Right I've convinced the wife to let me have a go at building us a swing seat. Looking at this sort of styling:
http://www.wyevale.co.uk/Rowlinson-Dart ... lt,pd.html
but a three sided slightly more complete, sturdy structure like this:
http://www.cedarlakepatiofurniture.com/product/PO72s
To go on grass backed up against a retaining wall, I reckon about 1.8m deep by about 2.4m between the posts, posts just fixed on metposts into the grass on the basis that it should be sturdy and heavy enough already with all the cross bracing.
Main question at the moment is what kind of wood. I was thinking of just doing pressure treated pine, 4x4 posts, 2x4 for cross beams and 2x6s to support the swing.
But I'm wondering if doing it in hardwood might be better for longevity and a reduction in maintenance (as opposed to a painted/stained pine).
What sort of extra cost is it going to be for oak/iroko/red cedar (or an other suggestions?)? i.e. are we talking twice as much? three times? etc.
Also if I was going for a hardwood could I cut the sizing of the wood (say 3x3 posts and 1.5x3 cross), and what sort of impact is that on price? And what do I specify? i.e. 4x4 pressure treated is just rough sawn isn't it? So for this sort of thing would it be kiln dried? rough sawn or PAR etc.?
Thanks for any advice.
http://www.wyevale.co.uk/Rowlinson-Dart ... lt,pd.html
but a three sided slightly more complete, sturdy structure like this:
http://www.cedarlakepatiofurniture.com/product/PO72s
To go on grass backed up against a retaining wall, I reckon about 1.8m deep by about 2.4m between the posts, posts just fixed on metposts into the grass on the basis that it should be sturdy and heavy enough already with all the cross bracing.
Main question at the moment is what kind of wood. I was thinking of just doing pressure treated pine, 4x4 posts, 2x4 for cross beams and 2x6s to support the swing.
But I'm wondering if doing it in hardwood might be better for longevity and a reduction in maintenance (as opposed to a painted/stained pine).
What sort of extra cost is it going to be for oak/iroko/red cedar (or an other suggestions?)? i.e. are we talking twice as much? three times? etc.
Also if I was going for a hardwood could I cut the sizing of the wood (say 3x3 posts and 1.5x3 cross), and what sort of impact is that on price? And what do I specify? i.e. 4x4 pressure treated is just rough sawn isn't it? So for this sort of thing would it be kiln dried? rough sawn or PAR etc.?
Thanks for any advice.
