Fire pit gazebo swingset

Finished project! Looking forward to spending evenings by the fire.

The hexagon

We measured out a hexagon and marked where all the posts would be.

A hole

We were going to be setting 10 foot 6x6 treated posts, so had to get down a good three feet of rocky hell.

Ground zero

Our soil is extremely rocky, as in you can't dig anywhere without running into baseball size rocks. Or bigger. Much bigger.

Klaus imagines the bones he could bury in there.

Surface prep = hard work

Prepping the site by removing sod, roots and rocks took a fair bit of time.

The beast

My son encountered what we thought was just another rock in hole #5. Turned out to be a 200lb behemoth that we ended up pulling out of the hole with a truck. Wrecked our hole so I had to use a form for the that one.

Ready for posts

Holes finally dug, it was time to put in some posts. We ended up using around 16 bags of quickset concrete.

It begins

These are 10 foot treated 6x6. I'm not exactly sure how much they weight but they are *very* heavy and awkward to position.

Level up

We made sure each post was plumb and level (as best we could) before setting them with concrete

Progress

Coming along.

Supervisor

Time for precision cutting

Used a chainsaw for the top pieces, which were also 6x6 treated. We measured between each base post and used 2x6's to determine the angle needed for each top 6x6.

A lagging we will go

Lagging

Used large lag screws to secure the top braces into the posts.

Inside brace frame

Once the main top 6x6 supports were up, we angle cut and screwed in treated 2x6's inside the hexagon for additional stability.

Looking solid.

Main structure done

Happy to see it kinda looks like we hoped it should!

Level up again

The back area was a bit lower than the front so I brought in some filler soil to bring it up a bit.

No weeds

Put down Preen pellets and then weed guard to (hopefully) keep the weeds and grass out.

Almost ready for finishing

Gravel and sand

We brought in 3/8 pea gravel for the main area and then put sand and pavers down for the fire pit base.

The pit!

Finished fire it and base.

Structure and pit done!

Swing assembly

We ordered 3 cedar swings that required some, uh, assembly.

Eye bolts

Put in some big ass eye bolts to hang and keep things secure for the swings.

The hanging

This was the quick and fun part.

3 up

Done!