Our Mom’s group for my son’s school is planning and designing a playground for his new school building. We decided on a “ship”. I was a designer in my professional career, so I am designing the ship. I am stuck on what to use for materials. I am working with another mother architect, but she actually has a job, so her time on this is limited. On one side of the ship there is a 6′ wide by 5′ tall “climbing” wall that has big round cut outs so the teachers can see into the ground level of the ship. This climbing wall board is the piece that is a mystery. It needs to be durable, no splinters, look good, etc. I have been to many playgrounds and it seems like there is a material out there that looks like some kind of combination of engineered wood or some sort of rubberized plastic. It comes in sheets somewhat like plywood, but I have looked all over the internet today and was unable to come up with anything. I am sure there is a product name, I looked at the “Trex” website to see if they do anything in sheets, and it doesn’t state anything other than the decking, railing, etc. applications. Some other volunteers are going to build the ship so I have to spec everything so another volunteer can price it out. Any ideas?
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There is a plastic sheet material that the builders of plastic boats( oh, other people call them fiberglass) use to make various pieces and parts. Try doing a search of boat building materials, or google Jamestown Distributors or Hamilton Marine.
There are no electrons! It is all made up. Don't believe it.
Electricity is made by GREENIES.
While you are researching materials, here is a little something to read.
http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/pubs/325.pdf
Did you change screen names?
While you are researching materials, here is a little something to read.
http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/pubs/325.pdf
Wow! 42 pages of enjoyable reading! I did not change screen names. My husband is my tech guy and had to load the drawings for me!Thanks for the information.
call your local plastic/rubber dealer and ask for UHMW i believe it means "ultra high molecular weight" you may have seen it before, it is usually the plastic of choice for cutting boards. cuts/drills like wood and is food grade and NO kind of weather or acid/chemical will affect it. it is usually white in color but maybe available in other colors. i know for a fact that you can get it in 4x8 ft. sheets or smaller (possibly larger)and thickness from 1/16" to 2" cost wise i would guestimate around $125.00 for 4x8x1/2" sheet i would think 1" thick would do the trick??
hope that helps
fm2
"the large print givith, and the small print taketh away" Tom Waits
"those with accurate observation are often called a cynic by those who have not got it" george bernard shaw
Thanks. I will look into it, and see if it is UV resistant.
Just a FYI.
I assembled a playgound set for our grandson's elementry scholl a few years ago. It was one of those monster steel sets with rubberized coatings on it. Every page of the instruction manual carried the warning advisory to provide a "soft surface" around the equipment. Each of the 30+ post had a line marked on them for finished grade of the surface material.We used 6" of rubber mulch, but could have used 12" of cyprus muclh.
Another safety issue was the fasteners. Someone did some carefull planning on type and location of every one of the gazzilion SS bolts, washers, and nuts in that thing. They also made sure that anything that could be easily accessed was of the tamper proof variety.
Go look at some of the manufacture playground sets in you area, and take carefull notes on the fasteners, the placement, and the type. It will help you in your design and specification phaze.
Dave
Dave
first of all NOTHING is UV resistant except rock, i have seen this stuff (uhmw) used exclusively in agricultural production e.g. "outside" it may get brittle in 20 years or may slightly discolor before that due to UV . anyway if you don't feel comfortable ask the plastcs people if they have another type of plastic that is "approved" UV resistant i'm sure they do and it still beats wood AND/OR coated steel. as far as a thick coated (rubberized) steel it will trap moisture in between the coating and the steel, then begin rusting until it starts poking through the coating and cutting someone. if you examine almost all modern manufactured play equipment for schools all the primary contact surfaces are plastic i.e. slids, climbing walls. epoxy coated steel is used to support the contact surfaces. the only bad part about plastic is static electricty! often my son comes home from the playground looking like a punk rocker, hair standing almost straight up. haha
good luck,
fm2"the large print givith, and the small print taketh away" Tom Waits
"those with accurate observation are often called a cynic by those who have not got it" george bernard shaw
Thank you all for the input. I will check into plastics next week and see where that takes me. If anyone has any good plastics suppliers in the Chicago area, that would be a great help.I will keep plodding along!
Azek PVC trim comes in sheets, and for some reason I think it comes in 4'x16'x1/2", or something humongouse like that.
What I have seen as far as climbing walls is steel sheets coated in a thick, soft plastic with the proper hand and foot holds you see in professional climbing walls attached. Most of the playground hardware is either thick plastic or coated steel.
As far as UHMW, it is great stuff but all the UHMW (Ultra High Molecular Weight) plastic I have dealt with is NOT UV resistant and isn't for exterior use.
I didn't check on the other links provided but children's playgrounds are expensive. You need approved equipment and are begging for a lawsuit if you designed and/or built something that wasn't approved by the gov't, at least in NJ. My son's daycare had to spend $10k for new equipment that had to be approved by the state or they could have none at all! Not saying this is right, it is just the world we live in today, the gov't will save us all from ourselves...