Kids swingset/ tower on gravel grids. Good plan?

[TT86]

Hello folks

Built my girl's swingset for them yesterday and looks pretty good.



I need to protect the wood so will find a suitable clear coating for it. The lawn does get pretty boggy in the winter so to try and prolong it's life I used 1sqm of gravel grids I had left from a shed base for the tower and plan on doing small sections for each swing leg. I figured if the timber isn't touching wet soil constantly it should help.

It doesn't feel overly stable but I haven't reattached the swing arm yet which will of course massively help. Levelling is a pain on these grids. On first fit it was well out so I removed most of the pea shingle to re level it, so in this pic haven't re filled it yet. I also need invest in some pegs/ ground screws to hold it down.

Does this look ok or am I likely to run into any issues? Many thanks

[mike9009]

I had something similar when my kids were younger. I anchored mine to the ground using some sacrificial 2x1 pointed battons which I drove into the ground and then screwed the structure to.

You will find the kids will grow out of it far quicker than the wood will rot.....unless there is a big age gap?

[TT86]

mike9009 said:

I had something similar when my kids were younger. I anchored mine to the ground using some sacrificial 2x1 pointed battons which I drove into the ground and then screwed the structure to.

You will find the kids will grow out of it far quicker than the wood will rot.....unless there is a big age gap?

That's not a bad shout at all with the batons thank you. Looking online the anchors vary from basically spiked tent peg type affairs at £20ish to £80 odd on the official spiral type ground anchors. I definitely need something as could see the structure move slightly with my 5 year old on it.

We are on chalk so I suspect any type will be tricky to get in.

I have three girls- oldest is nearly 5, then nearly 3 and lastly 1 month so I expect I'll want it to last a good 7 years to see us through

[Sargeant Orange]

I wouldn't over think it. Ours has been led on clay based grass for the last 8 years with no issues. Never treated. I used the metal flat spike anchors that came with it.

[blueg33]

Our swing lasted years just on the grass although the main structure was poles nearly as thick as telegraph poles. I bought 1m long spiral anchors as the frame was strong enough for teens and adults to use, but they put a lot of force through it, so needed the best anchors I could get.