building a playyard
Karen
Other parents must have obsessed over this decision. I need the
benefit of wisdom and experience after going to the park where we
played on grass lots. We are building a playyard (the Swing-N-Play
Trading Post) for our almost 3 and 4 year old girls. It will also
eventually be played with by our son. So, we have the space cleared
and we have all of the wood cut and the structure going together and
have to consider FILL. Fill is expensive. According to our
instructions, the manufacturer says that the CPSC recommends 6 inches
of double chipped bark or 9 inches of sand. (I don't even want to
think about the recommended depth of gravel. Nevertheless, at more
than 40 dollars per cubic yard (even the sand is 39), my checkbook
isn't as deep as the recommendation. What is a responsible depth of
fill for a playyard? Is there anywhere where I can get decent fill
other than a landscape supply?
Karen
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MarjiG
<glaes...@worldnet.att.net> writes:
>What is a responsible depth of
>fill for a playyard? Is there anywhere where I can get decent fill
>other than a landscape supply?
Have you checked the price of shredded rubber? I don't remember what the
depth recommendations were, but it would be similar to bark or even less. Its
downside is it can get clothes dirty, but having had to pull hundreds of
splinters out of a couple kids who played on freshly barked playgrounds I'd
take dirty clothes.
You might see if you can find someone to combine orders with to see if buying
in volume helps.
-Marjorie
Scott Lindstrom
> In article <lrjp6vs9ehb2lmnd9...@4ax.com>, Karen
> <glaes...@worldnet.att.net> writes:
>
>
>>What is a responsible depth of
>>fill for a playyard? Is there anywhere where I can get decent fill
>>other than a landscape supply?
>
>
> Have you checked the price of shredded rubber? I don't remember what the
> depth recommendations were, but it would be similar to bark or even less. Its
> downside is it can get clothes dirty, but having had to pull hundreds of
> splinters out of a couple kids who played on freshly barked playgrounds I'd
> take dirty clothes.
The park near our house has a play structure surrounded by
shredded rubber. I hate the stuff. :) I'd prefer wood chips --
the kids would get splinters once, and then keep their shoes
on. Now they get black feet and hands.
The playstructure at the church near our house has wood chips.
I've not heard of a splinter problem (it's the church we attend).
But that's wood chips, not bark. Maybe bark causes more
problems.
scott
Noreen Cooper
: think about the recommended depth of gravel. Nevertheless, at more
: than 40 dollars per cubic yard (even the sand is 39), my checkbook
: isn't as deep as the recommendation. What is a responsible depth of
: fill for a playyard? Is there anywhere where I can get decent fill
: other than a landscape supply?
You might consider placing a tarp down first and then having 50% less tan
bark covering. We did this with our son's playset and haven't had a
problem.
BTW, I'm not sure other parents had this experience but we were so
pleased when we bought our new home five years ago and the house came
with a really wonderful playset. My son has hardly ever used it. I'm
glad we didn't have to buy a new one with our own money. I bet with 3
children, though, your odds are better at having at least one of them
love their new playset.
Noreen
Jeff Utz
"Noreen Cooper" <nco...@wahoo.sjsu.edu> wrote in message
news:b4io94$248b3$2...@hades.csu.net...
The reason for the bark is that kids fall off the playset. And kids who fall
off the playset tend to get hurt. Go with the recommended depth. The
recommendation is not to make your yard look pretty, but to safeguard those
who will be using the set.
Jeff
H Schinske
>The park near our house has a play structure surrounded by
>shredded rubber. I hate the stuff. :) I'd prefer wood chips --
>the kids would get splinters once, and then keep their shoes
>on. Now they get black feet and hands.
I'm not sure I've ever seen the shredded rubber stuff, unless you mean the kind
that is like spongy linoleum. I like that much better than any of the
alternatives -- it doesn't get thrown around, it doesn't get in your shoes,
etc. I would think sand, bark, or gravel in one's own back yard would simply
get spread EVERYWHERE.
I get really, really tired of having to get bark and sand out of my kids'
shoes, and gravel is just horrible (you can't walk on it in flip-flops or
anything).
--Helen
Karen
wrote:
>I get really, really tired of having to get bark and sand out of my kids'
>shoes, and gravel is just horrible (you can't walk on it in flip-flops or
>anything).
>
>--Helen
Oh for the old days when you grew grass under the swingset and played
in the dirt. I think the shreded tires would be so nice, but at more
than $400 a ton it is a little bit out of my price range. They gave
the following to figure the amount needed: length x width / 150 to
give 6 inches.
We did find a supplier for about 35 dollars a cubic yard, so now we
are ready to finish building it. It is hard to believe that the fill
is going to cost more than the playyard. The manufacturer's
literature sure didn't mention that :-)
The joys of parenting.