Do it Yourself Play Structure - How Hard Can it Be?

So, I am sitting at home wondering what to do with a sunny week-end with-out the kids, they are away for 2 beautiful days with their grandma. Maybe I’ll watch a baseball game or do a little golfing with my buddies. It’s just then that my wife interrupts my daydreaming of finally breaking 100 with “I have a project for you this week-end. “

“A project?” I say with as little disappointment as possible. Although, I am usually up for a “project,” I couldn’t help but wonder what she has planned, how long she has been planning it, how long it may take me and when I can book a tee time? So I bite. “What kind of project?” I ask.

“We”, and by that I am sure she means me, “are going to put together a play structure for the kids” she says with a level of excitement that should only be reserved for a hole in one.

“Great!” I respond, trying to equal her excited tone which I think came off a bit sarcastic since I am now getting, “the look”.

As “the look” starts to fade she continues, “Yeah, I was talking to the guy at the hardware store and he was telling me that he set up one for his kids and it only took the afternoon”. Before I could come up with some lame excuse, maybe an injury I have been hiding, she quips “It should be here by 11:00, so that gives you a couple hours to have a shower and eat. What would you like for breakfast?” At this point I realize that it’s too late to try and bail from this project and besides it’s only an afternoon, I’m a handy guy, this will be a snap, right?

After some bacon and eggs the delivery truck arrives and starts to unload piles of wood. Once it is all unloaded on our front yard I realize that golf may be a better idea on Sunday. Looking at the picture on the box, I can’t help but wonder how I am going to make all the materials resemble the cute little play structure on the front of the box. It looks like I have enough wood for 2 play structures!

Regardless, I figure that the instructions will help me make sense of this.  Once opening the instruction I see that I am going to need a saw, drill and a hammer. Ok, done. I have that stuff. Once I begin drilling the holes I quickly realize that I am going to be drilling more holes than I expected. Well over 100! With my 9.7 volt battery powered drill this will take forever. I start to wonder what ever happened to those electric drills with ¾ inch chuck, like the one my father had, do they even sell those anymore? Tools seemed to be of higher quality back in the day.

I walk over to my neighbor to see if he is home, he’s an old guy, so he might have an old electric drill I can borrow. To my dismay, he isn’t around, and now its 1:00, I better find a drill. Now, as much as I like the older style electric drills, I don’t like them enough to buy one specifically for this project. The closest Home Depot is at least 10 minutes away and I need a drill now! So, I check www.rentcharlie.com to see if there is a place that rents drills, closer to my house. I find a rental store just 3 blocks away that I never knew was there. I head down to the store and talk to an older, tattooed guy at the counter. I tell him about my project and he hands me an electric ¾ chuck, variable speed drill, with a reversing switch. Beautiful, I’m good to go. Just then the older tattooed guy at the counter asks me if I will be doing any cutting, and if I might need a circular saw. Unsure, I decide to rent one. The total for both tools, for the day, is only 12 dollars.

I finally start my project at around 2:00. The drill worked beautifully and the saw I rented came in handy on more than one occasion. I only had to go out once more, to the same rental store, for a work light. It’s now 12:30 AM! I am finally finished, just in time for bed. My kids are going to love the play structure. Slide, tire swing, rope wall and bridge, how could they not? Hopefully they get many enjoyable years out of it, at least they better. In the morning I can drop off the tools at the rental store on my way to a 10am tee time.