We mentioned in our last post that for Lucan’s 3rd birthday we made him a swing set. When we mentioned this we received a number of requests to see a picture of this mighty construction project. So here goes, along with an explanation of how we did it:
We perhaps could have bought Lucan a wooden British made swing set, but with prices in the high hundreds it would have been a little extravagant (especially as I am still looking for gainful employment. See here) So, being reasonably handy, and having plenty of time on my hands, I decided that I could fabricate one pretty easily… and at less than a quater the price of the of-the-shelf versions.
I sourced British seasoned posts and decking board from a local timber merchants and searched online and found Osborne Fasteners Limited for all of the main bolts. The construction itself was really easy, just cumbersome when doing it by myself. I started by digging the holes for the posts and setting them in postcrete. Then it was simply connecting the posts with 200mm 10m bolts. We had an old TP branded swing and slide and simply dismantled these and appropriated them into the new construction. I decked the platform of the main fort and finished with a couple of Union Jacks.
The result is one that Lucan loves and it means that he is outdoors more than ever.
I think in total the materials cost us about £200 and took me about 2 days to construct. The closest we could find in an similar off-the-shelf option (which you still had to postcrete and bolt together) was about £800. Not a bad saving and guaranteed British!
I have plans to build a second tier to it at some point and maybe expand it around the large oak tree but this might be next summer.
– James
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