Every summer when the beach beckons, most of us head out with visions of building the most enchanted, magnificent sand castle in all the land.
A castle with turrets, spiral stairs, princess balconies and owl aviaries. A corner office for Hagrid, a library for Hermione.
But five minutes into it, we learn why most people settle for some wilted thing made out of plastic cups and a couple of rocks.
The truth is, building a sand castle can turn into a failed endeavor if you don't know a few key tricks. That's why we asked Bert Adams, a professional sand castle consultant and founder of Sand In The City, an organization that teaches people how to make sturdy, professional-looking sand castles on their own, for insider tips. Here's what he said:
Adams forgoes the traditional pail and shovel for bigger and more basic tools such as a paint bucket, cylinders with both ends cut off of various sizes for things like pillars and watchtowers, and something small to use for carving sand away to make windows, stairs and merlons (the squared top of walls).
The first thing Adams does is check the tide tables. "You have to look at the tides if you're going to be at an ocean beach because you don't really want to build something as the tide's coming in, unless you only plan to be there a short amount of time," he tells HuffPost. "If the tide's coming in at you, you're not going to have much time to build something."
Then he finds the best sand on the beach with which to work. "Good sand is small, fine-grained sand without a lot of other stuff in it," he says.
There are several ways to make your castle, but as an ingredient, water is just as important as the sand.
Here's Adams's technique: Grab a 5-gallon bucket (with the bottom cut off), fill it with 3 inches of sand and enough water to cover the sand. "This is very important; most people don't use enough water," he says. Stick your hand in and swirl the sand around in a big circle to find unwanted sticks or rocks. Then, repeat the steps, but add three inches of water first and then sand, until the bucket is full. Remove the bucket.
Adams demonstrates how to do it in this video, including how to make a castle base with a spire, balconies and a spiral staircase.
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