Atherton Treehouse

Atherton Treehouse: The goal was to design a play structure that incorporated the trees, tucked into this corner of the yard, that wouldn't overwhelm but would be big enough for the many grandchildren that visit every year.

Barbara's "stickout" (above) and Artist's Sketch (below) shows the ultimate design the client's settled on: King Fort up front, bridge to the back, passing by the sapling, up to the Clubhouse perched on a tree deck 9' off the ground, with steps down to a Zip Line ride "take-off" platform.

Swinging Bridge leading up to the Tree Perch...

Great Zip Line Ride:

fun for grandchildren and grandfathers!

Santa's workshop: contemporary shapes and colors

It's starting to get exciting as more shapes emerge! The towers are long and sleek, looking like a rocket ship about to launch.

Adding the side "fins" (which will flank the entrance to the swinging bridge) starts to define the contemporary look of this play structure.

Once building is complete, the tower moves to the staining bay where Rudi adds the color.

Then the finished tower is moved to the outside dock to bake in the sun. This complicated black & white pattern will require a longer drying time than usual. We do not want to drag any black into white when we wipe-on the final coat of clear tung-oil.

Fortunately for us, this is California, and we are enjoying a particularly lovely stretch of warm, sunny weather. Our condolences to the East Coast, where winter storms are still dumping tons of snow on a daily basis.

Pasadena Playhouse

I thought it would be nice to take a few minutes and share a custom play structure installation we finished over a year ago. When I came across these photos, it made me smile!

We had a great installation in Pasadena. Meet the crew:

James getting ready to install the coil climber; Marco on the Glider swing; Will laughing in front of the table/chairs set; Jose Luis on top of the Rope Net Ladder; Frenchy in the sandbox tower, and Javier, who just finished tung-oiling!

Perfect weather, tons of work, lots of Corona at night.  And the trip back home was fun too!

Public Use Play Structure: Day 4 on site

Big Day on site: the crawl tunnel tube is added in between Clubhouse #1 and Clubhouse #2! They will keep it wrapped in plastic sheeting until everything else on site is done, but this fun play element is in place and just waiting for kids to crawl through it.













Next the guys move over to the Slide Transfer Platform and add the railings and the roof. Almost ready for the Tube Slide.














Then a day full of drilling in the hot sun...


















More to come tomorrow

Public Use Play Structure: Day 3 on site

Barbara and crew are back on site at the Contra Costa Jewish Day School playground where they are installing a public use, fully enclosed, ADA Handicap Accessible play structure custom designed to run above the playground on top of existing 8' high concrete planters (as shown in Barbara's Artist Sketch):











By mid-morning of Day 3, all 3 clubhouses have been erected and bolted to the floor frames and 2 of the 3 roofs have been added. Jose and Armando are working on adding the angled "step down" platform on the left side of the structure. This is where the kids will exit to the playground area below via a long tube slide.









The 3rd roof goes up while Jeff, below, uses the epoxy gun as the final step in securing the 4 redwood support posts to the concrete.












Next step is to raise the front and back 12' long railings for the straight bridge:










Tomorrow: the crawl tube tunnel!

Public Use Play Structure: Day 2 on site

Day 2 the crew continues with the installation of Contra Costa Jewish Day School's play structure:
Now that the ledgers have been installed (see Day 1) the guys bring in the clubhouse floor framing, bolting the frames to the ledgers.









Next, they add stairs and angled Ship's Ladder ramp on the right side of the playground. This combined stair/ramp system will provide access to the "soon to be" play structure up on top of the concrete planters. The stairs, like the clubhouse floor framing, were pre-built at our shop to exact measurements, fitting to the curve of the wall.

The 12' high redwood frame in front of the stairs will become the "ball wall", to be brought in at the end of the project.



Next, the crew adds the series of 3 Clubhouses to the top of the concrete planters, bolting everything to the previously installed floor frames.

At this point, the structure is really starting to take shape: stairs up to angled ramp, then up to Clubhouse #1. Lots still to be done.



One last addition at end of the day: the guys bring up the roof frames and attach them to the top of the Clubhouses.

Public Use Play Structure: Day 1 on site

The day before we arrive, the school yard sits empty, waiting for the magic to begin...




Immediately upon arrival, we unload and set up our equipment so that we can begin the first step: set the spacer boxes (pre-built in our shop) on top of the concrete planters, establishing that everything fits. Then we start attaching the ledgers to the existing retaining walls. A critical 1st step!














We have to get the ledgers (which you don't see once installed as they sit flush to the top of the planter wall) at the right height and in the right placement so our pre-built structure will reassemble correctly.
Once in place, we drill the concrete for the threaded rod that will be epoxied into the wall.
























There was a lot of hot sun and it was persnickety work, but the crew did a great job getting everything ready for setting the threaded rod in epoxy. Marco & Jeff both have a lot of experience doing this type of work and Aubrey was their willing apprentice.

















Aubrey seemed to like using the hammerdrill :) There's Jeff's in the background below diligently cleaning the drilled holes in preparation for the epoxy. That's the key to using epoxy to bolt the ledger to the concrete walls: super clean holes.

















More install pictures tomorrow!

Public Use Play Structure for CCJDS in Lafayette, CA

New, exciting, public use play structure that Barbara custom-designed for the Contra Costa Jewish Day School in Lafayette, CA. It will be a fully enclosed, self-contained redwood & rope netting play structure built up on top of 8' high concrete planter boxes and running along the edge of the play space.













Access up (on right) via the steps enclosed by the "Ball Wall" then up the angled ship's ladder, through clubhouse #1, through the crawl tunnel, through the clubhouse #2, through the rope net bridge, through Clubhouse #3 and down the tunnel tube slide (on left) out onto the open playground. Plenty of activity while only using a minimal amount of current playground space.

Building started back in the shop as soon as Barbara was able to get the variance and permit sign offs. For this complicated design it takes a lot of conferring with the whole team.











Marco, an exceptional builder, makes the curved steps that have to conform exactly to the concrete wall when we bring it to site.

Tricky!









As soon as pieces are built they go to the staining bay, where Rudi adds the natural tung-oil stain colors. Then everything is set outside to dry in the sun. Time is off the essence as there is only 2 weeks to build, stain and pre-assemble! Normally, this size project would take up 4 weeks of our schedule. We are on double-time...












Fortunately, Rudi, our master stainer, has the experience, fortitude and know-how to get it all done.






As soon as the stained pieces are dry, the guys start to pre-assemble the play structure in our shop to make sure that everything fits together perfectly. Our motto is that it's better to find & fix any problems in the shop then when on site. Everything is geared for the on-site installation to run quickly and smoothly... and because of their diligence, it usually does!











Stay tuned for pictures from site.