Conference moira::parenting_v3

Manufacturers:
 Cedar Works		Rockport, ME	(800) 233-7757	$475-$2825
 Woodset		Waldorf, MD	(800) 648-5257	$275-$2255
    			Marshfield, MA	(617) 837-6412
    			Orange, CT	(203) 799-0877
 King of Swings		Norcross, GA	(800) 722-2790	$489-$1299
 Woodplay		Raleigh, NC	(800) 982-1822	$250-$1695
 ChildLife		Holliston, MA	(800) 462-4445	$395-$1750
 Woodbuilt		Janesville, WI	(608) 754-5050	$134-$732
 Florida Playground	
  and Steel Co.		Tampa, FL	(800) 444-2655	$335-$1355
 Safari			(Lechmere, Child World)		$399-$699

Most of the manufacturers ship kits throughout the United States.  Except for
King of Swings, shipping costs are NOT included in the price range for kits
given above.  Woodbuilt is a little different in that they ship only non-lumber
kit components (the price range is for their playset hardware plus an estimate
of the lumber cost). All other manufacturers ship complete kits.  The products
generally have various options that can be ordered separately and some are
adjustable for age differences (e.g. platform heights).

The manufacturers generally concentrate on kits built with a certain type of
wood:

 Cedar Works 	Cedar 					2/20  warranty
 Woodset	Pressure-Treated Southern Yellow Pine	1/40  warranty
 King of Swings	Pressure-Treated Southern Yellow Pine	5/25  warranty
 Woodplay	Redwood					1/ 1  warranty
 ChildLife	Pressure-Treated			1/25  warranty
 Safari		Pressure-Treated			?/15  warranty

Warranties are generally offered in two levels - entire product and wood
(indicated above as entire/wood in years).

Books and Magazines:
 The Harrowsmith Guide to Building Backyard Play Structures, Camdem House
  Publishing, Camdem East, Ontario, Canada, 1987
 "Backyard Playground" from The Family Handyman Jul/Aug-1990

The Harrowsmith Guide includes numerous Canadian resources for information and
play-equipment manufacters both for playground and backyard use.

The Family Handyman project includes $500-$900 worth of lumber/hardware, and
the article estimates that the result is equivalent to a $1400-$1900 commercial
play set.
    
There are a number of different manufacturers that specialize in much more
extensive (and expensive) equipment for playgrounds and child care centers.

- Don Braffitt

    There was a big discussion on building swingsets in the last version of
    this conference, and one (or more) in the Home Improvements notesfile.
    
    From those, we decided to build the one that Grossmans sells.  You get
    lumber (we used redwood), parts (hardwood, swings, playhouse
    roof/walls) and good instructions.  It took us a LONG time to build,
    but it's great and the kids love it.
    

    	We went with the kit/plans sold by the PayLess lumber chain.  Here
    	in Colorado Springs, the store is Hugh M. Woods.  In MA/NH it is
    	Sommerville Lumber.  Total cost was $240, which included slide,
    	3 swings (One was a baby swing), and iron-man rings.  It is sturdy
    	enough to hold both my wife and I (I weigh 220 lbs).  None of this
    	"max weight 75 lbs" stuff.  We used redwood instead of pressure
    	treated.
    
    	It took me a total of 8 hours work to assemble, and that was with
    	my kids' "help".
    
    	Joe Oppelt.

    Just an observation in our neighborhood....
    
    The neighbor 3 houses down did one of these kits through a catalog. The
    neighbor right next door took a look at the catalogs to get ideas of
    what style he wanted and then built it himself at 1/3 the cost of the
    other set. His standards were the same as the kit.
    
    If you are handy at all, I would opt for the one you can either design
    yourself or with plans from a place like Somerville Lumber or Payless.
    You'll save yourself alot of money and the "quality" looked the same.
    The one built from "imagination" actually incorporated the abilty to
    expand the swing set. The kit didn't (it's like a pre-fab home - you 
    cannot just put on an addition). I cannot imagine paying thousands
    of dollars for a swing set unless I intend to breed until I drop and
    certainly fill the life expectancy of the warranty!!!
    
    Andrea

    Cedar Works! I put in a Cedar Works play set for my 7 and 4 year olds
    in May. They *love* it. I am very pleased with the quality of the set
    and my children's and their friends' enthusiasm for it.
    
    It is sturdy enough (I can play too!) and large (tall) enough 
    to last them as long as they will be interested in using a play gym.
    It has a towers at either end with a horizontal ladder between them.
    Swings are hung from the ladder. A slide (an extra) is attached to one of
    the towers. Other extras that I have are a fireman's pole, rings and
    a rope ladder on the second platform. 
     
    The structure is made with 4x4 cedar and rungs
    are ash. No staining or painting required.
    I assembled it in a single long day with a friend.
    The instructions are excellent. The assembly is straight forward, even
    for someone like me with no special skills :-). No digging required, a
    big plus for someone in New England (too many rocks to dig up) - the
    set is sturdy under it's own (considerable) weight. Two adults swinging
    can't make it move.
    
    It does require a lot of space. I have a 20'x24' area that I filled
    with sand for it, and that is not quite big enough. 24x24 (with no
    slide) or 28x24 (with slide) would be a safer area to install it in.
    
    A friend spent 3 months looking for a play set and decided on Cedar
    Works. We reviewed her catalogs of wooden playsets, as well as 
    catalogs for home-size playground quality plastic and steel playsets,
    that an architect friend who designs playgrounds supplied to make
    our decision. If the price is not too high, and it fits into your
    available space your children should be very happy.
    
    			Joe
    

Hi ,  I was wondering if anyone had any information regarding Play/Gym sets.
I am looking for something wooden/Pressure treated and safe.  I have a 3 yrs old
and I would like to get him something like this for the spring.  I would 
appreciate it if you could include places where I can get these Play/Gym sets.


