Looking to get the little man a swing set/mini fort. Would like a spot for three swings, a slide, and a little climbing ramp. Wife likes a bunch of the "kit" sets and I would prefer to build. I won't save a ton by building, but I'm apprehensive about the quality of these kits. Reviews are decent, but most use subpar cedar or worse, pine with a cedar stain. I know I tend to go overboard when building things so it may end up costing more than the kits, so there is that concern of course. So, for those of you who have them, what did you end up doing? Any regrets? Things to look for or consider that I may be overlooking? Thanks.
I built one for the kids and threaten to take the chainsaw to it 15 years after it was last played on, now I have to leave it for someday if we have grandkids.
If you build yourself with pressure treated. Instead of 4x4 consider laminating 2x4 together. They will last longer because the pressure treating doesn't penetrate all the way into 4x4 but does for 2x4. Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
I bought one. And despite a really good friend owning a Rainbow franchise, I think their stuff is wickedly over priced. Ours is a Gorilla brand, it was well designed, and little man loves it. I just couldn't justify my time to build one, I got this one done in a day including the landscape timbers and backfilling with mulch. It is made of Cedar and seems well built. To be honest I'm not really worried about it lasting forever. I'm guessing in 10 years it's not gonna get used anymore and I'll want rid of it and I'm confident it will let that long in good shape.
When I was a kid I had way more fun on my friends that his dad built honestly the pre fab ones are lame even something like this would be way better and I think the kids would use it longer I know we would just go hang out on the platforms of my buddies even when we were a little old to "use play grounds" it was cool still just to sit on it and talk never did that with those pre fab ones my other friends had. plus when he is younger he can say look what my dad built I say build your own!
I built my own but it's still not completely finished. Just didn't have the time. It probably at this point has cost me more then buying one, but I was able to build what she wants. I would say if you don't have the time to do it, just buy one and be done with it. You can always alter and build onto it to customize.
Build your own. We looked at all options and decided to build. The "pre-made" ones have like an 8-10 year life span. Build it and you will tear it down before it falls down. Here is what we decided to build and did it all for like $1200. Some pics are before the new lawn was put in. Built in sandbox Rock wall and ladder Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I built my own from a kit. I advise you to take into consideration the price too. Because ours only got used about 5 years and then they outgrew it and it wasn't "cool" to play on anymore. I left it up a couple more years for any neighbor kids to utilize. Then they stopped using it too and I got tired of mowing around it so I gave it away. I would have really regretted building the truly high-end $$ options that were available since it was only used that short time span. Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
I had a neighbor give me their old swingset and I took it and modified it a bit... It lasted plenty long enough for the boys until they outgrew it. The sandbox was probably the biggest hit, as I went to a local stone yard and bought some pretty pure sand by the truckload, which was pretty cheap to do as well.
Yeah, I can relate. I put $1,000 into that thing too! Kids played on it alot the first 3 years, but it then lost company to Halo... Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk
I got mine from this store alittle pricey but hey when it comes to our little ones you cant be to safe Outdoorplaysetstore.com Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Bowhunting.com Forums mobile app
I bought one way back when. Wasn't more than about 2-3 years and I was at Home Depot buying lumber and hardware to replace the cheap stuff. The pre-made ones seem more "rickety" than building your own out of solid lumber. Every time I would re-tighten the bolts, I could hear the old wood splitting and cracking.
When I was a kid, My dad built us a "tree house" it was just a platform about 6' off the ground. We also had a metal store bought swing set. We always played in the tree house.
