Assembling children's slides with their own hands is a rather long and very crucial moment. The design should be as reliable and safe as possible so that you can not worry about the health of the child. In addition, there are many varieties of this device for entertainment, and therefore it is worth determining which one is necessary in a particular case.
Children's slides. Kinds
It is worth noting that all types of this attraction are designed for children from 3 to 7 years. There are several types of children's slides for the home. These include inflatable, plastic specimens.
If we talk more about inflatable slides, they are made of a material such as polyvinyl chloride. This type of attraction is suitable for the youngest children. They need to be installed out of the blue, and in order to inflate them, you can use an electric pump or a manual pump. It is also worth making sure that there are no sharp objects nearby, since the slide is easy to tear. It is worth adding that this kind of assembling with your own hands will not work, you can only buy it.
The second type of children's slide for the home is plastic. Such slides are used if the child is 3 to 5 years old. Strong plastic is used here, and therefore the descent can be equipped with almost any shape. The advantages of this type include the fact that it takes up very little space, is easy to care for, and the surface itself glides perfectly.
You can make children's slides with your own hands from plywood, metal, wood. The metal option is considered the most durable, provided that proper care for the metal parts is provided. In addition, there is the opportunity to significantly increase the height of the descent, as well as strengthen the structure, which will increase the age of children who can ride on it, up to 10 years. The downside is that the metal has high thermal conductivity, which means that it will be cold on it in winter, and in summer, on the contrary, it is very hot.
A wooden building is an almost perfect option for making a children's slide with your own hands. The material itself is eco-friendly, lightweight and easy to process. The design will be relatively lightweight, safe and comfortable. However, the wood will need careful care. This raw material is highly susceptible to rain, sun, fungus, mold, parasites, etc.
Preparatory work
There can be quite a lot of ideas for a children's slide with their own hands. It is important to understand here that before moving on to the practical part, it is necessary to draw up a project, a drawing, and also, preferably, a 3D model of the future attraction. It is very important not to make a mistake in the construction process.
For young children, it is best to build the most ordinary gentle slope so that the baby can climb and descend. For older children, you can think about equipping the descent with bends and turns. In any case, you need to consider some features:
- It is quite important to calculate the number of steps and their angle of inclination, as well as the distance between them. There is no single table, since these parameters are strictly individual and depend on the growth of the child. It is worth remembering that the distance between the steps should increase with the growth of the child.
- For children under 7 years old, it is imperative to equip a gentle staircase. If the child is older than 7 years, then you can install a vertical ladder.
- The overall dimensions of the slide will greatly depend on the height, width and on the enclosing sides of the descent.
- Naturally, you need to install a children's slide assembled with your own hands in the place where there is even coverage, and also enough space after the descent so that children can ride freely.
Building Materials
In order to clearly demonstrate how to calculate the amount of material, we will give an example of the construction of a slide with a descent height of 3 m, as well as a platform of 50 x 50 cm.
- To equip the supports you will need to have 4 bars 10 x 10 x 150 cm.
- In order to strengthen the strength of the structure, you will need 2 more bars 2 x 4 x 50 cm.
- Two more wooden blocks with dimensions of 3 mx 3 mx 50 cm will be used as the fencing of the site.
- Assembling a children's slide with your own hands from wood involves the presence of another 4 boards measuring 2 m x 10 cm x 50 cm to connect the lower supports.
- Since the site must have a floor, you will need 5 boards 2.5 mx 10 cm x 50 cm.
- At the selected height, no more than 8 boards with dimensions of 2.5 m x 10 cm x 30 cm will be needed to produce the desired number of steps.
- To equip the ramp, you can use two floorboards with a length of 3 m, since the height of the slide is 3 m, or you can use sheets of water-repellent plywood, the thickness of which is at least 2 cm. The ramp can be plastic, but then you have to buy it in a special store .
- To equip the railing for the descent, you need two boards 2.5 mx 10 cm x 300 cm.
- To assemble the entire structure, it is best to use anchors and screws. All parts must be necessarily galvanized so that in the future they do not rust too quickly. In addition, using nails for fixing is highly discouraged.
- The last elements are two bars or boards of the required length to build a braid for the steps.
