We add something new to our backyard playground every summer, and it’s fun to see how our additions evolve as our kids get older.
The wooden seesaw we built for them when they were preschoolers still gets a lot of use, but now they’re more interested in scaling the roof of the treehouse (yikes!) or daring each other to leap from the top of the monkey bars.
I knew this summer’s new addition had to reflect the fact that they’re now seven and nine years old — and very adventurous — so the answer was obvious: something high and challenging. A tire tower!
We had four old winter tires taking up space below the deck, so we were off and running. We still needed to buy the rest of the supplies — three 4x4x10 posts, two 2x8x10 boards, three ground spikes, four heavy-duty metal brackets, 12 three-inch leg bolts with washers and about 20 three-inch wood screws — which ran us about $170. Not bad for a brand-new (and huge) piece of playground equipment, though.
We knew we wanted the tire structure to be close enough to the treehouse that we could secure them together for stability. That meant relocating the old rock box, removing the plastic rock-climbing wall (which no one ever used) and taking off the slide. (We have more plans involving the slide, plus one other we’re still storing, that hopefully we’ll tackle soon.) We also removed a few boards from the treehouse to make it easier for our taller, older children to get in and out.
OK, back to the tire tower. My handy husband started by measuring around the first tire and marking three equidistant points around it. He screwed a piece of scrap wood into each point — getting an idea of where the posts would be — and spray-painted the grass to mark their placement.
Next, he drove in three ground spikes using the method he’s perfected over years of building lots of outdoor playground equipment. (He puts scrap pieces of 4x4 into the spikes so it’s easier to sledgehammer them into the earth.)
Once the three ground spikes were securely in the ground, he put in the three real posts (4x4x10s) and levelled them — using a shim in one to help level it. Then he slid the first tire in place, about six inches from the ground, and screwed it into the posts using three-inch leg bolts with washers.
We decided the tires should be about a-foot-and-a-half apart for optimal climbing, since we didn’t want to make it too easy for our little monkeys. We asked our daughter to test it, and she scrambled up to the top and declared it was perfect.
Now, we could have stopped here, in theory. The tire tower was very stable and didn’t need extra support, but it just looked so skinny and ... lonely ... sticking up into the sky all by itself. I wanted to connect it to the treehouse so it looked more stable, even if it didn’t actually need it.
My handy husband screwed a quick brace between the two 4x4 posts closest to the treehouse, and then used metal brackets (heavy-duty joist holders usually used for deck construction) to connect the brace to two 2x8x10 boards running over to the treehouse — removing a bit of the roof in the process.
We could have put monkey bars on the 2x8 beams connecting the tire tower to the treehouse, but we already have monkey bars (and so do our next-door neighbours) so we didn’t feel we needed more.
We originally planned to hang ropes from the 2x8s so kids could swing, jungle-style, from the treehouse to the tire tower, but changed our minds at the last minute. I could just picture the kids and their friends messing around with the ropes — looping and knotting them — and feared somebody would end up doing something dangerous.
Now we’re thinking of doing a ropes course where the ropes are secured at the top and bottom so they can’t be moved around, but we’re still discussing options. In the meantime, the kids think it’s fun to cling to the beams and shimmy their way from the tire tower to the treehouse.
I completed the last step on a recent sweltering Saturday morning, staining everything a rich dark brown to match the rest of our playground equipment. Then I got on a roll and recoated everything, so now the stain is nice and fresh.
Our backyard is filling up with homemade wooden playground equipment, and we wouldn’t have it any other way. Just wait until you see what we have planned for our two plastic slides. (Hint: they’re not going to be slides at all.)
- COST: $170
- EFFORT: 3 out of 5
- RESULTS: 5 out of 5
Heather Laura Clarke is a crafty maker who perpetually has paint smears on her hands, sawdust in her shoes and bits of thread stuck to her leggings. She lives in Truro with her husband, son, and daughter. Follow her adventures at HeathersHandmadeLife.com.
