I'd like to make a children's sand pit, maybe 6' x 8' or similar. Any hints or suggestions? I was thinking of sinking it 1' or so into the ground, and building up sides with timber.
- posted
18 years ago
I'd like to make a children's sand pit, maybe 6' x 8' or similar. Any hints or suggestions? I was thinking of sinking it 1' or so into the ground, and building up sides with timber.
You will need some sort of cover otherwise the local cats will shit in it.
Make a cover...the local cats will love it.
Also, make sure it's well drained as it will probably fill with water.
sponix
Don't waste your time, get one of these.
You need to consider using play pit sand, not builders sand. Play pit sand is washed and therefore non-toxic and non-staining.
I was going to - it will also stop large amounts of leaves getting in. Fortunately, there are few cats in the neighbourhood, and they tend not to come into this garden! Debris netting (seen on scaffolding) looks OK.
The ground's very well drained, fortunately. I was going to line the bottom of the hole with weed (and hopefully worm) proof permeable membrane (Terram).
A better idea is to build it as a frame with short legs in contact with the ground and an internal base, raised slightly from the ground and made by butt joining some pressure treated boards together - deck boards are reasonable for this. You could also make the sides from them. The advantage is that it will drain properly and if you place the legs on small paving slabs, won't rot very quickly either.
Some kind of a cover to prevent the local pussycats visiting it would be a good idea.
If you want something a bit fancier , then this is another idea
Look what is over the neighbours fence near it! We made one years ago then noticed a Laburnum tree dropping it's poisonous seeds into where the kids were playing ! Still they range from 20 to 30 so it didn't kill them
AWEM
The message from Chris Bacon contains these words:
You'll find the kids often like to dig as far as the membrane then poke holes in it. I've seen them done where the membrane was covered with a layer of paving bricks. Still plenty of gaps for the water but less tempting for the kids.
I made one a couple of years ago for my kids from stuff I had lying around. The sides are each made from two bits of 2x3 pressure-treated CLS, screwed into some 2x2 at the corners. I arranged the corner pieces to stick down a few inches into the ground to keep it in place. The kids often side on the edges of it, so having something thicker than is really needed to merely contain the sand is nice. 6'x8' sounds huge, and the lid will take some engineering, but maybe you have lots of children... Ours is about 3'x4' which sounds a bit mean against your mini-Sahara, but it has provided hours and hours of pleasure while the kids play in the sand pit.
I stapled a DIY-shed mulch-membrane (cheap papery Teram-a-like) across the bottom - this is supported by the ground of course, so the staples are just to keep it in place while you're installing the thing. It has a piece of
1/2inch ply as a lid, which just lies on top.Originally it was filled with the lovely play-pit sand you can buy from the sheds, but I've just topped it up with ordinary soft white building sand because I have about 3/4 ton left over from something else.
I would say that reasonable soft building sand is perfectly acceptable, although it is perhaps slightly more staining than the 'proper' stuff. This is not the sort of thing I worry about... At the size you're talking about, the price difference is going to be substantial.
Will
The message from "Andrew Mawson" contains these words:
Odd you should mention that - I had a laburnum over my sandpit as a kid
- Dad just told me not to eat the seeds.
I'll need to check, but I've a feeling larburnum's recently been downgraded as a poisonous plant after they discovered it wasn't that bad.
Make sure you build an anti-cat-crap cover.
I bought play sand last year from B&Q and it stained big time.
C
Sandpits are magnets for cats :) Its easier digging than next doors seedlings :)
Soft silver sand will be fine - just don't do what my Dad did and use orange builders' sand - at the end of the summer my brothers, sisters and I ended up looking like Oompah-Loompas.
n
Maybe it was only pretend play sand?
IIRC "sharp sand" is what you need, not the soft yellow stuff.
Taking a trailer along to your favourite beach and mining your own is probably illegal.
Owain
If you make it as the base of a wooden shed not only will that help keep cats out and mean it is playable in in wet weather, but they can recreate Stalag Luft III.
When they have taken bolts out of the roof and the beams start falling down they can play the exciting new game of Scottish Parliament.
Owain
-- LSR
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