Wooden swingsets at Lowes/Home Depot

[TR Custom Parts]

Anyone ever build one of those swingsets from the kits they sell? Went looking at some sets at a couple of places yesterday and talk about sticker shock. Cheapest one was about $2,000! Some of them were near $7,000. Way too much for some wood and brackets if you ask me.

 

[efi-street]

1. Go find the one you want
2. Take digital pics
3. Look at pics to figure out what wood/hardware you need
4. Buy the supplies and put it together.

My neighbor did this and build one of the $6000 kits for $700.

 

[GN One Day...]

I know what you mean. The house we're buying had one, but the sellers insisted on taking it with them. I understand now. I was thinking about one from here, so I ordered the catalog:

www.rainbowplay.com

I knew before I got to the price list that it was going to be expensive when it said it came with a DVD for presentation. It got here yesterday. Yep, crazy, nutty kind of expensive. The cheapest BASE model is $2349 (on "sale") and then you pay for extras. I know these are solid and safer than the old metal ones, but thats crazy for a bunch of precut lumber. They do look a lot better in your yard, so I guess that's worth something.

 

[TR Custom Parts]

That's pretty much what you do with the Depot/Lowes kit. Has all the hardware/swings etc. You just need to buy the lumber and whatever options you want to add to the kit. Just wanted to know if anyone has actually done one that way and if the kit was worth it/good instructions, etc.

 

[Lee_Burough]

Better hurry! You're going to wake up and the kids will be taller than you. It will happen before you know it

Can you get efi-street's neighbor's materials list and a pic of his set?

 

[TR Custom Parts]

The Rainbow ones are the ones that I looked at. I knew they were going to be expensive when I saw the financing available sign hanging on the office wall.

My son is 7 so I know he will only be using it for a few years, no way am I spending more than a grand to build it.

 

[ponch]

Here is a link to the system that I purchased. With wood and redwood stain it came close to $750.00. Its a very sturdy playset and I also used wood screws instead of nails. If you look halfway down the list you will see the wrangler, thats the one that I bought.

Click here

 

[gn85]

How much could it cost to take a strong length of rope and an old tire? Put that together, hung from a tree... *tada*... swing set!

I'm sure you have plenty of old tires supplied by the back wheels of the Buick and plenty of rope for when you have to tow it home because you broke the latest 'hardened' part.

Heck, find a deep enough pond and you'll have something that lasts well into the teens. I remember the days of going down to the swimming hole as a teenager. An investment well worth it!

 

[Buick From Hell]

$7000?? What the hell they makin' these swing sets out of?? They have "unobtainium" WOOD too? Sheesh!

Last year I was quoted $10,000 to have a 24' x 30' garage BUILT, including concrete!! For 7 bills that swingset better have it's own master bedroom & full bath!

 

[salvageV6]

Mark the kid will only use it one year tops and will be bored with it sooner than that.

My buddy not too far from you in Wallingford built this massive structure on his yard and they used it about 6 months, that's it.

3 kids too.

They were involved more in the building and excitment of the thing rather than actually using it when completed.

He's now moved on to the wifes new $45K pool project.

 

[GN One Day...]

That Rainbow catalog had them up to about $19,000. On sale, of course.

There's a lot of money to be made off of kids these days. We did the tire thing at my in-laws for him, but I think that part of it is that people want something that won't be an eye sore in the back yard. Not bad for when it's time to sell the house, if you leave it for a couple with kids.

 

[Little6pack]

I got mine free.
the catch was I had to disassemble it & take it away.
lucky for me it was down the street. I hauled it
back & forth with my lawn tractor & cart.

Put an add in the newspaper saying you will take
it away if they give it to you.
I bet some older people who have kids gone would
love to have a set removed.

Or the build from scratch idea is good also.

Hey how did the lawn come out??????????

