bolts for outdoors

[gsaps]

i was hoping someone could give me ideas for suppliers of bolts for an outdoor wooden play frame that i'm planning to build (using 3.5" poles)

i figure they'd need to be 150mm long (allowing for a countersink) probably 10mm thick and stainless but screwfix only do stainless in 120mm.
they do have the zinc plated bolts but i'm not sure if they are suitable for outdoors... are they?

if anyone has any ideas, i'd really appreciate it
grant

 

[Aled Dafis]

I've probably used about two hundred Zinc plated bolts in my garden, so I hope that they're going to last. Some have been there just over a year, and haven't even discoloured ... yet.

What stopped me from using Stainless was the size availability, and the cost :shock: :shock: :shock:

Regards

Aled

Edit

By the way mine came from screwfix, they turned out to be under a quarter of the price my local ironmonger wanted. I also used the large penny washers to spread the load and to try to minimise the risk of splitting the wood.

 

[Rich]

What is the playframe to be made of?
Rich.

 

[gsaps]

thanks for the reply Aled, the best price i've found is about a pound a bolt for the stainless ones.

i only need about 20 so might go this route if nothing better comes along although the zinc ones are tempting.

Rich, i got the idea to build it myself when i went to look at buying aone (until i saw the price and workmanship) i decided to use round poles as in the shop one and managed to find them in the same diameter which was 3.5"
i found 12 foot pressure treated jump poles from mole valley farmers for £5.50 per pole, total timber and delivery was £116, the same thing from the shop would have been around £1000 and i know i can do as good a job... i hope!!

it sounds like you've done something similar aled, any advice

thanks
grant

 

[TheTiddles]

Zinc plated should be fine for at least 10-20 years, the thing to avoid is using thread rod and cutting the ends, you can treat them but it just won't last. Coach bolts can quite often be harvested from packing crates, I have loads from hospital bed crates

Aidan

 

[Aled Dafis]

I actually used mine to bolt together railway sleepers to hold back some earth and to fix fencing poles to the sleepers etc.

FWIW i went out and bought a swing/slide combo for the little one from argos. It was on offer, so I couldn't buy the materials and slide for what I paid - the slide alone was around £80 - £100


Aled

 

[JanneKi]

If the bolts are zinc plated, make sure they are hot dipped into zinc. Electro-coated zinc is not worth it, it will not last - especially if the wood is pressure treated. They are not allowed to to use poisons they used to use, so now they have huge amounts of salt and copper in the pressure treatment agent - which will rost off all normal metal in a few years.

A4 stainless would be best, but pricey. Otherwise hot dipped so that they have a really heavy layer of zinc (there is some sort of standard for that).

 

[gsaps]

thanks again for the help folks, i'll let you know how it goes

grant