Hi,

We are thinking of building a play tower for our 7 year old boy and
after looking at loads in the shops/on the net they are either too much
like little Wendy houses or far too expensive so we would like to build
our own.

I don't know how deep to make the foundations. I expect to hire some
sort of post hole borer and make the main structure supported by 3 in x
3in or 4in x 4in treated fence posts with load bearing horizontals
comprising decking joists with floor/platforms being the thicker grade
decking planks (38mm?) with about 500mm maximum span. The walled in bits
will be exterior grade plywood painted grey with stones drawn on and
with castelations cut in the top. To minimise wind resistance I intend
to cut lots of arrow slits in the walls.

The top of the sloping roof (with more plywood castelations) is likely
to be 2.5m high, with the platform level high enough for a monkey walk
to be constructed underneath.

The surrounding is freshly rotavated earth and will be covered in play
bark when we have finished

Any advice on the foundations or any other issues,

Are there any web sites for timber strength etc?

Thanks,

Simon


--
Simon Pawson

"Simon Pawson" wrote in
message ...
Hi,

We are thinking of building a play tower for our 7 year old boy
snip
Any advice on the foundations or any other issues,

Nice ideas at :
http://www.dinf.ne.jp/doc/english/gl...2/dwe00248.htm
:~))

http://absolutelyfreeplans.com/ Might have some relavant info


http://www.detailedplay.com/SwingsetPlans.htm is an American site, but
has nice ideas............


Are there any web sites for timber strength etc?

Two totally confusing sites with info :
http://www.bsw.co.uk/process/strength.html
http://155.217.58.58/cgi-bin/atdl.dl...4.343/appc.htm


HTH Jenny

"Simon Pawson" wrote in message
...
Hi,


Any advice on the foundations or any other issues,



Care wrt the fence posts. Many splinter badly on the corners - they are not
intended to be people friendly. You would be better off with machined
rounded posts - a number of manuf make them for the job in hand

pk