 

[TexasT]

some thoughts

first is why they are so expensive is the same reason everything else costs so much. Insurance. Can you imagine the law suit on your hands when your home designed creation fell over or worse yet on top of your or someone elses child or children? I did build one of these from the "kit" but it is more of an instruction book than a kit. You cut the lumber and assemble it. ($400 for the yellow corkscrew slide alone) but my children love it and I'd do it again. just my thoughts.

Rich

 

[Two Lane]

WARNING

Make SURE the wood has not been treated with arsenic or any other toxic preservative.

 

[turbojimmy]

Originally posted by lburou
Better hurry! You're going to wake up and the kids will be taller than you. It will happen before you know it

That's precisely why I refuse to drop $2,500 on one of those things. It has a lifetime guarantee. I don't want that hulking thing in my backyard any longer than it has to be. I figure 7-10 years tops.

The wife won't have a metal one - that's what I'd prefer. I have to figure out how to do it on the cheap without it looking like I did it on the cheap.

In the meantime the kid couldn't be happier with the swing I hung under the deck. So what's the problem?

Jim

 

[TR Custom Parts]

All pressure treated lumber has arsenic in it. So what are you supposed to use? If you stain the wood won't that help? My deck is made of pressure treated lumber. How did we all survive these evil things?

 

[turbojimmy]

Originally posted by BuickGn Boosted
All pressure treated lumber has arsenic in it. So what are you supposed to use? If you stain the wood won't that help? My deck is made of pressure treated lumber. How did we all survive these evil things?

They're phasing it out, but it won't be completely gone for some time. If you seal it with paint or a good sealer it should be okay (95% effective, needs re-done annually or every 2 years). The safety nazis say it's not good enough, but honestly I think they've gone completely insane. We've all been around the stuff all our lives. I really think it's because of heavy lobbying by the manufacturers of the $2,500-$15,000 cedar swing sets and the lumber-alternative decking industry. They've eliminated the competition. I find that if you look at just about any "safety" measure hard enough, there's some financial reward for someone behind it.

Here's more info by some safety nuts:
http://www.preventingharm.org/pdf/cca_seal.pdf

Jim

 

[Two Lane]

Originally posted by BuickGn Boosted


How did we all survive these evil things?

Not all of us did...and not all of today's kids will either.
----------------------------------------------------------------

Especially when it pertains to children, better safe than sorry.

Exposure to toxins as a growing child has much more potent effects than the same exposure as an adult.

Worthy of a parent's concern.

HTH

 

[DavzGN]

Originally posted by ponch
Here is a link to the system that I purchased. With wood and redwood stain it came close to $750.00. Its a very sturdy playset and I also used wood screws instead of nails. If you look halfway down the list you will see the wrangler, thats the one that I bought.

Click here

I bought the last wrangler kit on their site and built it for less than $100. It's at its third home in four years and is still solid and used by my kids quite often. Of course you get more use out of it when you build it when your oldest is 2+.

It also helps to win a $500 gift certificate to a lumber yard to help reduce the cost of one.

David

 

[tjthorson]

I spent $250 and built my own. I built it so it would hold me and I knew it wouldn't go anywhere.

I built it out of the good old arsenic treated lumber. The big problem I have always had with the AC-2 (no arsenic) and cedar are the wasps and hornets. They HATE the arsenic stuff. An AC-2 or cedar set in our area (chicago suburbs) will have wasp nests all over it in a matter of weeks. When I built the kids set I made the structure out of wolmanized lumber and wrapped the outside (walls) with pine outdoor siding sheets. I then painted the whole thing with exterior latex. The kids were bored with it in a matter of months and never go in it now. My neighbor is going to take it for his 1 year old for when he is older, but we can't even lift it because I overbuilt it so much!

Its 4'x8' with 4x4 supports and carriage bolted 2x8s for the floor joists. Its about 5 feet off the ground with a railing (at nose height) and a closed house part with windows too small to get through. No swings or slides.

Be careful, I know MANY people on my block that bought those expensive ones, once the kids are past 5 they get bored fast.