Sandbox on kids playset

[Toba]

I have built the playset and am know looking to add a sandbox. What have you done in the past to boarder the sandbox. (2x8, block, plastic,) also how deep have you gone with sand. Any help would be great. This is my first kid and I played at a park when I was a kid. My dad had no idea on some of the questions about playsets. I thought he knew everything.

[Tom7227]

I have built a couple using treated 2x8's. Went four feet by eight feet. I then took a sheet of 4x8 half inch treated plywood, cut in half lengthwise and put it on the box with hinges. That way you could close the thing up and keep the water and the critters out of it. The kids would use the side for ramps when it was open and run trucks and stuff up them like they were going up a big hill. Worked great. I just set it on the grass and filled it with maybe 6 inches of sand. Hauled the sand in a pickup cause you can get a truckful for next to nothing. Using the bags would have been expensive and a PITA.

[motley man]

Sounds like the perfect set-up.

[cavalierowner]

I don't know that I would use treated lumber. Even the new treatment they use is supposed to be toxic. Ever read the warnings for handling the stuff during installation? The warnings may be overkill, but why take a chance with your children? I would either use cedar (can you say expensive?) or just conventional untreated framing lumber and plan on replacing it every few years.

[Surface Tension]

2x8's(treated or ww) with gussets in the corners to stiffin and use as seating.

Lay down landscaped fabric over the grass.

You can go one step further and make a flip over cover that'll work to keep some water out and makes for a good play tent.

The hoops will look much the same as a flip over shelter. Use two or them, one for the center and one for the end. Use a tarp for the cover and fasten one end to the sand box.

[Toba]

Did anyone take the sod out under the sandbox or just put fabric over the grass.

[Tom7227]

Didn't do either. Sod will die and it you start digging out dirt you're just going to end up with the thing lower in the ground and I didn't see the point in that.

[BoxMN]

The cover is key, to keep those dratted neighbors unleashed cats from using it when the kids aren't

[pureinsanity]

What about the maintenance free decking? Never have to worry about it rotting.

[paceman]

I build mine out of green treated 2x10's, 6 ft by 12 ft. filled it about 8" deep with sand. It has been used by half the neighborhood for about 5 years.

[jeffreyd]

i actually built one for my dogs to dig in. i used 2x6 regular lumber, did not dig out the grass, but did anchor it down so it would not move with 2 labs in it. got tired of them digging my yard. i can just shovel the sand right back in, but the next cat may be the end of the not covered idea. good luck

[LightningBG]

When I was a kid, my dad build one inset into the ground for me. He dug a square hole, probably about 8ft x 8ft, about 8 inches deep. He then set in 2x10's around the outside, screwed together and secured down with some stakes nailed to the framework and down into the ground. There was a little lip above the outside ground (to keep sand in.), he then filled it with about 6-8 inches of sand.

[Tom7227]

I was at the lumber yard today and I want to amend my suggestion for the cover. Get 3/4 treated, not 1/2. The half was warped and would crack. Plus the 3/4 would be heavy enough so that kids likely couldn't use it to cut someones head off - at least not until they were 7 or 8 anyway.

[deerminator]

I used untreated 2x12s all 8 feet long and made a square with them. Then I cut a 4 foot by 4 foot piece of sturdy plywood into triangles and attatched them to the corners to make it square and for seats. Leveled the whole thing, dug down a bit, put in some fabric and then had a load of sand delivered. I would estimate we're at about 18 inches deep with the sand. Maybe a little overkill but no fighting and plenty of room for the kids to do their own "set-ups." I'd run a tarp over it at night with some pavers for weight when we cats around but we don't need to do that anymore.

As for treated wood, the new stuff is plenty safe unless you're eating it maybe. The stores sell tons of it and I just built a new playground out of it in the backyard and have no concerns. What's in the stain on your deck or the paint that your kids are laying on instead. How about the fertilizer in your yard, etc.? Though I don't use the latter. : ) No concerns about treated wood unless you're using old arsenic filled train track timbers! Even then. It's like BPA in plastic or radon in your basement. Sure, neither is probably great if you were exposed to super high-levels but you have to be reasonable about just how much you are actually exposed to.

[cavalierowner]

I agree that the ACQ treatment is a lot better than the old treatment that is no longer used. Or so they say. BUT, there have been a lot of things the manufacturers/government has said is safe. I will continue to be a conservative butt-head and say I wouldn't use it where kids could be in contact with it. That was also office policy in all the architect's offices I worked the last 40 years.