Kids play set

[dorksterr]

Hi everyone,
I'm thinking about getting a kids play set/play ground set for my 20 month old son. I've looked around at Lows, Sams Club and Cost Co. I'm not sure which one to go with and I'd like to stick to under $800. I am considering building one but I'm not sure where to get plans and parts. Can anyone give any suggestions.

 

[alohavw]

Lowes or Home Depot has plans in the area where they sell their home improvement/magazine area.

 

[ErickForest]

Look on Craigslist there is always a bunch people are selling. Use the wood structure and buy new swings, slides or other accessories. I got a huge set for free and then sanded and stained it. I also bought new swings and other things. All the neighbors think it looks like a new swingset.

 

[ghnl]

I bought a set of plans from Jack's Backyard DIY. Well written instructions with plenty of details.

I built a couple of his Endeavor Fort/Swingset for our grandsons.

 

[BBQ&Love]

Hi everyone,
I'm thinking about getting a kids play set/play ground set for my 20 month old son. I've looked around at Lows, Sams Club and Cost Co. I'm not sure which one to go with and I'd like to stick to under $800. I am considering building one but I'm not sure where to get plans and parts. Can anyone give any suggestions.

Stay away from the sets at Lowe's, Wal-Mart, etc. Over priced **** that will be dangerous in a few years.

Build with an eye to the future. If you want any tips let me know. If you want a PDF of some high quality sets for ideas send me a PM with your email. I scanned our current catalog into a PDF.

 

[ddawg16]

Build it.......

This is what I did for my kids.....all made out of redwood...

If all else fails.....check out Costco

 

[Builder302]

I went with the Sam's $1200 dollar unit three years ago. For as large as it was it was easy to put up. My brother in law bought the same unit three years before me. Both are still in great shape. We have resealed them a couple of times, I think that is the key to long life. They have less expensive units. It really boils down to time over money. You could have made the unit I bought for 500-600 in wood, plus another 300 in swings slides, rock wall, etc. I paid $400 more, but I would have spent 3x longer putting it together. I would have loved building my own, but didn't have a week of vacation to spare to do so.

 

[EB.Bldr]

Not for under $800 but check out backyardadventures.com they have some great layouts. I believe that gorrila playsets has plans you can buy too.

 

[hbud]

We got ours from willygoat.com. Adventure playsets is the brand name. Watch when the sales are going on. We got ours for a little under a 1000. Just a tip for any swing you get: Bore out the bushing were the chains attach to the frame and put a ball bearing in there. The kid can swing for alot longer before I have to push her again.

(PS: I got the spindles and railing on the top finished before the kid got to play on it)

 

[dorksterr]

Thanks for all of the tips. I Costco had one that was on sale for 799 but they sold out. I may consider building one.

Ddawg, that play set is beast. Do you mind telling me how much you spent?

 

[Privatejoker]

Toys R' Us occasionally has theirs on sale. The plastics are the killer, wood is cheap by comparison. Mine came with two swings, a glider, slide, monkey bars and a climbing wall for $500. It took me about 8 hours to put together.

 

[Plump]

I second the Craigslist route. You'll get a great deal since most of the time, they want it gone and will give you a massive discount for taking it down. Find a friend with a big ol' trailer so that you can take as little apart as possible making reassembly a snap.

Did this last fall and it saved us hours. The last one was torn apart by a tornado which made us cry more than the house since it took us two days to put together!

 

[rieferman]

Around here (in PA) there are lots of shed places with "Amish made" sheds. They tend to also carry adirondack chairs/swings, and playsets. For $750 delivered, we got a tower, slide, arm for three swings, swings/trapeze. We put a turtle sandbox underneath the tower and the kids just love the whole thing. It's built like a tank, and although I can build about anything I want, I just couldn't justify the time and materials compared to that price.

 

[draglink]

I went the nautical route

 

[Cardboard Man]

I built one last year for my son. I didn't think the kits were worth the money for what you get, so I looked around at many different ones, noted the features I liked, and came up with my own design. It took a little extra time to draw up the plans, but I got exactly what I wanted, for around $800. As far as build time, it took a few weekends, and some evenings, but I tried to let my son be as much a part of it as possible. He was too small to do any real work but just having him there was worth it.

