Author: Trey Collier

About Trey Collier

Avid Do-It-Yourself-er. Love's being outdoors. Helped push the shade sail market into one of the fastest growing outdoor shade structures product in North America.

Backyard Fun, Swing Sets & Play

Childhood Obesity Prevention

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Entice Outdoor Play With a Vinyl Playhouse

Are you surprised to know that one out of three kids are now considered overweight or obese in the United States? In today’s society obesity is mainly cause from what we eat, from fat-laden fast food to microwave and prepackaged meals. It seems that with this generation, everybody’s daily schedules are so busy that there is a very limited amount of time to make healthier meals or to squeeze in some exercise. Portion sizes, in the home and out, are becoming dramatically larger in size. Plus, more than ever, life is sedentary and kids spend more time playing with electronic devices, from computers to handheld video game systems, than actively playing outside.

Watching too much television is one of the most obvious reasons for of lack of exercise. Kids younger than 6 spend an average of 2 hours a day in front of a television screen. Older kids and teens spend almost 4 hours a day watching TV or videos. When computer use and video games are included, time spent in front of a screen increases to over 5 hours a day! Kids who watch more than 4 hours a day have a larger tendency to be overweight, compared with kids who watch 2 hours or less.

Sadly, during their youth, overweight children and adolescents are more likely to have risk factors associated with cardiovascular disease (such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and Type 2 diabetes) than are other children and adolescents. Overweight children and adolescents are more likely to become obese as adults. For example, one study found that approximately 80% of children who were overweight at age 10-15 were obese adults at age 25. Another study found that 25% of obese adults were overweight as children. The latter study also found that if overweight begins before 8 years of age, obesity in adulthood has a higher tendency to be very severe and morbid.

Tips for parents to encourage healthy lifestyles in their children:

  • Set a positive example by being active yourself, and make physical activity part of your family’s daily routine. For Example, designate time for family walks or playing active games together.
  • Provide opportunities for children to be active by playing with them. Give them active toys and equipment, and take them to places where they can be active.
  • Offer positive reinforcement for the physical activities in which your child participates, and always encourage them to expand their interests with new activities.
  • Make physical activity fun. Fun activities can be anything the child enjoys, either structured or non-structured. They may range from team sports, individual sports, and/or recreational activities such as walking, running, skating, bicycling, swimming, playground activities, and free-time play.
  • Ensure that the activity is age appropriate and, to ensure safety, provide protective equipment such as helmets, wrist pads, and knee pads.
  • Find a convenient place to be active regularly.
  • Reduce the amount of time your kids are allowed to watch television or play video games to no more than two hours per day.

Encouraging your children to play outside in your own backyard becomes easier by installing items such as swing sets, play gyms, and outdoor playhouses. Outdoor play equipment, toys, and games encourage both exercise and the use of your children’s imagination. Outdoor playhouses provide hours of fun for kids while promoting exercise and healthy habits all at the same time. Realistically, you do not have to spend a fortune on a new tree house or fancy club house when many existing backyard playsets can be easily converted to include a vinyl playhouse by simply having a vinyl enclosure custom made. Even on a rainy day, a custom outdoor vinyl playhouse can become a secret fort, a dollhouse, or a ship at sea.

 

Backyard Fun, Swing Sets & Play

Do-It-Yourself Wooden Swing Sets

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Settler Freestanding Wooden Swing Set Kit

Weighing the Options

If your kids have talked you into obtaining one of those backyard wooden swing sets, but you dread the thought of visiting a showroom and being talked into dropping thousands of dollars on mediocre equipment (and even more on the installation of that mediocre equipment), then consider the following three words: do it yourself. The good news is that even a novice do-it-yourself enthusiast can find superior quality, very affordable wooden swing set kits on the internet and put one together successfully once it arrives at the door. Even better news is that do-it-yourself wooden swing set kits are available for purchase without wood included or with wood included. The best choice depends only on how involved you wish the do-it-yourself aspect of the construction to be.

