How To Prepare Your Swing Set For The Winter?

With the winter coming in most parts of the globe we all must take care for our outdoor furniture. Your swing set isn’t much different than the other furniture you have in the garden except that it’s bigger than most things there.

Here is what you need to do for your swing set depending on its type:

The Plastic Swing Set

Here are good news for plastic swing set owners: they don’t need to do much. The quality plastic should survive the low temperatures and snow without much trouble.

If you live in an area where the winter gets very cold the plastic may get broken however. In such case you’d better store the swing set indoor if that’s possible (with these swings usually doing this is not a big problem).

For sure you should not use the plastic swing when the temperature outside is under 32 F / 0 C. Not only that this is unpleasant, but the plastic loses its solidity which can cause the swing to give in.

If you have left the swing set outside for the winter you will need to clean it after it.

Metal Swing Sets

The metal swing sets can sustain very low temperatures, rain and snow. The only major problem with them is rust – if the metal isn’t well treated or the treatment is wore on some places you risk the metal to rust. This will reduce the swing solidity. To avoid rust, paint and treat any suspicious places especially on the swing set frame.

Another thing to be careful about: it can be very dangerous if there are small holes which can let water leaks inside the frame. In the winter the water may freeze, increase its volume and just break apart even the steel.

Other than that your metal swing will be just fine in the winter. After the season end you’ll need to clean it and eventually grease the paps.

Read more about the metal outdoor swing sets.

The Wooden Swing Sets

They are great, but they are the ones that suffer most in the winter. An unprotected wooden swing set can totally lose shape during this season. The corrosion can dramatically worsen the wood quality and look. Besides treatment and painting, I highly recommend covering your wooden swing set with canvas or polythene. If that’s not possible, see if you can at least cover its top so no snow and water goes directly on it.

The wooden swing set should not be used when it’s covered by snow or ice – this can be very dangerous for obvious reasons. Kids often overlook such dangers so you must warn them.

At the end of the winter your wooden swing will need cleaning, careful checking and eventually painting.

Learn more about the wooden swing sets and about their safety.

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One Response to “How To Prepare Your Swing Set For The Winter?”

My Gardening Patch » Blog Archive » a gardening carnival - November 25, 2009 Says:
November 25th, 2009 at 8:44 pm
[...] de Charo presents How To Prepare Your Swing Set For The Winter? posted at Outdoor Swing Sets, saying, “The winter is coming, get your garden furniture ready [...]