Do you have a wooden or aluminum swingset?

[HIU8]

Just curious. We have an aluminum swingset from TRU with 3 swings, a rocket rider, a hanging bar and a slide. It also comes with a teeter totter type of thing that just didn't install. DD and DS love to swing. They are not big on sliding/climbing as much, so we just never invested in a big wooden set. I don't know if we ever will, but I think we are in the minority. Those friends with swingsets all have big wooden playsets.

[RunnerDuck]

I am eyeballing those lifetime swingsets which are metal but heavier duty than the ie flexible flyer ones you can get at TRU etc.

I wanted a wooden one for a while but honestly have come to feel that while wooden has some perks it has really become a keeping up with the joneses thing. Do kids like them? Yes. But they are annoying to upkeep, and can be crazy pricey, and people can end up buying way more than they need just for the kids to have fun.

I have seen kids have a blast on a basic metal swingset. I have seen kids have fun on a basic wooden swingset. I think the basic wooden ones feel more sturdy than the basic cheaper metal ones but both are good. But esp. with Costco and the like having the huge ones they sell every year - everyone buys these $1000+ models which IMO are just TOO much, too heavy, too clunky, not really that much more play value, and the upkeep, ugh.

In the end we will either do metal or SIMPLE wood - like the kit from home depot that ends up being $300-400. Not the crazy big wood ones.

I think the advantage of wood is you can do simple wood and it will feel sturdier than simple metal - but it's gotten out of hand. You will pay more than wood for a GOOD sturdy metal one but it's like people have used that middle ground where wood is in between price of cheap metal and heavy metal to go insane and buy/build more than they need. In my opinion if you have 3 swings and a good slide, you're good. Any more is gravy, and gravy gets cold and gross after a while. :D

[HIU8]

Ours has 2 anchors on each leg holding it on the ground (yes, DH used 2 anchor kits). The thing does not move even with 5 kids on it (or a couple of kids and 2 adults). I felt bad that my kids didn't have the souped up set, but they just love to swing and we have 3 swings and a glider like swing and a hanging bar. all of our neighbors with kids have the big wooden versions (with forts etc...) _-however I have come to find out that the grandparents bought it for the grandkids.

[swissair81]

We have a wooden swingset.

[ourbabygirl]

We have a big wooden Rainbow one, but we bought the last one/ floor model that they had, at the end of last season, so we got a good deal & free installation. We had a 2 year old and a newborn at the time, and have a nice big yard to put it in, and we have no regrets about how much we spent... the kids use it almost every day, and we have lots of play dates so those kids use it, too. DH and I also swing on it and go up in the fort, use the picnic table & sandbox, etc.- we got the heavier-duty one that supports adults.
We just had a picnic lunch out there last weekend and will probably keep doing it once a week. I know we'll get tons of use out of it, plus DH didn't want to get a kit type one because he didn't want to have to put it together. ;)
Anyhow, we're really happy with it and I'm glad we got it early enough where we'll get some good use out of it.

[bandgsmama]

wood here

[lhafer]

Originally bought a cheap flexible flyer metal swing set to see if my daughter would even use it. I didn't want to invest in a wooden one before knowing it was worth it or not.

After a year of daily use, and her finally getting to small for it - we upgraded to a bigger wooden one earilier this year. Haven't regretted it at all. She still plays on it daily. And because it's bigger (although not crazy big because we have a small backyard - but she can swing higher), she has several more years before she'll outgrow it - or loose interest in it.

And my 16 month old tries to escape outside every moment she can to play on it as well!! Not long ago, they were playing in the backyard, and I ran inside to pay the pizza delivery guy. Ran back outside to find this (taken with my camera phone which I had on me):

[essnce629]

We don't have either, but the Lifetime one on the Costco website looks awesome and the "no maintanence, no staining, etc." sounds GREAT to me! There's no way I would ever restain a wood set. I'm way too lazy for that!

