Actual Progress on the Swing Set

Yay for actual progress!!  It’s not that refurbishing the swing set(s) is really complicated or hard to do, I just get distracted really easily.  Especially when a project involves waiting for stuff to dry between coats or having to wait for an extra set of hands to move something.  It’s kinda the same when I cook… I get impatient waiting for the pancake to be ready to be flipped, so I multitask.  And wouldn’t you know it, sometimes those damn pancakes get a little crispy.  🙂

Anyway, over the past few days I’ve mostly been working on combining our old Creative Play Things swing set (CPT) with the used (Rainbow) swing set’s swing beam.  If you need to catch up, so far I’ve bought a used swing set, regretted it, got over it and started prepping it, and worked on designing my master plan.  This was the plan and what I’ve done so far:

1) Did this stuff last weekend:

• Permanently removed monkey-bars/swing beam and ramp – might reuse in another area
• Removed existing slide and ladder which will be replaced in a different configuration later
• Moved old swing set 15 feet across yard – Um, yeah… we couldn’t find anyone to help (on 30 seconds notice) so hubby and I moved that beast ourselves.  I told the chiropractor all about it the next day.  I am a huge new fan of chiropractic.
• Added cross-brace to support swing arm (was part of Rainbow swing set).  Now I just have to decide what to do with the protruding portions on each side.  Cut them off?  Attach a climbing rope with a bell at top?  I can’t add another swing because it would interfere with the main swing arm.  And I don’t want to make another entrance to the tower because I’m going to wall off the 3 sides.  Any suggestions?

2) Did this Mon/Tues:

• Cut off rotted ends of A-frame.  Hubby was completely disgusted and suggested we just buy new wood and start from scratch.  No. Freaking. Way.  He got over it.
• Found a way to keep ends from rotting out in the future.  I found this spray stuff (Black Flag Wood Preservative) in my garage and I now love it. {Hubs must have bought it because I’ve never seen it before.}  It turns any wood into “pressure treated.”  I sprayed the entire A-frame and really doused the ends. It kills any bugs that are in there too.  Perfect!  It does turn the wood a greenish color, but I was going to stain it anyway, so I didn’t care.
  
• Filled in large holes with polyurethane caulk.  This was easy and worked really well.  I had done some research and some people recommend this stuff called 3M Bondo Home Solutions Wood Filler.  Others swear by other epoxies.  I wasn’t down with either.  Epoxy is expensive, harder to come by, has to be mixed and isn’t too forgiving.  The caulk is cheap, easy and familiar to me.  Just don’t over fill the holes and if you do, wipe off before it dries because you can’t sand it down later.
  
• Sand and stain all of the Rainbow pieces.  Well I did the swing beam and most of the A-frame.  I was running out of stain (from what I had left over from last time I stained the CPT set) and I figured the bottom would be easy to reach after it was installed.
  
• Power wash, sand and re-stain CPT pieces – still needs more stain
• Remove random steering wheel from Rainbow swing arm

3) Did this today:

• Covered bottom 3 inches of A-frame with Thompson’s Water Seal – had this on hand
• Attach Rainbow swing arm to CPT tower.  Special guest appearance from my brother to help with this one.
  

When will I learn???  Another really funny thing about this picture… I am wearing the same outfit as the day we disassembled the swing set.  Just realized right now when I saw this picture.

4) On my agenda for tomorrow:

• Hang swings and spay paint rusted part of swing chains
• Buy more stain and finish staining
• Re-attach slide and ladder at front end of tower and remove (yes, you heard me right) the safety rail and slats
• Remove slats from rear of tower and add a DIYed chalk board
• Reposition all slats on the two sides of tower
• Drop picnic table down to platform and screw down
• Close in two sides of bottom area to form a “clubhouse”
• Design and build a coffee in the side of clubhouse (see 2 options here)
• Add curtains to upstairs of tower