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Playset Construction Discovery
I had an opportunity to acquire a large, second-hand playset for the cost of "tear it down and haul it off." I knew that wasn't going to be as cheap as it sounds, but there were still a number of surprises involved.
As you can see, the structure was leaning rather severely, which I knew meant some of the wood would need replacing or reinforcing. The vertical posts were the main culprit; they had rotted out the bottom 2-3 feet of their 7-foot length.
But what I was surprised by was their construction.
The green wrap is a thick plastic sheathe around the posts. And for some, the bottom end of the post was sealed with this same plastic. With the plastic removed, you can see that the 3"x3" post is not a single piece of wood, but built up from smaller lumber. I understand the cost savings of that approach, but I was surprised when I pealed a 1x4 (ish) off the side of the post to reveal that the core was hollow. I had expected the central 2x2 (ish) to run the length of the post. These are, after all, the load-bearing posts for the whole construction.
I presume the resulting box was structurally sound for the intended purpose originally, but it appears that the plastic sheathe acted like a plastic cup and held moisture in the lower portion of the post. It rotted out quite thoroughly.
The rotted portion was black enough you would have thought someone had used it for a campfire.
Rather than try to duplicate the construction technique, I bought 4x4 cedar posts, cut them to length, and planed them to 3"x3" to match the original post dimensions and exceed the original post strength. That generated mountains of cedar sawdust, but I'm pleased with the result.
More importantly, I'm not the only one who is happy with how the final playset turned out:
