How to Install Tube Slide in Home

If you are like me and you have found this post its because you have been looking for the best place to buy and find a Spiral Tube slide for your home or deck.  This post will show you how to install tube slide in home and give you an idea of what it could look like, but more importantly it will show you where I bought the tube slide.  I shared a video of my kids reaction to seeing the surprise that I made for them this past weekend and it got shared a ton of time and inspired many people to want something fun like this for their kids.  The thing that I didn’t realize is how much exercise they would get running up the stairs to play on this slide in the home all day and that is pretty awesome.  I took me about 6 months from when I had the idea and vision to install a tube slide in our home until the time that it was officially installed.  We finally built it with a playhouse this past weekend. The reason it took me 6 months is because I couldn’t find an affordable 9ft deck tube slide for the life of me.  They were averaging around $6,000 to $9,000 which was ridiculous to me.  I finally found a place called Backyard City online and the slide was $879 for a 7 ft deck tube slide and then you can add 1ft add-on sections up to 3 of them for a 8ft, 9ft or 10 ft deck. I purchased the 7 ft tube slide and added the 2 extra sections to my cart to make it a 9 ft deck slide. The extra 2 sections costs $570 and the shipping was $120 for Western States.   I was taking a chance because I couldn’t see a photo of what the tube looked like at a 9ft deck height and so my hopes is that this post will help you see that ( at least for a 9 ft deck) and what we did in order to make sure that it was mounted strong and so it will last a long time.

Once I placed my order the package took about one month to arrive and it came on a pallet in about a a 6 ft square box that was about 4 feet tall.  We planned a night and full-day with my friend Chuck who is a builder ( he designed the entire mount and playhouse) and my good friend Josh so we could work together and have somebody with experience to build the playhouse and mount.

Before picture of the loft

Next we cut out the four posts to fit the slide.
Next we built a strong reinforced “slide entrance” which is bolted to the floor with 6 inch Lag bolts.  This is to ensure that there is no downward or outward pressure agains the loft railing.  We made sure to find in the floor the ceiling joists to have a secure and solid base to mount the slide against!

We used a cheaper siding from Home Depot for our playhouse wall.  We painted these 3 sheets we purchased the night before as well as applied a stain to the trim that we will be showing you next for the windows and the door of the playhouse. 

While Chuck built the side walls with 2×4’s, Josh and I spent time working on putting the slide sections together.  The one thing that I want you to know if you pick this slide from this company because it is far less expensive we had to drill new bolt holes on most sections because they were not signing up.  It wasn’t that big of a deal and the final product looks really good despite that small extra trouble. 

Because we mounted the 9 ft deck slide above the 9ft deck to make sure it was STRONG and mounted to our “slide entrance” we had to add a little height to the bottom of the slide to secure it to the ground.  We used wood that we had and notched it into the bottom of the slide.  We built it about 2″ higher than we needed to and pressed the slide up higher so that it is really solid and has no room to slide around at the base.  The slide DOES have a cutout in the bottom that is 3″.  We than carpeted the base mount so that it looks nice. 

We have not yet put sheetrock on the inside of the playhouse and where the slide mounts to our “slide entrance” but we did do some awesome trim work on the entrance as well as add a 2X4 that is carpeted for a handle and grip to launch yourself down the slide.  We also carpeted the place where the kids or adults like me sit to enter into the slide. 

The final work to make the slide and and playhouse look nice was to add a “reveal” trim to the doors, window, sides, and top side of the playhouse.  We originally wanted to build a wall on the backside where the stair case was but decided it would feel bigger and more open with out a wall.

I’m just one of those guys who wants to have the most fun with this short amount of time in this world and inspire others to do the same with their lives.  I aspire to be a hero and great example to my children and so excited to help others do the same.  I will show you the before after picture side by side along with the FUN video of my kids first reaction to seeing this slide and a short clip of my wife Gabby ( mother of 5) enjoying life and the slide at the same time.  If this post helps you pin some pictures to your Pinterest and share with your friends!