Since a high children's slide is strengthened by a pillar, there will be a lot of space under the playground, especially in height. Here you can successfully place a box with toys, for example.
Necessary tools and the beginning of work
The list of necessary tools includes the following accessories: a tape measure, a hammer, a level or plumb line, a drill, a saw on electricity or gasoline, a grinder and a carpenter's plane. Naturally, at this stage you already need to have a drawing of a children's slide.
Before you begin assembling the slide itself, it is very important to choose a suitable place on the site for its installation. If there is no such place, then it must be done. It is very important that the surface is fairly even. In addition, it is recommended to install it away from buildings, trees and other things. In addition, the surface on which the attraction will stand, and the surrounding area can be covered with a rubber coating or, for example, strew with lawn grass. Once this is done, you can start building.
To make a children's slide with your own hands, you need to use only well-dried boards. This point is very important, as it will help to avoid many troubles in the future. Each board should be carefully processed with a planer, followed by a grinding machine. It is also important to remove the chamfers, that is, remove all sharp edges by rounding them. It is very important to take care of protecting the bottom of the bars, which will be installed in the ground. For this, various special means are used, waste machine oil, mastic, etc. Any product that has water repellent properties will do. This will significantly increase the life of the wood.
Basic installation work
Do-it-yourself installation of a children's slide begins with the marking of the territory. At the place where the product will be installed, it is necessary to mark the places for mounting the racks. In this case, these are 4 sections in the form of a square with dimensions of 50 x 50 cm. After the marking is completed, it is necessary to dig indentations for these columns. Depth should be from 50 to 60 cm. At the bottom of each pit, 20 cm of sand-gravel layer is covered.
After this preparatory stage, you can install the racks themselves. The remaining space in the pit is concreted. To increase the strength of the future structure, you can use the "binding" from the bottom of the pillars. To do this, you need to cut small indentations of 2 cm at the bottom of each support. After this, the boards that are intended for the lower support are inserted into the grooves obtained. Such supports are attached to each other.
Then you can proceed with the construction of the upper part of the attraction. In the manufacture of a children's slide for the street, two beams of 2 m x 4 m x 50 cm and 5 boards of 2.5 m x 10 cm x 50 cm are used, which will act as the floor. The bars are laid strictly parallel to each other. After that, prepared boards can be attached to them. In order for water after rain not to accumulate on the site and not to be absorbed by the tree, it is necessary to leave small gaps between the boards, a couple of millimeters on each side.
Next, you can proceed to the manufacture of a slope for a children's slide with your own hands. It is worth noting that if a plastic version was purchased, then it simply attaches to an already finished base. When assembling a descent from a tree, it is necessary to take boards 3 meters long or water-repellent plywood. They are fastened together along the entire descent. After this, you can begin to install the fence. To do this, we prepared logs of 2.5 m x 10 cm x 300 cm. The first option for attaching the descent to the slide is the formation of an angle of 45 degrees. After that, the angle obtained is fixed at the base of the floor. The second option is to cut the grooves. In this case, the lower part of the ramp should also be sharpened at a certain angle. This will help increase the reliability of the entire structure.
Build completion
Boards to be used as a coating for descent must be perfectly sanded. Perform this procedure before installing them, as well as after. This is very important, as the child may get a splinter or get scratched if there are knots or other defects on the tree. To avoid this process, you can use a durable version of plastic. It glides well and requires no processing. However, the minus of such a material is that it cracks when the temperature drops, as well as from high physical exertion. Therefore, this option is not suitable for the manufacture of a children's slide for the street, if the area is characterized by harsh climatic conditions. In addition, you cannot use it even if the child is already 7 years old or more.
The second option for arranging a ramp is metal. A metal sheet with a thickness of 0.5 mm will be an excellent solution for arranging a smooth and safe slope. A children's slide made of metal and wood is a fairly frequent combination, which is considered quite successful. Instead of metal, you can also use linoleum, thin plywood or special polishing from wax, which covers the tree.
In the event that the family has children a little older, then the descent can be screw. However, in this case, the design will become much more complicated in terms of assembly, and you will also have to devote much more time to it. In addition, the presence of additional coating in this embodiment is necessary.
