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We live in a neighborhood at the top of a hill in Connecticut and are surrounded by trees. Our lot is about 1 acre and most of the trees are 40 ft high (a guess) hemlocks - more of them than I can count.
We have two boys (4yo and 6 yo) and they really like swinging so I thought why not build a "swingset" in the backyard by running a beam between two of the trees supported by lag bolts and hanging the swings from that. It would take up no yard space, be cheaper, easier (I think), and act as a beginning point for the tree fort I have been dying to build them.
Have any of you tried something like that before, or generally got some advice. I can figure out how to know what type of structure I need to support a static load but I'm not sure what type of trouble I me be getting myself into with the dynamic load a boy swinging (actually boys) will create. Swingsets seem pretty simple but they do always have the angled support posts that probably support the stress from the horizontal forces of swinging. I am concerned that swinging could pull the lag bolt right out of the tree and I wasn't sure if drilling a hole fully though the trees (10" diameter) and putting a support on the other side was a good idea or not since the trees are still growing. Also, we do have high winds from time to time (but not often) so there could be some relative motion between the trunks.
Thanks,
Mark
We have two boys (4yo and 6 yo) and they really like swinging so I thought why not build a "swingset" in the backyard by running a beam between two of the trees supported by lag bolts and hanging the swings from that. It would take up no yard space, be cheaper, easier (I think), and act as a beginning point for the tree fort I have been dying to build them.
Have any of you tried something like that before, or generally got some advice. I can figure out how to know what type of structure I need to support a static load but I'm not sure what type of trouble I me be getting myself into with the dynamic load a boy swinging (actually boys) will create. Swingsets seem pretty simple but they do always have the angled support posts that probably support the stress from the horizontal forces of swinging. I am concerned that swinging could pull the lag bolt right out of the tree and I wasn't sure if drilling a hole fully though the trees (10" diameter) and putting a support on the other side was a good idea or not since the trees are still growing. Also, we do have high winds from time to time (but not often) so there could be some relative motion between the trunks.
Thanks,
Mark