I was wondering if anyone here had put in a children’s playset and was looking to see if you had any recommendations for a source?

We have one that was given to us by a neighbor who moved, it’s a basic wooden one with a climbing ladders and slide and little platform and swings, but it basically is rotting apart and becoming a little unsafe. I want to replace it with something new.

It looks like everything on Amazon appears to be very flimsy and I’m not thrilled with what I’m seeing. I know there are local shed makers that also sell these playsets, but I would imagine they are very expensive.

Any ideas here? Thank you.

This is very similar to what we have, looking to replace it with something like this.

IIRC, we got ours through Costco & my dad & I built it over 2 days.

Slightly bigger than the one you have in the OP.

This is ours when it was completed at our old house.
The wood has faded & is a more dull color [wife wants to paint it]
I don't recall it being overly difficult to assemble [except the spiral slide which was a colossal pain to assemble] & it wasn't too tough to relocate when we moved.

Rainbow Play Systems are big around here. All redwood and heavy duty hardware. We had one when our daughter was young and it was very nice.

I got ours at Sams club. Chinese redwood, but decent enough.

I'd look into a second hand Play System from Rainbow, CedarWorks or something of similar quality. Your kids are only gonna have so many years before they'll be moving on and it will no longer interest them anyway. Plus, your kids are apparently already moving on to their second one, and these systems are ridiculously expensive.

I hate to say it but, Facebook Marketplace? Craigslist? Everyone that has a quality system eventually needs it gone, and most will still be in VERY good shape!

quote:

Originally posted by nhracecraft:
I'd look into a second hand Play System from Rainbow, CedarWorks or something of similar quality. Your kids are only only have so many years before they'll be moving on and it will no longer interest them anyway. Plus, your kids are apparently already moving on to their second one, and these systems are ridiculously expensive.

I hate to say it but, Facebook Marketplace? Craigslist? Everyone that has a quality system eventually needs it gone, and most will still be in VERY good shape!

That where my daughter found theirs, in great shape and way less expensive than new.

You inadvertanly left off safe. Kids fingers fit into tight places and a finger is lost. The material beneath is just as important. I believe there are safety standards as well.

You might check Home Depot or Lowe’s. HD used to sell a kit with hardware and plans; buy the lumber and you are good to go.

We bought an Amish-built playset that is all vinyl with powder coated steel brackets. Ours was very expensive, but with 2 young kids, we expect we will get at least 10 years good use out of it. I figure that with the way inflation is going, I will get half what I paid for it when it comes time to sell. If you find a used vinyl unit for essentially half-price, you should be able to recoup most of your investment when your kids are grown. There’s really nothing to wear-out, rot, or fall-apart , so in theory, you shouldn’t be victim to much depreciation as a second-hand buyer.

We had one of those like the OP has posted, but we had to supply the wood, so my FIL used 5/4 deck boards and 2x6. He painstakingly rostered each board to ease the edges, then we assembled it.

I dunno what brand it was cause we sold it with the house.but it had those green plastic joints.