Do-it-yourself kits, whether they come with wood or without, should always offer free shipping and include complete step-by-step instructions for construction; all necessary hardware; basic accessories, such as swings, monkey bars, canopy top, etc. Additional accessories are usually available at extra cost, but any wooden swing set kit that requires separate purchase of necessary hardware should be avoided. Every nut, bolt, bracket, and spring clip needed to complete the project should always be included with the kit.

How does a do-it-yourself enthusiast make the choice between wooden swing sets that come without the wood versus swing sets that come with the wood? Consider the following. Kits that do not come with wood allow you the luxury of hand selecting the type of wood, and even each specific piece of wood, that will be used in the construction. More time and tools are needed for these kits, though, because each piece must be searched for, transported to the home, cut to exactly the right size, and sanded, and then holes must be drilled for each piece of hardware. Do-it-yourself enthusiasts who are truly enthusiastic about home construction projects may prefer this approach.

On the other hand, wooden swing set kits that come with the wood may be a better option for the do-it-yourself enthusiast who does not have enough time to devote to selecting and preparing the wood. The wood that comes with these kits is usually high quality and intended to last for many years with proper care. The biggest advantage to kits that include the wood is that all the wood is pre-cut, pre-sanded, and pre-drilled. With these major steps already completed, you can construct the wooden swing set in a fraction of the time.

Whether you choose a wooden swing set kit that includes wood or not, you can save hundreds, even thousands, of dollars simply by shopping wisely and constructing the equipment yourself. Either choice provides your kids with a fun and durable place to play and provides you with a feeling of pride and accomplishment. So, go ahead and do it yourself!

Backyard Fun, Outdoor Entertaining, Swing Sets & Play

Three Swing Set Upgrades That Keep Kids Interested in Backyard Play

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Heavy Duty Scoop Slide

The backyard swing set you bought for your kids when they were small was probably filled with challenging and fun equipment just right for their age and size. Bucket swings for safety, a short ladder leading to a scoop slide, and maybe even a club house for hours of pretend play. As kids grow older, though, their ideas about what’s fun and challenging evolve. Making sure that the backyard swing set doesn’t become an unused eyesore means keeping up with your children’s changing interests and abilities. By updating the swing set periodically with equipment and accessories that meet your kids’ current needs, you can ensure that the swing set continues to appeal to your kids over the course of many years.

Alternative Swings

Swings are an affordable place to start when it comes to updating a swing set’s accessories. If you haven’t done so already, swap out the bucket swing or half-bucket swing with a traditional belt swing or two. The belt swing is a standard “big kid” swing that will continue to interest kids as they grow. Don’t stop there, though. Swings come in all shapes and styles, and a little variety adds a lot of appeal to a backyard swing set.

Some of the more popular alternative swings include tire swings and disc swings. Kids like that these two swings move in any and every direction, rather than just back and forth. Kids also like the tire swing for its ability to hold two or more friends, which brings an increasingly social and cooperative element to the activity of swinging. Glider swings are another fun alternative to standard swings. Glider swings seat two people, back to back, who work as a team to keep the swing flying high. Finally, older kids and even adults can enjoy a wooden chair swing. A chair swing attaches to the swing set in the same way as any other kind of traditional swing, and it offers a relaxing way to swing gently while chatting with a friend or reading a book.

Slides

Swing sets generally come with a standard scoop slide, which is straight, smooth, and adequately thrilling for little ones. As kids get older, though, they tend to prefer a more exhilarating ride. Replacing your original slide for a spiral slide can offer that extra bit of thrill to older kids. Spiral slides are often completely enclosed tubes, too, similar to what you find on commercial or public playgrounds. The enclosed spiral brings an additional measure of excitement to the sliding experience.

Climbing Accessories

Climbing equipment offers growing kids a fun way to challenge their bodies’ developing abilities. While not usually appropriate for young children, climbing accessories help older kids gain confidence, strengthen muscles, and refine gross motor and motor planning skills. Monkey bars may be the most common type of climbing accessory found on standard swing sets, but they can be added to an existing swing set that doesn’t already have them. Rope ladders and rock wall climbing kits are available, too, and are exceptionally appealing to adventurous kids.

