Rainbow Play Systems Swingset Restoration Help

[duwem]

Bought this older play system today. All the structural beams are rock solid but as we took it apart we found some of the boards sitting on the ground, the floors and roof panels are rotten.

I know there is a lifetime warranty on the wood but I'm not the original owner.

Should I try to source Redwood or whatever they are made of for the parts that need replacement or just go with pressure treated wood. Will I have issues with the stain not matching (looking for the 25' paint job here, not perfection)

And it's well overdue on stain, should pressure wash it? I have access to both hot and cold machines. I think the hot is around 1000psi the colds are higher but have different angle tips. It's about 14 years old.

Was hoping to just reassemble and deal with the finish next year but it will be way easier to do all the pieces on sawhorses now that it's disassemble. Bought a project for sure. But when you look what these things go for new I guess I can afford some lumber and elbow grease.

 

[letz4wheel]

About the best I can help you with is that they are usually made of Douglas Fir lumber.

 

[jay8s]

I did the same thing last year. I sanded the whole thing down then applied a stain. I used the deck restore stuff on the wear areas. I did not have to replace anything yet. I will have to in the near future, and will be using Douglas Fir to correct it.

 

[wasfuzz]

I have dealt with Rainbow Play Systems - they were super to deal with, give them a call. I called Office in Brookings, SD. Helping resolve an issue with a used set for a local non profit daycare center. Whats the worst that can happen? - they say "no" .

 

[duwem]

Here are some details on the type of wood.

http://www.123playground.com/faq.htm

A. Rainbow Play Systems uses 100% natural redwood and Western red cedar, on their premium playgrounds. For 2008 Rainbow has also incorporated Cunninghamia lumber from China and PEL (Plastic Encapsulated Lumber) from North America into the Sunshine Family Playground product lines, which include The Fiesta Box Kit Series, The Carnival Series, The Sunshine Castle Series and The Sunshine Clubhouse Series. These woods are naturally more insect and decay resistant and tend to split, check, splinter and warp less than other commonly used woods.


Another source.

UNSHINE
Wood: Douglas fir, red cedar and redwood (North American) or 100% redwood

 

[drmarkr]

I did the same thing last year. I sanded the whole thing down then applied a stain. I used the deck restore stuff on the wear areas. I did not have to replace anything yet. I will have to in the near future, and will be using Douglas Fir to correct it.

Did exactly this on one about 10 yrs ago as well...sans the deck restore.

Touched up the wear area's with the stain over the next few years, and then sold it for more than I paid for it originally when the kiddo outgrew playing on it.

 

[Mr_P]

I did the same as you drmarkr a couple of years ago, but then had to move, and didn't want to take apart the set, ship it, and have to re-assemble it at my next house, so I sold it and made some money off of it too.


Rainbow playgrounds are pretty tough, and should outlive your kids' childhood.

I'm on a second set now for my girls. This one came with the house. This past spring, we feathered sanded it and added a new coat of barn-red from Lowe's. I think it was like $9.99/gallon. It's holding up quite well. Here are some before/after shots.

 

[duwem]

Thoughts on pressure washing before sanding and stain?

 

[Zeke]

Thoughts on pressure washing before sanding and stain?

Don't. It will tear up the wood and leave it fuzzy not to mention overly wet. Use a solution of oxalic acid and a small amount of Dawn in a bucket of water and scrub with a brush. Rinse off well, towel dry and let air dry thoroughly. Sand and stain with a dye type of penetrating stain. Finish with something more that penetrates rather than a polyurethane which eventually will peel.

Penofin makes one hell of nice finish.

 

[duwem]

Got the wood to rebuild the base. Ordered some Cedar 2x10's for the outside perimeter, and running treated 4x4 on the ground the full base, cut the bottom 3.5" rotten ends off the original poles and they will set on the 4x4s.

 

[tomshep]

Rainbow has a great product, and I bought a system years ago. That is a nice unit with an optional 4 position swing beam, wood rood and the lower deck/walls.

Their Lifetime Warranty is no longer LIFETIME. It has a time limit of 10 years to the original purchaser. I had the same rot at the base of mine and called after 11 years and was denied. They also required me to send them my original purchase paperwork before they would even talk to me. Hope your local dealer is more understanding.

Tom

 

[Lastmunt]

Oxalic acid to clean and brighten it as mentioned above. Behr all in one wood cleaner at home depot has oxalic in it. Pressuretek.com is what I use to get it in powder form and mix it myself.

 

[duwem]

Spent a good part of yesterday scrubbing and washing with the acillic acid wash. Worked great. Going to see what I can find for stain today and hopefully get most of it done. Still need a new floor and roof but I can do that after the structure is up.



(Bottom boards are getting replace)

 

[wesst]

I refinished mine in a similar fashion as mentioned. I am effort to prevent ground contact rot in the future, I installed 6"x6" pressure treated feet that can be replaced as needed, or when needed. Once it was refinished, you ready could not tell the difference in materials from 10 feet away. Just a thought

 

[duwem]

Still have the upper archs and railings to clean and stain. Both floors and roof are rotten and will need to be replaced. Can you say PROJECT

 

[JD08]

Rainbow has a great product, and I bought a system years ago. That is a nice unit with an optional 4 position swing beam, wood rood and the lower deck/walls.

Their Lifetime Warranty is no longer LIFETIME. It has a time limit of 10 years to the original purchaser. I had the same rot at the base of mine and called after 11 years and was denied. They also required me to send them my original purchase paperwork before they would even talk to me. Hope your local dealer is more understanding.

Tom

That was the problem I had. My unit was from 1994. The wood lasted slightly longer than the metal. First the monkey bars started to rust out and then a swing chain rusted through. I gave the slide to a neighbor for a playset he was building and the rest went to the road in pieces.

I did save 8 good long 38" 4x4 posts for use as legs on my next workbench though.

 

[duwem]

Pretty crazy if the chains rusted through, that's pretty thick metal. Nothing wood or metal will last forever. Hopefully I will get another 10-15 years out of this one with my efforts and $$

 

[duwem]

Progress today! Still have floor and roof boards to buy cut and stain and all the other parts to dry yet.

 

[Kaizen]

Hey something I did to keep the movement of the A arm and the tower was to drill holes about a foot up at an angle through the six support pieces. Got some four foot rebar and hammered it in. Make sure hole is smaller obviously. As they get bigger it really helps.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[duwem]

I'm assuming hammered it into the ground?

It was quite stable when we took it down but it had sunk a few inches into the ground and the a frame was almost a foot down.

 

[duwem]

Swings are functional as of yesterday.

 

[kelpaso1]

Would it be a good idea to put pressure treated 2x4's under the base to act as sacrificial pieces to keep the main structure off the ground? When they rot out lift the playhouse a bit and replace.

 

[duwem]

Already done, there I ran 4x4's around the full base sticking out about 1/2" past the bottom of the 2x10's.

I cut the rotten bottoms of the original posts off 3.5" to account for the 4x4's

Will snap a picture and post.

 

[48RON54]

nice work