The swing set (a.k.a the unexpected summer project)

It started one innocent Friday afternoon.  While picking up Wyatt, Heidi was informed that another family at our daycare was in the mood to divest themselves of a swing set.  She immediately went to inspect the structure.  It was ten years old.  A couple of boards needed replacing.  A deck wash and a stain and sealer seemed in order.  We thought, “Chris is sort of handy and we can rent a truck, why not?”  The bargain price of “free” helped sealed the deal.

Sunday – After lunch I geared up.  Equipped with my tool belt, hammer, and other odd tools, I looked not quite like a construction worker but closer to a weekend, Home Depot supplied, suburban warrior.  I attacked the structure with a fierce determination.  The battle went quicker than expected and it turned out all I really needed was a ratchet, 3 appropriately sized sockets, and my considerable ability to let large pieces of the structure cooperate with gravity.  Disassembly was complete in about 2 hours and resulted in pieces slightly larger than I should have carried myself.

With disassembly complete it was time to rent a Home Depot truck.  I loaded the oversized pieces in the truck and delivered them the 6 blocks to our house in two trips.  Wyatt was really excited…by the beep, beep, beep, of the truck in reverse.  Finally, I transported the adult sized Lincoln Log parts to the back yard pack mule style. 

Wyatt was really sweet, “Daddy, are you building a swing for ME?!”

 

Monday, Tuesday – Assembly!  It went better than expected.  It was a little bit like working with a large set of tinker toys.  Heidi helped out by making comments like, “Maybe you should ask Mike to help you assemble this.”  I responded by not telling her how much my back hurt the following two days.  Eventually I did get Mike to help and the structure was (and is) assembled so Wyatt can use it.  He loves both the swings and the slide.

A following Saturday – I gave the structure a thorough deck wash treatment.  I would describe the process as similar to brushing the teeth of a large wooden monster.  The weather helped me out with cool temperatures and a North Dakota caliber wind.  When finished I was wet and I looked like I was wearing a wooden fiber encrusted shirt.  I was happy to find out when I looked in the mirror that my hair hadn’t dissolved or changed color from the wash I used to scrub the set.

What’s left? Replace two boards, stain/seal, and put up the canopy.  I think it will be a fun summer in the back yard!!!