When you figure out that a portion of your swing set is indeed sunk, you can fix that with a spacer or a bit of fill.Įither use a wooden/metal spacer – just a piece of material that raises the section, or achieve the same effect by lifting the section and filling in some dirt, sand, or gravel underneath. Swing sets don’t need to be perfectly level, but if yours is uneven enough to cause swaying, something should be clearly out of whack. Your swing beam, supports, play areas, everything.
#Anchoring metal swing set android#
I like to use this one on my Android phone and this one on Apple.Ĭheck all of the main sections of your swing set for being level. The first thing to do is get a bubble level or a bubble level app on your smartphone. How do you identify this and fix it though? If the settling is sufficient, it can cause the swing set to be a little off balance and that might give it a reason to sway. When the ground underneath settles it can cause the swing set to loosen and shift. Settling is a regularly occurring process, especially when you have the extra weight of the swing set and its users pressing down on the dirt. Settling is when the ground underneath compresses ever so slightly and causes the swing set to go a bit lower, sort of like it’s sinking.ĭon’t worry, it’s probably not sinking! Residents of Florida being the exception. That’s the route I went, deciding not to add anything.įor the most part, this shouldn’t cause an issue, but there is a possibility that part or all of your swing set can settle over time. Usually, it’s dirt and grass (or rock/sand mix depending on where you live).
Often people will just go with whatever is already in the spot they chose to build their swing set. What type of fill did you use? Was it sand? Was it dirt? Something more stable like gravel? Now we can move onto the second thing to consider, and that’s the ground you built your swing set on. The cheap and easy thing to do is just tighten up everything you can. Metal can shrink and expand with the heat and cold of the seasons, and that heating and shrinking can cause any faster to loosen up, even a locking type fastener. If you already have one of these, it’s possible that the material shrank – wood is more likely to do this. You can find replacement nuts in all sorts of sizes at your local Home Depot or Lowes. When you’re inspecting and find a loose joint, it will always help to change out the nut or washer for a locking type. They keep pressure between the nut and the mating surface so that little vibrations cant jiggle it loose. These washers look like a circle that was cut and slightly bent…almost like the coil of a spring. The oring is dug into by the threads of the bolt and grips tightly, resisting movement and keeping the nut from backing off.įunctioning similarly, a lock washer will also prevent movement. The first is a nylon oring (usually white) that sits inside the nut. You might have seen one of these before – there are two common types. On many swing sets, the nuts an bolts used will not have an anti-vibration or nut retention feature, and that alone can cause them to loosen over time. Sometimes it helps to shake the section too because you won’t always be able to visually tell something’s loose. Locate all of the nuts and bolts on your swing set, and give them a good once over. To inspect your joints, you’ll want to go one by one. So as I said before, loose joints are something that happens over time through the use of the swing set and don’t mean that your parts are failing or too bad to reuse. Let’s start with the first one: Loose Joints If you tackle these 3 areas, you’ll likely be able to identify and solve whatever problem is keeping your swing set from not swaying. There are 3 big sources of movement when it comes to a swing set. There are a few things you can check along with those joints which are common points of failure for the swing set structure. It doesn’t take much movement in those joints to give your swing set some sway. The forces of using a swing set are enough to cause a bit of sway over the years. Maybe your kids have gotten bigger over the years, and you’re starting to notice that jumping from the top of the ladder makes your swing set go ever so slightly to the opposite side. That’s a bit of a mouthful, so now I’ll break it down for your bit by bit. Once you have found the weak points, reinforce your swing set with brackets, fasteners, and anchors to make it stop swaying. Whether its wind and weather-related or just due to age, a swing set that sways is something you want to fix.īut how do you go about fixing a swing set that sways? When children are swinging or playing on it you want to know that the structure of the swing set is safe and secure. Having a swing set that sways back and forth can be unsettling and worrisome.
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