Updating the backyard swing set to meet the changing abilities and interests of your growing kids can be as easy as replacing the existing swings and slide and adding climbing features more suited to older kids. Making small but meaningful changes over time will not only encourage years of continued interest by your kids, but will also reinforce the value of your initial investment in the swing set.

Backyard Fun, Outdoor Entertaining, Swing Sets & Play

Swing Sets Encourage Free Play and Foster Healthy Child Development

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Trailblazer Swing Set Kit

The Importance of Play and Practical Tools for Parents

Life in today’s world is hurried, and the pressures put upon children to succeed can be overwhelming. In many communities, it isn’t uncommon for parents to overschedule their children with extracurricular activities that they feel can enrich the children’s knowledge and experience. Unfortunately, what becomes lost in this arrangement is the child’s need for free play. When there is no room in the day for free play, children suffer. According to a clinical report by the American Academy of Pediatrics, “play is essential to development because it contributes to the cognitive, physical, social, and emotional well-being of children and youth.” Play is so crucial to child development that the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights recognizes play as a right that every child deserves.

What is free play? Briefly, it is the kind of play that is child-centered. It is initiated by children and guided by children. Free play doesn’t involve screens or electronics, isn’t scheduled, and isn’t controlled or directed by adults. Free play is play that just happens. It can be an individual kind of play devised by one child, or it can be a cooperative effort on the part of a group of children. While adults may be invited to engage in free play with children, the children themselves must be the ones who direct the activities. Free play can come in any shape or form, but parents who wish to help encourage free play can provide children with tools to assist.

In the view of many parents, backyard swing sets are one of the best tools children can use for free play. With a swing set, children can initiate and engage in play, whether alone or with friends, and still be under the secretly watchful eye of mom or dad. Swing sets come in a wide array of configurations, so finding one that offers the desired features is easy. Wood swing sets are most common for backyard use, but metal swing sets are available as well. The most basic swing sets are equipped with a couple of swings and a trapeze bar or rings, but parents can also opt for more features. A club house, slide, and monkey bars are common additions that parents want for their children’s backyard swing set. Other accessories can be added, of course, to meet the individual needs of the family. Some of the options can include a climbing apparatus, different types of swings, or an attached sandbox. Pretend play can be encouraged with the addition of accessories like a telescope, steering wheel, or vinyl playhouse enclosure for the swing set’s existing club house.

Children are wonderfully creative and can use free play time to exercise their imagination. Swing sets are just one tool for free play that parents can provide to children, but they are a particularly powerful tool. Swing sets, in addition to encouraging imaginative free play, also encourage active play. On a swing set, children are required to move their bodies as well as their minds, and this goes a long way toward developing the whole child.

When it comes down to it, though, time is the most important tool that parents can provide their children to encourage free play. Allowing more time for children to engage in their own imaginative play will benefit their development far more meaningfully than a day filled with extracurricular activities ever could.

Storage Solutions

How to Prepare a Shed Foundation

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Storage Shed Foundation

Preparing Your Site for a Shed Foundation

Recommended methods for constructing basic foundations for sheds, playhouses etc:

  • Patio Stones
  • 4×4 Pressure Treated Beams
  • Concrete Slab

Step-By-Step Foundations

1)  Prepare Your Site For Construction

Before receiving your garden shed or gazebo, clear the construction area. Remove all debris, roots, grass, and rocks.

Make sure the ground slopes away from the site at least 10 feet in all directions. If necessary, build up the soil in the center of the site and slope away for the high point to provide drainage. Fill in any low spots within the perimeter of the site. A slope of 1/8 inch per foot is enough to prevent water accumulation.

We recommend excavating the site 4 inches deep and laying gravel or crushed rock where drainage may be a concern.

2)  Laying Out The Foundation

No matter which type of foundation you’ve chosen, start by outlining the “footprint” on the site. Start by choosing one corner of the garden shed or the center of gazebo and mark it (A) by driving a stake into the ground.

GARDEN SHEDS
Stretch a line from stake A straight across C and fasten it to a temporary stake outside the intended garden shed area. Measure along this line from A and mark the garden shed dimension in that direction. Drive a stake there and set up batter boards. Use the 3-4-5 triangulation method to extend another line at right angles to the A-C line. Measure to the next corner and stake it. Continue until all corners of the garden shed are connected by right angle lines.

