How to secure cubby house on retaining wall?

[Merl1111]

 hi all! 

I would love to remove the plants in my backyard retaining wall and put a cubby house with slide and stairs/ladder.

What would be the best way to secure the cubby house so it doesn’t move/fall over and keep the wood as dry as possible?

[JacobZ]

Hi @Merl1111,

Thank you for your question and welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community, it is fantastic to have you with us.

I just want to ask a few questions to confirm we are on the same page.

Your plan is to remove the plants in the raised garden area and install a cubby house at that elevated level?

Are you planning on installing a prepackaged cubby house such as this Swing Slide Climb Cuckoo Cubby House? Or building your own from components such as this Swing Slide Climb 2.2m Blue Slide and H3 framing?

Either way, you would need to anchor the cubby house to the ground in some way and I don't feel attaching it to the retaining wall will be sufficient. 

My suggestion would be to install 4 concrete piers, one for each corner of the cubby house. Using 2 to 3 bags of rapid set concrete per pier, bolt the cubby house to the piers with heavy gauge galvanised angle brackets and Ramset 10 x 75mm Galvanised DynaBolt Hex Nut Bolts.

This may seem overkill, but in any situation where a child's safety is relevant, overengineering is always my policy. 

I'm happy to assist further and suggest other options if you have more detail you can provide.

Jacob