Any info would be a great help...

Thanks, Dianne     P.S. My husband was thinking of building something for
                        my son.  Are there any kits available?

    There are a number of places that make/sell kits for this.  I would
    suggest that to save money, you look for the hardware only.  One of the
    items that costs an arm and a leg is the shipping for the PT lumber. 
    The use of a router to round the edges of posts etc. is more than
    sufficient to safeguard the wood.  I have a catalog from Children's
    Playgrounds Inc. out of Canada if you are interested.  The prices seem
    a bit high though.  These are the people from whom we bought the
    playground design and materials for the town of Mendon.  They tend to
    push their wood though.  They don't use regular PT lumber.  They
    laminate smaller dimensioned lumber together.  This tends to reduce the
    possibility of splitting with age.
    
    I will post some other manufacturers when I get them.
    
    Dan

    There are arguments pro and con for using pressure treated wood - the
    storngest being that it contains arsenic.    Back in the earlier
    Parenting file, there are some good, lengthy discussions re building
    vs. buying.
    
    I saw an ad on TV this weekend for an 800 number for Woodbuilt - they
    send a catalog of designs and when you order, you get the directions
    and all necessary hardware. The wood you purchase locally wherever you
    prefer.   I'll bring the number in tomorrow and enter it here.
    
    We're planning to build one this summer using redwood.
    

    Aha! I had the number with me all along.
    
    Woodbuilt: 800-453-4000
    

    Creative Carpentry Inc.
    Route 7
    Ferrisburg, VT  05456
    (802) 877-6756
    
    These are very easy to assemble because they bring you subassemblies.
    Our biggest chore was digging the holes.

RE: a few back

	FYI, the playgrounds you see going up all over with the turrets, 
castles, etc. are not usually PT. They are built with a special type of
Southern Yellow Pine. 

	I know because we are building one in our town and there was much
discussion about this. And, the wood is MUCHO BUCKS!!!!! ($22K for our
relatively small playground)


						Mark

    There is also a *LOT* of discussion about this and the pros and cons of
    different typs of woods, as well as references/ideas for personal
    designs in the SERENA::HOME_WORK notes file
    
    We bought one that just had the wooden dowels for the ladders, and the
    rest of the hardware, bought the (PT) wood ourselves and spent almost
    all summer sanding, drilling, staining and screwing it all together. 
    Finally finished and didn't have enough _FLAT_ place in the yard for
    it!!  It ended up way back by where the mosquitoes live .... you might
    want to make sure the size will fit your yard before you pick one!! 
    Even a slight grade made it very unstable (Of course this design has a
    base, and isn't in any way attached to anything)
    
    Have Fun!!
    
    Patty

    Thanks for the idea of the picture.
    
    Now for almost as dangerous a thing...
    
    How do you anchor these !@##$%% things into the grass and dirt of the
    backyard.  I'm really terrified the thing is going to tip over when he
    get really going on the glider and swings.  It's bad enough when he's
    alone, but last week it was him, plus my niece and nephew, and I
    literally did nail biting being afraid it would tip with the kids on
    it.
    
    There are holes on the end of the frame, but I'm not sure what method
    of anchoring to use.  I'd prefer not using anything permanent like
    anchoring it into cement in the ground. (Like we did for fence posts)
    
    Lyn

I know Child World sell swingset anchors at about $11 a pair.  I haven't seen 
them but I think they are like corkscrew things that hold the set down.  

Some sets **Need** to be cemented in.  I know ours does.  (We have the frame 
assembled, but it seems we bought the complete "Family of 300 activity center"!!
It's HUGE!  So we are now making room for it else where in the yard.  Ever move
a hill with a shovel and a wheel barrow?)  In our instructions it says it has to
be cemented in.  Most companies have 800 numbers so once you find out who and
which one it is then give them a call and ask them what they recommend.

W-

    The way I've seen them, is a chain runs through the holes in the posts,
    then through stakes (similar to tent stakes, but longer), which you
    pound into the ground at an angle opposite to the angle that the
    swingset leg comes to the ground .... got that?
    
    DEFINITELY at least stake it in!!!  I've been on one when it tipped
    over and it's no barrell of laughs!
    
    

The "big" neighborhood kids sure taught me a lesson in physics!!

We have a large Hasbro swing set (slide, t-er-totter, 2 swings, gym and
adult slide).  Jim anchored all four "end" legs and buried the swing set
2 feet into the ground.

Well, along came two 10-year olds who "knew" if they swung "in parallel"
(and at a good clip!), they could "lift" the legs out ... yes, they
broke two anchors and pulled one leg RIGHT OUT of the ground!!!

Scared the living daylights out of me!!!!  Jim bought a replacement anchor,
better clamps, and also added anchors to the jungle_gym section (center of
swing set) ... and the kids were warned if they EVER do that AGAIN they
are permanently, forever BANNED from the swingset!

I can't imagine what would have happened had the anchors NOT BEEN USED!
Scares me to death just remembering this "incident".  In fact, I adamantly
demanded that Jim use cement to re-anchor the swing set (I lost the war ...
and we negotiated the fixes he implemented).

Dottie 

re: .16

Dottie,  I put Nicole's swing set in with cement.  In fact, the instructions
required it.  I think I used 100 lbs total on 4 legs.  It doesn't budge an
inch, even when the big kids swing.

Bob

re .16, That's one reason I prefer a "T"-style swing set.  Since the
supports are vertical rather than horizontal, the set as a whole may 
flex alarmingly, but there's no need for anchoring, and no real
opportunity for the legs to pull out of the ground.  (Of course, 
each leg is also set in a couple of cubic feet of concrete, too.)

	-Neil