As an ascent to the platform for descent, you can use a kosour or a bowstring with steps. It depends on the age of the baby and the individual assembly plan. It is important to remember only that the number of steps, as well as the distance between them, must be such that the child is comfortable climbing and descending if necessary.
As for the railing, they strongly depend on the overall height of the attraction, on the size of the upper platform. The only recommendation is that they should be high enough so that the child could not bow and fall through them.
The last thing to add is that building a children's slide from stainless steel is acceptable enough. In such a case, careful care of the metal parts is not necessary.
Finishing for construction
You need to finish the children's slide very carefully, even if it seems that it is very simple. In addition, if the descent is constructed with bends, you will have to look for a sufficiently soft plywood that can repeat the desired bend, and at the same time it will be able to support the weight of the child.
As for the finish of the slide with your own hands made of wood, it must be painted. As a material, it is recommended to use not ordinary oil paint, but acrylic waterproof, and even better, use water-repellent varnish. Such a substance is often used to cover the decks of yachts. It is also recommended to apply the coating in several layers. Each layer should be applied only after the previous one has dried. For a softer landing for the baby, you can equip a sand embankment or lay a soft mat at the end of the descent.
Recommendations for use
During skating, the coating will constantly undergo friction, which means that it will wear off and will have to be applied again. Before re-painting or varnishing the descent, it must be sanded. It is also recommended to eliminate defects if they appeared during use, and to wipe the cracks with high-quality putty, if any.
It is recommended to install the slide in the yard so that it can be seen from the window, as well as in a shaded place. If any shrubs grow near the hill, they must be removed. It is important that there are no allergenic or poisonous plants near children. Remove honey plants that attract bees and wasps, as they can sting rolling kids.
All this concerns the assembly of a homemade slide of wood as the main material. However, what can a children's slide be made of if there is no tree or do not want to buy it? You can use metal. Metal products are characterized by high strength, reliability, as well as durability. In addition, they have a fairly high level of wear resistance and stability. However, there are some disadvantages. These include the fact that the metal heats up quite strongly in the warm season, and also cools down very much in winter. If the metal is not thoroughly treated with protective agents, then it will quickly become corroded. The process of working with metal in itself is more complicated than with wood. You must have welding skills.
Making a slide from metal parts
In order to create the upper platform of the slide, thick pipes with a square section are used. On top of them sheet metal is laid, which is welded to them. To strengthen the structure, it is necessary to weld steel corners from below, using the crosswise method. To get rid of strong sliding on the site, you can use ribbed metal or another coating, for example, rubber.
For the construction of the frame, proceed as follows. Metal racks are welded from below to the finished upper platform. “Heels” are additionally attached to the lower ends of the supports. This will help increase the overall reliability and stability of the slide. If this is not done, then too much pressure on the supports will cause them to subside over time, like the entire structure in the future.
The installation of supports is similar to the installation of wooden beams. Recesses are made (at least 60 cm), and a sand-gravel pillow is poured onto their bottom. However, in this case, it must be moistened with water and allowed to infuse for a day. When this period has passed, you can begin to install the supports inside the pit, after which they are poured with concrete.
Next, you can begin to arrange the stairs. To do this, you need to use two thick pipes of square section, which are welded to the frame at the right angle. Further to them it is possible to fasten steps. In winter, the metal itself will be slippery enough, which will increase the risk of injury. Therefore, it should be equipped with an additional anti-slip coating, or you can install wood steps. To do this, corners are welded to the pipes, and carefully dried wooden steps are already fastened to them.
Do-it-yourself basic rules for arranging a playground
When making an attraction, you need to know a few important rules.
- The descent of any slide should have a "brake pad". This is a section of the ramp that runs parallel to the surface of the site itself. If you do not make such a section, then the speed of descent to the end will not decrease, and this will significantly increase the chance of injury.
- Another very important rule when assembling a playground with your own hands is that the length of the descent determines the height of the launch pad. If the length of the ramp, for example, is 5 m, then the height of the site cannot be more than 2.5 m.
- Since the child cannot immediately brake after the descent, there should be no buildings, bushes, trees, etc., within a radius of 1 m from the end of the ramp.
- It is very important to ensure that at the end of the descent there is a brake coating. It can be rubber mats, sand pad, etc. , .
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