Jan

31

Building a Child Safe Backyard Deck

Filed Under Patios and Decks | Comments Off

Decks are a popular place for the family to hang out in the nice weather so you want to ensure that it is a safe place for baby and/or toddler too.

Making a deck child safe is an easy thing to do to make it fun area for everyone.  It just takes a little bit of common sense in the planning stage to have these needed safety measure in place.

Even if your deck is not a high one, a rail is a good safety measure to take. An unnecessary fall can be prevented this way. Also a child safety gate will be required if there are stairs built to and from your deck.  The stairs should be able to have a safety gate fit at them to prevent sudden falls down the stairs. Accidents happen too fast if you’re not prepared for them.

  Summertime brings walking barefoot outside and you want to avoid getting splinters in little feet that are running and playing on your deck. This is why you should always look for building materials that are smooth and rounded.  Once the deck is built, inspections should be performed once in a while to ensure that there is no splintering occuring. If this happens, the area will need to be sanded down.

  Besides wearing sunblock, a child needs to be protected from the harmful rays of the sun in other ways especially if they’re playing on a deck that is greatly exposed to the hot sun. If there is not a lot of shade over your deck, then a good idea is to build a canopy or overhang.

Try to think like your child would. Does he/she liket to climb? Squeeze through little open spaces?  Put this thought into your plan to have no temptations for climbing things and squeezing through wide slats on your railing.  Make the slats very narrow to avoid any of these ideas getting in to their little heads.

Your deck is there for you and your whole family to enjoy so a lot of thought has to be put into the planning as to how to keep everyone, especially your little ones safe. Thinking ahead before you build can help you avoid any unnecessary accidents down the road.  Sometimes it’s good to hire a professional deck builder.