Sandbox with own hands

The cost of building a sandbox is minimal, and it will be a great pleasure for children. Of course, you can buy a ready-made structure and simply fill it with sand, but a sandbox made by yourself is much more interesting and convenient.

Before you begin the construction of the sandbox, you need to find the most suitable place for itthe comfort and safety of the baby depend on this. There are several rules for placing a sandbox:

• the site should be open and level;
• in front of parents;
• closed from prying eyes or at least located at a distance from the street and passers-by;
• next to the sandbox should not be thorn bushes and sharp fences.
  

  Sandbox with your own hands

For protection from the sun, you can place a sandbox under a small sturdy tree or build a canopy. But under the old trees do not do this: at any time from the tree on the child can fall heavy branch.

Sandbox building

If a place under the sandbox is selected, you can proceed to the main process. To begin with, it is necessary to calculate the dimensions of the structure, select the shape, and correctly prepare the base. The size of the sandbox depends on the age and number of children who will play in it. For three toddlers 1-3 years, 1.5x1.5 m is enough, for older children it is recommended to make sandboxes 2x2 m, and standard designs have dimensions of 1.7x1.7 m.

Most often, the sandbox has a rectangular or square shape, but sometimesthere are round and hexagonal structures. Here much depends on the imagination of the master and his skill;If the experience in such cases is minimal, it is better to dwell on the standard square form. As a building material, wood is used, namely, pine boards.

Additionally, you need:

• shovel;
• Roulette;
• pegs and rope;
• geotextile;
• sand;
• ramming;
• beams 50x50 mm;
• hacksaw;
• antiseptic impregnation;
• liquid bitumen;
• grinder.

Step 1. Preparation of the site

The selected site is cleaned of stones, twigs, weeds, leveling the surface. If the dimensions of the sandbox are 1.5x1.5 m, then the cleared area should be 10-15 cm larger on each side - this is necessary for more accurate marking.

Step 2. Markup

Now you need 4 pegs, roulette and a long rope. Visually determine the location of one of the corners of the structure, drive a peg, draw from it two perpendicular lines, mark the location of the last corner. Between the pegs, pull the rope and check the length of the diagonals inside the marking. They should be exactly the same.

Step 3. Preparing the base

Inside the enclosure, choose a layer of soil to a depth of at least 20-25 cm. The walls of the excavation must be leveled so that they are strictly vertical. When all the soil is removed, the bottom is trimmed and compacted. Top sifted fine sand layer of 5 cm, well pounded.

Step 4. Making the frame

The beam is cut into pieces in length of 45 cm, the lower ends are sharpened, ground, treated by impregnation and coated to half with liquid bitumen. Now you need to install them at the corners of the perimeter and slip them into the soil by 15 cm. The next step is the fastening of the boards: they are knocked off in pairs and screwed to the bars with self-tapping screws. It can also be done in another way: first completely assemble the frame, and then install it above the excavation.

assembling We can take the boards narrow or wide, the main thing being that the width of the walls is not less than 30 cm. The surface of each board is treated with a grinding nozzle on both sides, then impregnated with antiseptic anddried. After that, the boards are knocked down into a square box and reinforced at the corners by bars that on one side should protrude the perimeter of the box by 15 cm.

Step 5. Mounting the rails

Forthe child's convenience along the perimeter of the frame needs to be made with small edges. To do this, take 4 boards with a width of 20 cm, very high quality grind them, cover with an antiseptic and cut the edges at an angle of 45 degrees. Lay the boards on top of the walls, align and match the joints, tightly screwed with screws. Screws of self-tapping screws should be drowned in a tree so that the child does not get hurt. Sometimes corner benches are made instead of bows: take a board of small length, it is well processed, placed on two adjacent walls, having receded from the corner several centimeters. After that, the board is nailed from two sides, and the edges protruding beyond the perimeter are cut off.

Step 6. Finishing the

sandbox. Now you need to paint the sandbox correctly. For this, choose colors of 2-4 colors, necessarily bright and contrasting. Bortics or benches can not just be painted, but painted with ornaments, images of animals, flowers. Once the paint has dried, the construction is filled with sand.

Making a cover for the sandbox

The open sandbox gets clogged very quickly, so you have to periodically sift the sand or change it at all. To avoid such problems, it is recommended to install a wooden cover. It is not difficult to make it simple, and as a result, not only good protection against debris, but also convenient benches will turn out. Mount the cover best before installing the frame to a permanent place.

For work you will need:

• pine boards 25 mm thick;
• electric jigsaw;
• long hinges;
• bolts with nuts;
• self-tapping screws;
• beams section 30x50 mm;
• primer;
• paint;
• drill.

Step 1. Preparation of

material Cut the boards to the width of the sandbox, process all surfaces and edges with a grinding head. After that, ground, dry and cover with two layers of paint. Hinges also need to be painted, otherwise after the first rain there will be signs of corrosion.

Step 2. Assembling the first half of the cover

On one side, two boards are screwed onto the frame of the sandbox. Two more boards are connected by bars and attached by means of loops to the first. In this case, the bars should be at the bottom, and the hinges on top of the lid. Take two more boards and connect them with bars, the length of which exceeds the width of the shield. That is, on the one hand bars per third protrude beyond the edge of the board. This shield is also connected to the previous one with the help of loops, only this time the loops should be at the bottom, and the bars from above. The hinges are screwed to the tree with bolts, as self-tapping screws quickly loosen.

Step 3. Assembling the second half

This half can be made without a backrest, which simplifies the process a little. On the free side of the frame, not 2, but 3 boards are packed, then they shoot down a board of two boards and fix it with loops, as in the previous case. So that the lid does not bend under the weight of the children, it is strengthened in the middle by a bar. Now, when opening, the first half is folded into a comfortable bench with a backrest, and the second just folds back half its width.

sandbox with a conventional lid