Play Set, Dock & Teak Furniture Refinishing

The Same Weathering a Deck Gets — With Kids on It

Most redwood and cedar play sets, including Rainbow-brand swing sets, spend their whole lives outside without the maintenance a deck gets, even though they're built from the same kind of softwood and take the same sun, rain and freeze-thaw punishment. Left unsealed, that wood grays, dries out and starts to splinter within a few years — and splintering wood on a play set isn't just cosmetic, it's a real hand-and-foot hazard for kids climbing, sliding and running around barefoot.

We clean and hand-brush-reseal play sets the same way we treat a deck: a deck-specific wash to lift mildew and gray weathering, then a penetrating, hand-brushed sealant once the wood is dry. On play sets that have already gone gray and rough, we sand the wood smooth first to knock down splinters before resealing, which is the step that actually solves the hazard rather than just re-coating over it.

We also inspect and flag hardware while we're on site — rusted bolts, worn swing chains, and loose connections at the tower joints are common on older sets and worth catching before they become a safety issue, even though hardware repair itself isn't something we handle.

The same process applies to boat docks and exterior teak furniture: both are exposed to the elements year-round in Southeast Michigan and benefit from the same cleaning-and-resealing cycle we use on decks, keeping wood from graying, cracking and roughening up between seasons.

• Redwood & cedar play sets, including Rainbow swing sets
• Sanding to remove splinters before resealing
• Hand-brushed, penetrating sealant application
• Hardware inspection (chains, bolts, tower joints)
• Boat dock cleaning & resealing
• Exterior teak furniture refinishing