans is only to save design time. I see from your profile that you are an engineer (too) so I'm sure you are more than capable of doing it yourself. It sounds like you've already put the time in if you've been thinking about it for a few months, so the plans may be of little value to you.

If you are an experienced carpenter, you'll just cut to fit & not care about absolute specifications. I have to keep reminding myself to do this - cut each piece to match the last, not cut each piece to XX" +/- .010.

As far as questions about beam size etc. go benchmark existing products.

 

[kwolfe]

As far as beam size goes, I tend to over engineer things. The monkey bar width is your choice (especially if you are cutting the bars yourself. I think mine are about 18". As far as the beams go, are you going to have the monkey bars separate from the swing area? If so, a couple 2x10s sandwhiched is really stable. We built my brother in laws swong this way. We set 2 6by6s into cement. Then we cut the 6bys in order to string 2 2x10s across (I am not a carpenter, but I think the term is mitred...maybe). That beam flexes about 1 inch with a 230lb guy swinging hard. I think the beam is about 8' off the ground. A higher beam gives the kids move swing travel.

 

[dooleysm]

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).