A wooden tree swing is a great addition to any play space. It can also encourage children to spend more time playing outside, and outdoor activity provides many benefits. Hang a tire from a branch, and let your kids experience the sensation of flight at home. When it gets hot, really hot, a kid’s only choice of outside play without water is to take to a swing. A gentle push rewards your child with a cooling breeze and a hypnotic rhythmic sway. How relaxing! To sway, spin, and fly through the air — that’s what swings are good for. The tire swing is a classic, and hanging it from a tree brings the fun to your own backyard.
Safety first
The first step is determining whether you have a suitable branch to use. Strong branches are thick and robust, come out of the tree trunk at a wide angle (closer to parallel than up and down) and on strong trees like oaks. Our personal favorite tree is an ancient crabapple, despite the messy fruit and rusty leaves that begin to fall in June. Beyond these general statements, branch approval is really a judgment call. A toddler swing is a very light load and could be hung from a smaller, seven-foot high branch. The bigger the kids, the bigger branch you need to carry the load. Bigger kids also get more excitement from the longer sway of a swing on a higher branch. You’ll want to do “the Dad test” no matter what. You know the one: where Dad risks his life, and the tree’s limb, and puts his weight on the swing before allowing the kids to play. Finish every swing installation with an adult test to put more weight on the swing than you expect it to normally carry.
A hardwood, such as oak, sugar maple, or ash, will safely hold a swing on a branch that’s eight or more inches in diameter; the farther out you hang your swing, the thicker the branch should also be. The branch should be at least nine feet high, for a graceful swing, and form an L, not a V, as it leaves the trunk. And it must be long enough to hang the swing so that there’s at least six feet of open space in every direction.
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Next, get a tire. One from a light truck, such as a pickup or SUV, is best. You can get a cast-off from an auto shop; avoid steel-belted tires, so you won’t have to worry about the metal working its way through the surface.
Safety check:
- Check the weight load rating on all supplies used
- Avoid using trees that are said to be weak wooded
- Install over soft landing zone
- Rope swings need to be inspected regularly to make sure they are safe to use. Common problems include excessive wear on chain if metal is rubbing on metal. Usually this is because the wrong swing hardware was used for installation.
- Rope will deteriorate due to UV and moisture exposure, and should be replaced as necessary. Better ropes should be safe to use for over 5 years even when left outside all year long. Or for a longer lasting solution, use cables or zinc plated chain.
- If hardware such as throughbolts or j-lags are used to attach a rope swing to a tree branch, then the hardware should be replaced when the tree completely grows around it. You don’t want the movement of rope to be restricted by tree tissues because either the tree or the rope will lose the battle.
- If a knot is used to wrap around a tree branch or a beam of the tree house, then you have to watch the areas of connection. Avoid tree abrasion or rope abrasion and change the attachment if necessary to keep the tree healthy and the rope safe. Also beware that the tree does not grow around the rope (or any other material you use), as it could girdle the tree.
TA-DA!
