Installing a wooden playset

All-His

I am not sure if anyone has experience in this area (ie, are as crazy as we are thinking we can avoid the set up fees)... Basically, we bought the big wooden playset at costco (the one w/ the yellow curly tube slide - yea!) and plan on putting it up in the next couple of weeks.  Thankfully my dad and FIL are going to help, both of whom are much handier than adam. Apparently these beasts take 12 hrs to set up for someone who knows what they are doing. So, it would take adam about 3 weeks on his own?

To my point, how important is it for the ground to be perfectly level?  We live on a walkout lot that has a gradual decline all the way down. It isn't drastic, we aren't concerned about the thing falling over, but someone mentioned needing to level the ground before installing. Our neighbors didn't, and we do notice a tilt in the construction of their playset.

To that end, we were thinking about digging out the ground a little and then doing mulch (rubber hopefully, wood if costs demand).  What type of tool is used for such a thing, and can they be rented at menards? earl may? the parks and rec?  My only concern is that if we have the area dug out, we'll have to put some sort of short retainer around it (like rock or wood planks). We'll make it a ways out, but if my kids are like me, they'll be jumping off the swings in no time. Then it just seems dangerous to have anything besides grass. 

Any suggestions based on what you or your neighbors have done w/ the big wooden playset?

Victoria6F

A shovel? LOL what kind of tool are you looking for. Might be able to lend you one (thanks to having a family who needs EVERTHING for EVERYTHING) LOL you could probably use sand? too, if costs are way high, sand under the area that is going to make it lean...

you're not going to want it to lean one way or the other for fear of there being too much pressure on one end and putting stess on the wood. You could always make a big box for it. like a garden and just fill it in that way, bolt it to the wood, then fill in from there? does that make sense?

All-His

haha, I don't think a shovel will work too well. We live in clive/urbandale area - land of the clay.  It took adam hours to dig out the little flower area, and we would have to dig much deeper in this case.  I guess I don't know what type of tool would to it - something that has an engine.   I'll have adam ask his landscaping friend.

I don't think a box would work too well, we'd still have to make the land beneath it level, which would require either filling on the west side, or digging on the east side.  And this thing is kind of a beast (it is bigger than in the stores b/c it isn't shown w/ the swing extension. It would be one mammoth box.  I'd be worried about stability too w/ it not anchored into the ground.

thanks for the ideas though!

laceymb

My cousin had one when we were growing up and they used a post hole digger to bury the posts evenly and then filled with concrete. That made it level and sturdy and there was no need for any sort of filler underneath the playset other than grass. I would avoid that anyway because without some sort of border (and even with one really) the mulch will for sure end up in the yard from the traffic in and out which can be a pain.