Restoring wood that's been outside?

[Robb]

Not my area of expertise, by any means. :D

I scored, for nothing but four hours of my own labor on the hottest day of the year, a fantastic playset for my daughter -- swings, climbing wall, rope ladder, that sort of thing. I spent a long time taking it apart veeeery carefully, and it's solid work. If I had to guess, it wasn't used much.

But it did sit out in the weather for four years. I'm thinking of sanding the wood bits to take a few of the splinters away, then staining it? I dunno, how do I protect the old wood a little better? Some kind of wood deck product? :shrug:

[Wash. state Desk Jet]

1. What kind of wood is it Rob ?

Has it been treated ? Is it ceder ? There is benite, a product for treating out door wood. you can get it at home depot. in a qt. or gallon can. Stain is OK. But is it natural wood and is there good reasoning for that if it is?Natural meaning non chemical treated wood. Ground contact wood fr example is treated.benite is the brush on treatment.
Ground contact wood is pressure treated. Otherwise the lumber is soaked in the stuff for a period in time.Stain is good ,just so long as the kids don't eat it !

Oh, if you stain it, pressure wash it first ! Beats sanding !

[Warpy]

2. While I agree in theory that pressure washing beats sanding

this is a swing set and nobody wants to spend his evenings tweezing splinters out of frightened and screaming children, so some sanding will have to be done in the areas the kids will contact.

I would also consult one of the old guys in the paint department (if your stores have hired the old guys back like mine have) about which stain is the least toxic to be around kids. You don't want any that are full of arsenic, for instance.

[Whoa_Nelly]

4. It's not the stains that contain arsenic

It's the pressure treated wood, of which many 4"-by post design wood playsets are made.

More info here:
http://www.ehow.com/how_2258001_buy-used-swing-set.html

[Warpy]

5. There are also stains that do, or there were

I'm going back 30 years to when I was building a garden shed and couldn't afford pressure treated lumber for the deck and had to use a stain that purportedly discouraged vermin. It was very high in arsenic.

I have no idea if it worked. I moved away 25 years ago and it's somebody else's problem if it didn't.

The point is that yes, they do make the stuff.

[Paper Roses]

3. I'd pressure wash the set, then use a sander to smooth out the splinters

There are some non-toxic wood preservatives that would be good to use after you fix the surface. The pressure washer will clean the thing up,. My daughter had a set for her kids. Son-in-law pressure washed it and it looked much better. It had darkened unevenly after several years outside. The wood was in great shape, just a little grubby looking. The wood must be very dry to sand. Belt sander would make quick(er) work of it.

If you sand, Use a mask. No telling what someone, even the manufacturer used for a preservative before.

Some of those sets cost thousands of dollars. especially those with climbing walls. The set my grandkids had came with the house when they bought it. It even had a little tent on top. Worth the effort to spruce it up.

[Robb]

6. Thanks for all the advice! The good news is I haven't even TOUCHED the wood yet.

I'm still trying to prep the little piece of earth I want to set the thing up on. I spent all day on a Kubota digging a shallow pit I plan to box in and fill with wood chips.

Man, tractors are the best. I'm so freakin' rusty it's not even funny, anyone worth their salt would've been done in an hour. I've got one hell of a farmer's tan, but at least I got it sitting on a tractor. :D

I'll let you all know how the pressure washing and sanding goes. :hi:

[Robb]

7. Some pics:

Thanks again for the advice, all. :hi:

Before -- rickety, splintery, and in someone else's yard:




After -- completely disassembled, reassembled, power-washed, sanded, sanded again and stained:




Only things replaced: two lag bolts I lost in the process (just two!) and new rope (because I got stain on the old one, mostly). :D

[Paper Roses]

8. Fantastic job. Good for you and great for the kids.

They will have such a wonderful time playing on the set and when they outgrow it, you will be able to sell it.

[Wash. state Desk Jet]

9. Labor of love !

Looks great. !