An outdoor slide means hours of enjoyment for children. When you build a DIY slide, the kids and their friends can entertain themselves. It’s a simple project that can be completed in just a few days for less than $500.
How You’ll Make Your DIY Slide
Outdoor slides take a beating from rain, sun, snow, and of course, from all of that play. Most do-it-yourselfers who build outdoor slides generally find it easiest and safest for the kids to purchase a plastic slide, then build a structure to support it.
Plastic slides alone start at about $130. The DIY slide structure is 16 square feet, measuring 4-foot by 4-foot. Plastic slides mount at 5 feet high, so the deck of the slide structure too will be 5 feet high. This is high enough that you’ll need to build balusters and hand railings to keep everyone safe.
Making an Indoor Slide on Stairs
For added fun, you may want an indoor slide, as well. If you have a staircase, you have an indoor slide waiting to be created. All it takes is a sheet of 3/4-inch melamine-faced MDF board, foam pipe insulation, and optional mending plates.
How to Make an Indoor DIY Slide
- With a table saw or circular saw, cut the MDF lengthwise to 18 inches wide.
- For a slide longer than 8-feet, cut additional 18-inch sheets.
- Attach the sheets end-to-end with mending plates. Screw the mending plates in place from below.
- Use waste material from the MDF sheet to cut fillers for the small triangle sections created by the stair treads and risers and the slide.
- Attach the stair fillers to the slide from the inside with L-shaped metal corner braces.
- Separate the pipe insulation on the perforation. Fit it over the edge of the slide. Screw it into place from the side.
Source: The Spruce
