Shallow Thinker

A little over a year ago, I built a sandbox.  The task seems simple enough, but it was still noteworthy.  Everything I read told me that treated wood was a bad idea.  The theory is that if you use untreated wood, it’s OK because it will take longer for the wood to rot than what the life of the sandbox would be with little ones, anyhow.  It sounded good to me.  And, I read it on the internet, so it must be true.  Right?

Apparently, the writers of these articles did not live in the south where termites abound.  (I’ll bet that you know where this story is going, don’t you?)  While I had some free time last weekend, Kelley’s dad and I picked up a load of sand to refresh the sand in the current sandbox.  I mentioned that I might rebuild the sandbox (because I need some extra projects to do) but Kelley told me that the old one was perfectly fine.  So, we emptied the sand…and noticed some extreme wood decay in some places.

Yes, I filled it up more later. There's no sense in over-building a sandbox if you can't over fill it.

I picked at the spots and magically, termites appeared.  Kelley made an executive decision that a new sandbox would be necessary.  (Projects are only fun if they’re my idea.  This one now transformed from “fun project” to “arduous task.”)

So, here’s attempt #2 at a sandbox.  This time, I used decking boards for the sides and a few treated pieces to help it hold the shape.  Of course, while I built the box, the sand just sat in the back of the truck.  So, naturally, the girls enjoyed the truck sandbox more than they’ve ever enjoyed sand before.  In fact, when I started filling up the new sandbox, Butterfly sighed, “Oh daddy, maybe we can just play in the truck from now on.”  It’s good to know that my efforts are appreciated.