3-4-5 Triangulation Method
Measure along the line 3 feet from the first stake A, and mark the string at this point. From stake A, run a second line perpendicular to the first. Measure out 4 feet to locate point C. If this second line is exactly at a right angle to the first, the diagonal line between A & C will be 5 feet. If not, move point C left or right until the diagonal measures 5 feet and stake that point.

GAZEBOS
Stretch a radial line from center stake A. Calculate the radius by using 1/2 the diameter of gazebo. Using orange spray paint, or something similar, mark out a circle.

First determine door location by using one Rim Joist of Gazebo, stake points where rim joist intersects circle. Move around circle staking out all intersecting points until all corners are connected.

 

3) Determine The Type Of Foundation

A – PATIO STONE FOUNDATION
If the ground is stable and has sufficient drainage, you can set patio stones directly on firm, compacted soil. If not, lay on gravel or crushed rock as previously described.

GARDEN SHEDS:Starting with one floor section, position stones around its perimeter and specific joists (For details, see specific instruction manual). Use a 2×4 straight piece of lumber on edge and a carpenter’s level to position correctly. Add or remove soil/sand under each stone until level. Complete remaining floor sections in the same manner. When all floor panels are level with each other, flip over, screw together, and place back on level foundation.

GAZEBOS: Position patio stones on outline of gazebo previously described. For details of how and where stones go, see specific instruction manual. Use a 2×4 straight piece of lumber on edge and a carpenter’s level to position correctly. Add or remove soil/sand under each stone until level. When stones are level, position completed sub-structure (Rim, Long & Short Joist, and Core Block) on top. Once again, use a level to confirm positioning and make any necessary adjustments.

B – 4×4 PRESSURE TREATED BEAM FOUNDATION
You can build directly on pressure-treated beams or railroad ties laid on a properly prepared construction site. Run beams perpendicular to floor joists. Use a 2×4 straight piece of lumber on edge and a carpenter’s level to position correctly.

To prevent the beams from shifting, secure them with a 1/2″ inch rebar inserted through holes drilled in the beams and driven 3 to 4 feet into the ground. Leave each side or end of the foundation open to promote drainage and air circulation beneath the floor.

C – CONCRETE SLAB FOUNDATION
Typically, a slab 3-4 inches thick laid over a sub base of 4 inches of gravel or crushed rock is sufficient but may vary depending on your geographic location.

The choice of mixing your own concrete or having it delivered by truck ready to pour depends on how much time and effort you have to dedicate to the project. A slab for our 8×10 foot Rancher or a 10 foot gazebo both to a depth of 4 inches will require approximately 1 cubic yard of premixed concrete.

Use the following procedure:

1. Excavate the slab area and footing trench.

2. Excavate the slab area to a depth of 6 inches. This would put the finished slab surface 2 inches above ground (4 inches of gravel)

3. Set up your batter board strings to represent the outside face of the slab. At each corner, drop a plumb line from the intersecting strings to the bottom of the trench, then drive a 2×4 stake at this point. Using the plumb bob again, drive a nail into the top of the stake where the plumb bob touches it. Attach strings between the stakes. Using the strings as guides, drive the 2×4 form stakes around the trench perimeter, spaced on 2 foot centers.

4. Attach the form boards to the stakes with double-headed nails. Make sure the stakes are on the outside of the boards and flush with or below them.

5. Use 2×4 stakes to brace the corners of the forms.

6. Backfill the excavation with 4 inches of gravel, then lay down a plastic vapor barrier.

7. Spread or pour concrete with a rake or hoe, compacting it gently into the footing areas. Use a shovel to move concrete into footing trench. Make the pour to about 1 inch above the forms to allow for settling. Use a long 2×4 to level the concrete. Move the board in a side-to-side motion as you pull it towards you.

8. Use finishing tools, such as a bull float and trowel, to smooth the concrete surface. Allow the concrete to cure fully (seven to ten days)