People ask why KidZplay has specialised in steel jungle gyms rather than using other materials such as wood or plastic. Good question!
There are really 4 main reasons:
Firstly, from safety point of view – the steel gyms are the perfect grip size for little hands. Steel does not crack in our harsh sun or splinter over time;
Secondly, they can be painted in bright, enticing colours (that do not fade with time) – perfect to entice children into your playground wonderland (away from that TV)…
Thirdly, they are low maintenance – no sanding but just that occasional lick of paint required and easy to wash down;
Fourthly, they can be moved around easily (and hence the ability to rent them out). No implanting in the ground is required to hold them up.
You may then ask… do steel jungle gyms get too hot?
This is often a concern…and yes, on our very hot January days, caution is needed in playing on them at midday as would it be with any outside equipment in our beautiful, sunny South Africa.
The joy of the equipment is that it can be moved to shady areas of your garden in summer and sunny areas in winter. The paint on the gyms also reduces the heat absorption.
We have purposely steered away from steel slides as the paint is literally sanded off. Sometimes slides are just TOO tempting when it is hot and thus we make use of fibreglass slides which do not retain heat as much as the steel.
And another question… do steel jungle gyms rust?
Our friendly galvanising company provide a 20 year guarantee against rust, so if you buy, this guarantee comes with your gym. Unfortunately the only parts we cannot guarantee are the chain and links since they do not come from our amazing galvanising company – but these can be easily replaced by your local hardware store. With rentals, this is not an issue as KidZplay will replace any rusty chain.
Some areas in the country where it is very dry do not have rust issues so we do provide the option of buying non-galvanised gyms – which work out to be about 30% cheaper. If you live anywhere near the coast or where is damp, PLEASE have the galvanising done – it is worth it in the long run.
All rental gyms are galvanised so rust is not an issue there.
And may I then pose the final question regarding using steel to make our gyms? Are they then bolted to the ground?
The gyms are designed to be able to sit on top of the ground so that they are moveable. The beauty of this is that you can keep having a fresh playground by just changing where you put the equipment. Even just moving it 90 degrees results in a whole different perspective – and new adventures! Ask your gardener or gardening service to move the gym to shade in summer and sun in winter.
Let me put your mind at rest. Due to the way in which the equipment is designed, there is no risk of it falling over.
The exceptions to the above are where a client has asked us to bolt gyms down for security purposes and we are happy to do this on request. Also, a couple of the items which are sale equipment only (e.g. the higher swings, round-abouts, implanted see-saw) have to be installed but this is clearly marked on our website.
