I'm in the early stages of deciding whether to build or buy on this one.
Wood - I'd like to use cedar for looks, longevity and safety. Should I be
worried about letting my 2-yr. old daughter play on a pressure-treated
structure. I know the new stuff is supposedly safer, but I'd like to hear
opinions on this one. My deck is made from the old stuff, but it's a deck,
she won't have her hands all over it like the playset. And it's had a few
years of water/sun and two coats of sealant to keep away whatever bad stuff
might still be present (I hope)
Cost - Quality cedar is out of reach, I've built some stuff out of the home
center quality cedar and it would be fine for this purpose.
I've helped build some friends playsets, and they use pretty good quality
cedar not sure if I could do that without spending the time sifting through
all the stock to find the good pieces...
Design - I'm going to keep it simple, don't have a huge yard anyway. Just a
"treehouse", with a ladder, slide and 2 swings. I just obtained the old
plastic slide and swings, in good condition from a neighbor's old playset, so
the cost is mostly just nuts/bolts/screws/nails and the wood. Also, b/c of my
uneven backyard, I'm thinking of sinking four posts for the main parts into
the ground directly, no concrete, and the then building a level/plumb
structure off of that. If do something to seal the below-grade wood on the
posts, that should be sufficient right? Even on a friends pretty level yard,
we had to do alot of shimming/digging to make his pre-built kit sit perfectly
level.
Thanks,
PJ
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