Children's Fantasy Playground - Rewarding Experience

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Have just spent five twelve-hour plus days helping to build one of those children fantasy playgrounds in Waverly. Went from bare ground at 7AM on Wednesday to its grand opening at 7PM on Sunday. Work continued even through light rain.

For this the community had to raise $85,000 plus donated material and equipment probably added that to the cost again. Several contractors provided workers which they paid, as I did with my farm helper. TVA donated the use of a semi-trailer with all of the tools needed and said not to worry about restocking it or lost tools.

Since it is all built to a plan, every measurement had to be precise. When they said to cut a board to 26", they meant 26". Not 25 7/8" or 26 1/8".

By and large I was response to coordinate 'grunt' labor. At times we had up to 70 some people spreading gravel or finely chopped wood chips. Sometimes I was coordinating four crews doing four different things.

As might be expected, most angles were either 30, 45 or 60 degrees. It was simply amazing how piles of pressure treated 2x4s and 2x6s became a play structure. One item we built were three pyramid tower caps. Construction supervisor (a company out of New York) estimated each weighted between 600 and 700 pounds when completed.

Basically the playground was divided into two sections. One for 2-5 and one for 6-12.

If you ever get a chance, participate in one of these projects.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), November 06, 2000

Answers

Ken, just how big was this thing? Anywhere we could get a look at it on the web? Sounds like a really neat project. John

-- John in S. IN (jsmengel;@hotmail.com), November 06, 2000.

From the small layout I have it appears between 1/3rd and 1/2 of an acre.

By the way, the name selected by local children is The Grandfunalley - grand-fun-alley.

Don't know of any web sites. Try searching on playgrounds.

Everything, and I mean everything, was built to exceed safety standards. For example, 12" of finely chipped wood over a 4" layer of pea gravel, with a layer of road paving fabric on top of the ground and between the gravel and wood chips. A huge pile of wood chips went into it.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), November 06, 2000.


Ken, Sounds great. We built one here. Couldn't participate in the building much, but did donate some tools and supplies. Projects like that are great for the community.

-- Jay Blair (jayblair678@yahoo.com), November 06, 2000.

Three cheers for you, Ken! Nice to hear there are still folks out there who care enough to do something for others, without asking to be paid for it! I firmly believe you and others like you will get your "reward" someday! Jan

-- Jan in Colorado (Janice12@aol.com), November 12, 2000.

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