whnWhat Not to Do When Staining Your Playset!
Now is the time of year when we are busy power washing and staining playsets for our past Backyard Fun Zone customers. Many people tackle this job themselves, though. While it’s a messy task, the good news is you don’t have to do it every year. When you think of it that way, it’s not so bad!
We often come across playsets where folks have used a latex stain—almost like paint. You DO NOT want to use this kind of stain. The reason is that it seals the wood, leaving exposed areas—like where pieces touch or where a lag or bolt goes—as raw wood. This allows water to be absorbed into these unsealed parts.
Since most of the piece is sealed, the trapped water has nowhere to go. As a result, it sits there and eventually causes the set to rot from the inside out. To avoid this, it’s important to choose the right type of stain that doesn’t seal the wood too tightly.
What Not to Stain your playset with
Here are a few pictures of pieces that have rotted from the inside out because of the stain used. You can see the outside still looks good, but the inside isn’t holding up so well.
We recommend and use Superdeck, Semi-Transparent (Transparent is good too), Modified Oil Base Stain. You can find it at our Cedar Springs location or Sherwin Williams. It’s a one-coat application, making it simple and efficient.
We typically use the Redwood pigment color, but there are other colors available if Redwood isn’t your preference. Even though the stain has pigment, it remains semi-transparent, allowing the natural variance of wood color to show through. While we prefer Superdeck, any good quality modified oil base semi-transparent or transparent stain will work just as well.
This is what a 2-year-old set looks like after being power-washed and stained with Superdeck Semi-Transparent Redwood Stain.
If you purchased your playset from us and prefer not to handle this task yourself, please contact us to be added to the list for this service. We typically perform power washing and staining in late summer or early fall due to weather limitations.
If you have any questions don’t hesitate to email us at BackyardFunZone@gmail.com or call us today at 616-785-7383.