I found a website that sells parts like slides and swing seats and all the stuff you can't easily make yourself. Check it out: http://www.mdmaterials.com/slides_re...aveslides.html

Lowes also sells most of the same parts.

 

[Jayincali]

Toys R Us and Lowes are complete junk. I just purchased a Gorilla play set here http://www.playingiseducational.com/gorilla-playsets-congo-outing-iii, told the guy Costco had the same set on sale for $799, but they sold out. He did his best to match the price and gave it to me shipped OTD for $864. I have done ALOT of research, and Gorilla looks to be one of the better companies. Should be receiving my set mid next week.

 

[BBQ&Love]

Toys R Us and Lowes are complete junk. I just purchased a Gorilla play set here http://www.playingiseducational.com/gorilla-playsets-congo-outing-iii, told the guy Costco had the same set on sale for $799, but they sold out. He did his best to match the price and gave it to me shipped OTD for $864. I have done ALOT of research, and Gorilla looks to be one of the better companies. Should be receiving my set mid next week.

I have a Lowe's set on my lot that the customer paid us to haul away. It is 2 years old. Two customers told me yesterday that it looks dangerous and that I shouldn't even have it on my lot.

 

[Jayincali]

I was looking over the Lowes set last week. Main swing beam is sistered up 2x6's, main support posts are 2x3's all made from stained pine. I could stand under the canopy and lift the that entire thing off the ground. The main supports are cracking, the swing beam has huge splits runing the length of it. That Lowes is only about 2 years old, if it's going to look like that after 2 years, forget it. If I can lift it off the ground by myself, hows it gonna hold up with 5-6 kids swinging and playing on it. The Gorilla's swing beam is 4x6, main support posts are 4x4 all edges routed and rounded off, sanded smooth, all hardware is countersunk, made from cedar and redwood. Weight on those are around 525 lbs. Funny thing was the Lowes units was $999, plus tax, plus delivery.

 

[emeraldcoupe]

when my daughter was 3 we bought her one and she's 9 now. it holding up great. we bought from these guys http://www.rainbowplay.com/

 

[dorksterr]

I am looking on willygoat.com and have my eye on a Big Backyard brand. Does anyone have any experience on the quality of these? I don't have a huge yard so the smaller play sets are more what I am looking for. The next one up is the Gorilla which is larger.

 

[PassnThru]

My kids have a Lowe's play set. I really didn't have the time when we bought it to build one. It is about 3 years old now and holding up just fine. Like anything made of wood, it requires some maintenance and staining for protection. I really have no fear that it is going to collapse on them some day despite what has been said. I also anchored it to the ground. No matter how much it weighs it is really something you should do anyway.
Always consider the effective attention span of the kid when you plan this sort of thing. It doesn't need to last 20 years. Unless you have multiple kids that are far apart in age then you probably won't need it for more than 10 years. If your kids are still at home 20 years from now playing on the swing set then you have other problems besides worrying about how long it will last

 

[must8657]

i agree with checking craigslist. i got mine for 200 and the plastic parts alone would have cost that much. just be prepared to pick it up the day it shows up on cl. they go so fast you have to jump and pick up almost the same day. at least in my experience.
jason

 

[GarageEnvy]

I'm a believer in making it yourself. I know, big surprise on this board. I went steel because I did a wood one for a friend a while back and in addition to the rot issue, countersinking all the bolts was a pain. I did this one about 6 years ago. The swing and tower are 10' tall. The slide is 7' tall and came from backyardcity.com. I've got about $900 in it total. The slide was expensive and a used one would have saved big money. The metal for the swing was old well casing and free. The steel for the tower was new but cheaper then. The only thing I'd do differently is the railing. I bought premade railing from Lowe's and then cut notches in every bar so I could rack it and then re-welded the thing back up. Way too much time. I promised the kids I'd enclose the bottom part for a clubhouse. The decking is Trex type stuff. My local Lowe's had a lot of broken pieces and they'd put them out in the cull pile for $2 a board.

I gave up on the railing notching and racking on the lower section. The kids slide down this part all the time. Glad I didn't do the upper sections that way.

 

[dorksterr]

I went ahead and ordered the "Big Backyard" version from willygoat.com today. I'll post again once I get it and set it up.

I was looking on CL but I don't have access to a truck so getting it quickly would be an issue.

Thanks again for all the help