Swingsets / Playsets

[eldirector]

Well, time to get a my little girl a playset. Any INGO-ers have recommendations?

Looking for something nice, in wood (cedar?), with a slide, a swing or two, and a little platform/fort. My head is swimming with all of the options and the outlandish prices. I see anything from super-cheap (and they look it) to insanely expensive ($2500 plus).

Anyone see any great deals out there? Yeah, I'm scouring Craigslist, too...

 

[blurr95]

If you have the skills, build your own. You can save a lot of money that way.

Jason

 

[Clay]

I vote for the build your own option.

Thats what I did. Got some plans, bought all the wood (cedar) at menards. the plans told you how much based on how you wanted to build, and also told how to cut everything.

but it still wasn't cheap. I built a big playset, and it took a lot of wood. About 1.5 loads in a full size 8' truck bed.

 

[Grizhicks]

we purchased the one for our grand-kids from Sam's Club; 3 levels, slide, glider and 2 swings.... cedar, fairly well made while I normally agree with build your own, this one came with everything -- Greg

 

[JustinCase]

Just make sure you use heavy duty lumber and hardware. My neighbor bought a "box kit" last year and it fell apart after one summer.

 

[hornadylnl]

we purchased the one for our grand-kids from Sam's Club; 3 levels, slide, glider and 2 swings.... cedar, fairly well made while I normally agree with build your own, this one came with everything -- Greg

My inlaws bought the same one for my daughter. Everything is there and precut. Wasn't much more expensive than the menards kits that you have to pick all the lumber and cut yourself.

 

[Dave Doehrman]

Get the widest, highest and sturdiest swing set you can find. Once the kids grow up they make great stands to hang steel plate targets out at the range. I'm just thinking ahead a little.

 

[88GT]

My inlaws bought the same one for my daughter. Everything is there and precut. Wasn't much more expensive than the menards kits that you have to pick all the lumber and cut yourself.

Menards also sells the kits with the pre-cut wood pieces. We did this option because our time was more valuable than the monetary savings we would achieve by buying the wood separate and cutting it.

We're on our third or fourth year with ours and aside from a random board warping a bit, it's just as sturdy as it was when we put it together. I was surprised at how well it was designed from a fastener standpoint too.

They are also a bit modular in that you can swap out some of the climbing/sliding components for others if you desire.

 

[jamesearljonesisscab]

neighbors just bought one from walmart gorilla brand i think and they said that was the best price for that swing they could find.

 

[eldirector]

Thanks for all the advice so far, folks!

I've been firmly in the "time is money" camp on this. My wife would prefer I build it from scratch, but I have more than enough "honey do" projects for this summer! My preference would be to buy something fairly complete and assemble it in a day.

We'll give WalMart, Sams, and Menards another look.

 

[hoosierdoc]

We did the Sams Club thing and it had very thin wood, I didn't feel safe up there with my weight (225lbs). I would try to buy a rainbow playset used from someone moving or being foreclosed on. The nice thing about Rainbow is they put it together for you too.

 

[Hop]

I bought a Sam's club kit for ~$1000 probably ~6 years ago. It was a really nice one. The little one is a high-schooler now and hated to see it go but someone offered us $550 on Craigslist. Sorry kid-o!

Watch CL and have cash, tools & a flatbed trailer ready to go as they move VERY quick!!!

 

[eldirector]

We did the Sams Club thing and it had very thin wood, I didn't feel safe up there with my weight (225lbs). I would try to buy a rainbow playset used from someone moving or being foreclosed on. The nice thing about Rainbow is they put it together for you too.

Well, considering you are about double the max. weight (depending on which set), I'm not surprised!

We went up to Noblesville last weekend and looked at the Rainbow stuff at Recreation Unlimited. Wow! Spendy! Well made, though. Cheapest set was $1000 (slide, 2 swings, and a rock wall). The one my wife liked was $2500 (yikes!). At today's gas prices, that is still something like 650 trips to the park!

 

[hoosierdoc]

Well, considering you are about double the max. weight (depending on which set), I'm not surprised!

Well, my kid was 18 months old and I didn't feel safe with him up there alone. Also, if you get 3 60lb kids you're over the limit too. Get something with 2x construction for floorboards if it's possible.

 

[hornadylnl]

What made my swingset experience so great was that my father in law first bought an uncut kit from menards. He then changed his mind and wanted the Sams set. So I had to return the stuff from menards and drive all over their yard to put every single board back and then pick up the set from Sams. Then it was so important to get it put together while we were building a house when there were a million other things today I could have been doing. All this for a girl that was almost 9. It seemed like a big waste for a kid that is only likely to play with it for a few years.

 

[hornadylnl]

Found my thread I posted almost 2 years ago. :-)https://www.indianagunowners.com/forums/break_room/93489-swingset_from_hell.html

 

[tocaman]

+1 on the Gorilla brand. Bought ours 8 years ago from Costco. Assembled it over two days by myself and have moved it once (not fun - took up the whole 26' Uhaul) and stained it once. Quality 4x4 cedar legs, 4x6 for the swing cross bar. I think the thing I like about it most is the wood roof - the neighbors all have the canvas ones that have rotted away or are torn and flapping around.

Sure, it was $3k, and maybe 3 slides is overkill, but it's lasted 8 years for our daughter - she'll be nine tomorrow and is still defending it from ninjas/pirates/zombies - and I'm confident our 11 month old boy will be on it for another 8 years.

 

[Mr. Habib]

Jeep tire + old winch cable + large tree = swing set.