Grassroots Playgroundsports

I have two very active boys (ages 5 and almost 3). I think the time is here that I think about getting a backyard swingset/jungle gym/play structure of some sort. My brother picked up one like this one from Costco for his kids:

Pretty sure it was about $1k or so. But to me these play sets seem kind of rickety. Most of the ones I've seen at the big box stores are made from 1x4 lumber.

I've been cruising Craigslist looking for free and cheap used play sets, but it is hit or miss. I don't have a truck, so being able to swoop in on a deal won't be easy. I do have a father-in-law who is handy that owns a Roadmaster wagon, so with a little planning we could pull off a used setup.

I've also been thinking of just building my own from online plans, or possibly a kit. I designed & built a 20' x 10' pergola that is holding up just fine.

So, what did you folks do?

I looked at all of them and then built my own. It's covered with snow right now but I think I have some photos somewhere.

Nice. Any advice for those who are considering a playset too?

We built a treehouse. I'll try to dig up some pictures (it's buried in snow right now). It cost a fortune, and took a bunch of time.

My in-laws bought a swingset/playscape used on Craigslist, but we were able to move it with 3 pickup trucks after some disassembly. My mother-in-law put a coat of stain on it, and it's still holding up well. This was the cheaper/quicker option.

I bought one from Costco for $699 I believe. Its about 6-7 years old and tired now ... The two older kids really enjoyed it, I dont let the little one climb it (or the older ones) as it is leaning to one side and probably about to collapse. I need to chop it up and get rid of it. I think it was worth the money, but the Florida heat took its toll on it.

With all that being said l, I'd buy another one from Costco.

BTW, you can come and pick this one up for free I'll help you take it apart

I looked at all the kits out there and then I bought the brackets, hardware and swings from http://www.backyardcity.com/Swing-Set-Accessories.htm

I used these brackets because they looked much stronger than all of the other options. I used cedar lumber so it wouldn't rot. I bought the main beam from a specialty lumberyard nearby. The cedar 2x4s, the slide and the rock wall came from Lowes. Buying the Lowes rockwall kit was cheaper than buying the "rocks" and lumber to build it, but the kit was from China and the wood was splintered and E36 M3ty looking after a year. That wood will be replaced with better stuff at some point. I wanted to build my own mainly because I knew that I could build it better and cheaper. I also wanted to build the swings higher. The legs are ten feet long. One thing that I noticed when we were going to playgrounds was that taller swings swing through a longer, slower arc. It's a better ride for the kids and when you have to push the little ones, it's a lot easier on your arms. It's also much more stable. The tower was my own design. The decking is Trex.

I got a surplus public spec play structure from the City. Of course it still sitting in pieces years later. Original price $10,000. I paid $400

My wife is leaning towards building it from found materials. I've gotten pretty good at scrounging so maybe I should just start gathering supplies. I'm thinking wood pallets would make a good floor for a raised clubhouse.

I also vote for "found" materials. My neighbor and I built this several years ago using Craigslist/Freecycle/etc.

We would look for people tearing out decks mostly. Minus the slab wood, it's all treated lumber. Build to housing code with 30year shingles.

We purchased....Nails, Concrete (for the footings), a couple of the swings, and Beer.

Total investment (Not counting beer)? under $500.

Sadly, it will probably be removed this year as the kids no longer really play on it. You want it? come get it. I just need to keep a couple swings and a slide for our 2yo.

You can always rent the flatbed truck from Home Depot and get the supplies there. Even if you use the H-D's truck to pick up parts at Lowes

I built one at my old house using mostly found materials. The site was sloped so I built a retaining wall and leveled out a modest play area for the swings. The playhouse and deck were only about 4' above grade due to the retaining wall but about 8' up on the downhill side (it felt really cool and nestled in the trees).

For the swing set I cut down a cedar tree and mounted it crossways between two other trees (looked really cool and allowed me to have a clear 25' span to hang swings on).

Overall it looked really organic and inviting for the kids. Everyone who saw it complimented it tremendously.

Grtechguy wrote:

Is this playset shared between your yard and your neighbors'? How has that worked out?

It's worked out very well. Between their house and ours, 6 kids when built. Plus their friends. Yes, there is a bridge over the fence. Only issue was keeping the gate closed on it so the dogs wouldn't get in each other's yards.

My Dad and I spent a weekend putting together one of the kits from Sam's Club back in 2006. I think it was 900 bucks. Sturdy enough, and the kids got plenty of use out of it. It's still standing, but shows its age and the kids are done with it. I'm a DIY kind of guy, but the kit is bound to save you time if not money.

Well my mother decided to throw down grandma-style and got the boys a joint birthday present:

She got a deal on it and had it shipped to the house for free, so she wins.

Now I see this as a good starting point for the backyard playground. You can't tell from this angle but on the back side there is seating area that I am probably going to enclose into a clubhouse. Next will be a raised platform in front of where the "rock wall" is now. The platform size will be based on whatever pallets I can find to use as the floor. It won't be as pretty as the base unit, but it will be sturdier.

Is it wrong to mod your kid's playground?

slefain wrote: Is it wrong to mod your kid's playground?

Nice score. to answer your question, nope, not at all. And I'd be modding that horizontal beam holding the swings up by the looks of that picture.

My MIL bought one for our First kid in 2007 or so and we pressure wash stain every two years and it still looks new. It was a menards version, I'm going to lengthen the swing area since I have three swing-able kids now and if two are swinging the third always wants to....

We had one of those canvas roofs when it was new but a derecho came through and appeared to get under the canvas and lifted the whole thing; stakes and all, up and broke quite a bit of the wood. When I stood it back up and repaired it I got rid of that roof and made slat roof so hopefully if that happened now it would mostly blow through. I've moved it once also and I made it so it's easy to disassemble into chunks since at our current house it is in the area of the yard where I plan to build a house in a couple years.

Way to go grandma!! But keep your eyes on CL, good finds show up once in a while. I found ours on CL. I don't have any photos of it, we sold it about a year ago. It was 40' wide and built like a brick E36 M3 house. One end had a standard A-frame with 4 swing ropes, then there was a large raised playhouse, with a huge sandbox underneath. On the other side of the playhouse was a suspension bridge that lead to a covered deck with a slide and another sandbox under it. They sell at high end swing set places for like $7k. I paid $750 for it, had it installed by a professional. All we did was some basic maintenance and upkeep. I did replace the roof shingles after a hurricane blew off what it had. I sold it on CL for $650 after 5 years of use.