Wooden Swing Sets

We have a wooden set that we bought in 2000 that still looks new. Yes, a lot of wooden sets do look pretty bad if they are not kept up very well. It does take some effort to keep them nice.

We just clean ours well and we have restained it a couple of times when we were staining out deck.

Ours is a Woodlawn set, great quality (NOT CHEAP). You get what you pay for!!

Most of our neighbors have custom sets. It is obvious who bought the cheap ones and who didn't.

Good luck

2 moms found this helpful

If you decide to go with a wooden set, you could restain it each year, to keep it looking nice...they have that red stain at Home Depot and Lowes. Also, Costco has the best return policy around!!!For the lifetime of the product, you can get a refund if you are unsatisfied...in other words, if the wood starts to rot after 2 years, you can return it for a full refund. (my cousing did this, with ease, a few years back.)

We bought ours from a popular home improvement store (don't want to mention their name since I am not going to give it a good review but if you want to know which one, send me an email and I'll tell you). We paid for them to come out and put it together because we heard how hard it is. Well, after two and a half days, they finally finished! It looked HORRIBLE!!! The composite wood was split everywhere and there were splits all around the screws as well. We called and complained and, after inspecting our swing set, the store determined it indeed was unsafe. They tore the whole thing down and started over the next week. Once they completed that install (took one and a half days this time), things looked pretty good except there was two different color stains....the two forts were two different stain colors! They gave us $200 back because the difference in the stains was drastic. Then, a week later, after my six and three year old had swung on it only a few times, the main beam for the swings cracked right in half!!!

With install and all, we spent abou $2500 for the set. I would say you would be much safer to go with one of the larger companies and I even think real wood would probably hold up better! Best wishes and I hope you have a better time of it than we did (or atleast I hope the companies that specialize in swingsets would have a better quality product)!!!

I think you should rethink getting real wood. I bought a Rainbow wood playset when my son was four and paid extra to have the wood specially treated. When I sold it six years later, it still looked great (except for the part the dog chewed).

Hi S.,

You are going to think I'm crazy when I tell you to check out Walmart on-line. They have some awesome swing sets for cheap!

Good Luck!

C. Roeschen
The Trinity Group
Keller Williams
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____@____.com
www.TheTrinityGroup.org

We just got a used Rainbow off of Craigs list. We powerwashed and restained it and it looks great! I would consider getting a wood one 2nd hand, but only from a quality maker - Rainbow or Backyard Adventures. They both use good woods that hold up. I can swing on this set and it does not budge. I did a lot of research and i think the impression you are getting about the wood sets is probably from a lesser quality maker that uses cheaper woods. If you buy used and restain - use a quality stain like Ready Seal. We have used that brand on our fence and now swing set and are really very impressed with it.

Also - if you buy a used Rainbow you can hire the Rainbow folks to reassemble it for you for around $350. It sounds like a lot but best deal ever! they set ours up in an hour.

Good luck!

I have never seen one of these, but they look really nice... Good luck in finding what you want.
www.cedarworks.com

You will want the pressure treated wood. It's the kind that last forever and its a little more expensive but worth it in the long run. That's what we used and it's best for weather purposes. Hope this helps.

We did a real wood one. We got a Backyard Adventures set up from the Wooden Swing Company out by the Galleria. It is wonderful. And, after 3 years it still looks really nice. My husband just resealed it (easy) for the first time and it totally perked up again (and I didn't think it looked bad before that. Sorry, this is not exactly on point but if you don't find the composite stuff, know that the wood sets are still a good option if you get a good one to begin with.

We bought our wooden swingset/fort combo at Sams a couple years ago and it is still going great, looks good too, and we haven't even stained it (but probably will this summer).

Beware, it is a complete PAIN to put together though (it took my husband and father-in-law about a week working several hours a day for the one we got, b/c the wood planks were soooo poorly marked (w/little stickers that all came off!)! Thus, my advice: spend the extra couple hundered dollars to have them come out and put it together for you!!! It is WELL worth the cost!!

I don't really know the answer to your question. I will tell you that ours is real wood. We were told when we bought it that we should stain it right away and then restain it every other year. It is 4 years old and still looks great! Good luck with your decision!
A.