Sandbox for Addies Birthday!! (Could also be a raised bed garden!!)

Addie loves to dig in the dirt so we figured she would adore a sandbox! We looked around and realized it would be much much cheaper just to build it ourselves instead of buying a kit or getting a plastic sandbox.


Supplies:

• Cedar Fence panels
• Sand
• Outdoor Decking Screws (1 5/8")
• Galvanized Corner brackets
• Chop Saw
• Screw driver

We got cedar fence posts instead of cedar boards and it was about half the cost! We decided to stack the posts 2 high instead of just 1 so it would be a little higher and all the sand wouldnt get thrown right out of the sandbox. We also decided to buy a few extra posts so we could do some decorative corner pieces.

Step 1: Cut all the posts to the size you want your sandbox. Henry loves helping Daddy! And he was really excited to help build Addies birthday present!

Step 2: Line up your posts with the inside brackets.

Step 3: Connect all your posts

Step 4: Lay down landscape fabric under your frame. The landscape fabric will allow proper drainage (which is important) and will help prevent weeds and bugs from coming into the sandbox. 

Step 5: Once all your bottom 4 posts are level and screwed into the decorative corner pieces using the corner brackets, you are ready to stack the second level on (if you choose to do a second level...otherwise you are done!)

Step 6: Screw in all the second level posts, making sure the tops and sides are all flush and even!

Step 7: We took a look at it at this point and decided that since it was so big (and since we had extra pieces of cedar) that we would go ahead and put more braces in the center of the side walls. So we measured halfway and screwed in some center braces!!

Step 8: Fill it with sand!! We drastically underestimated the amount of sand we would need! We bought 10 - 50lb bags of sand (so 500lbs) and it barely filled it 1/4th of the way! We didnt want it full to the top (to help keep sand in the sandbox and not thrown all over) but we were suprised at how low it was! Our sandbox is 6'x6' square and about 11" tall...so to fill this thing to the top we would need about a ton of dirt...ya and thats not gonna happen!! We might buy 10-15 more bags later, but the kids sure to love it just like this!! (If you are using this method for a raised bed garden, you will probably need at least a half ton of compost...if not more). We are really happy with the sandbox and are considering doing something like this for the garden in the front yard.

Cost Breakdown:

10 Cedar fence panels at $3.50 each - $35.00 + tax (you can use treated lumber as well, but the cedar will last longer and look nicer, and be void of chemicals...you can also save money by making a smaller sandbox or not making it as tall)

10 bags of 50lb sand (500lbs) at $3.00 each - $30.00 + tax (you could get different sand, but we didnt want to run the risk of bringing bugs into our yard so we got the sifted bagged sand)

4 galvanized corner brackets at $1 each - $4 + tax

Outdoor deck screws (we had enough that we didnt have to buy these)

Landscape Fabric (we had some extra and didnt have to buy any, but you can get a small roll for a couple dollars)

Total - $69.00 + tax (you can do this cheaper as well if you have spare wood around or if you make it smaller and only do 1 level instead of 2). This is easily customizable!!