Their video sold me as well and the price it great!
http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11610679&Ntt=lifetime+swing&whse=BC&Ne=4000000&Ntx=modematchallpartial&s=1&N=5000043&Mo=3&No=3&Ntk=Text_Search&Nr=P_CatalogName:BC&lang=en-US&Sp=S&search=lifetime+swing&topnav=&Nty=1

[KrisM]

We have a big wooden set. I'm glad we do. Yes, it was expensive and we do restain every 2-3 years. But, it's fun to see 8-10 kids playing on it at once. The metal sets I looked at didn't have enough space for more the 3-4 kids at a time. We have a lot of kids in the neighborhood and they all play together a lot. There are 3 swingsets and they go between them and our sandbox all day long.

[RunnerDuck]

Ordered the lifetime one yesterday so officially add me to the metal crowd.

[RunnerDuck]

We don't have either, but the Lifetime one on the Costco website looks awesome and the "no maintanence, no staining, etc." sounds GREAT to me! There's no way I would ever restain a wood set. I'm way too lazy for that!

Their video sold me as well and the price it great!
http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11610679&Ntt=lifetime+swing&whse=BC&Ne=4000000&Ntx=modematchallpartial&s=1&N=5000043&Mo=3&No=3&Ntk=Text_Search&Nr=P_CatalogName:BC&lang=en-US&Sp=S&search=lifetime+swing&topnav=&Nty=1

My husband and I restained our deck last fall - it is OLD and it was in horrible shape. We used opaque stain which is really paint and is what you do when wood is on its last legs. it took FOREVER. We thought it would be a weekend project, took us 2+ months. It was awful. it looked AMAZING. And the paint is already coming off, I don't know if we didn't prep right or if it was just beyond help... but I feel a little murderous every time I look at that peeling paint. I can't wait to rip it out and put in trex. No splinters, no staining. There's no way I want a wood swing set after that. I am hoping with metal either it will still be in great shape when we have grandkids, or it will re-sell well because it will still be in good shape.

I had a nightmare experience 2 years ago looking to buy a used wooden swing set...

They all look GREAT in the show room... where there's no rain or snow. But in the real world, a little rust on metal is better than the wear and tear wood can suffer...

[mnosky1]

We have a wood swing set - Form looking at neighbors, I can say the rainbow sets look much much better than the home depot type sets - they must use different wood, stain/seal it better or some combo of both. Ours (rainbow) still looked OK after 4 years of PA weather. We powerwashed and re-stained/selaed it in 2 partial days and it looks fabulous. It is now 6.5 years old and other than some wear in 2 spots from an agressive little woodpecker, it looks as god as the summer we got it.

2 things that were important to me when buying a set (and I've commented on this before) - 1. weight limit - can adults swing - can it hold 1000 pounds of playing/swinging adults/kids at a time?
2. How high is the bar the swings mount to - the home depot type sets tend to have lower height crossbars and the swings don't swing high and don't get much of an arc and kids get bored easily. I had considered just getting a swing set - a very high metal bar thing with swings to get that good swing you get at a park playground but instead went with a wooden rainbow climber set for more variety.
We never regretted the purchase.

[elbenn]

mnosky1, what is a good height for the swingbar? Is 10' good or low?

[brittone2]

nak-we had metal at our last house. It worked out great for us. It was green and cream, so IMO not terribly intrusive or tacky ;) We purchased it while DH was in grad school and because we were uncertain how long we were going to stay in that house, we went with a less expensive option. DH eventually built a huge fort for the kids next to the swing set.

My kids got a ton of play value from it for the price, and even the older neighborhood kids had no problem hanging out and swinging on it.

We have a small wooden set at our current house (conveyed w/ it) with just 3 swings and a slide. We just picked up a teeter totter thing (the kind that also turns and has inflatable balls underneath the seats) for a buck at a yardsale, and I don't know that we'll really do anything big at this house. They mostly enjoy a little swinging, sliding, etc. If I was going to shell out for something it would probably be a fort/playhouse as ours got a lot of play at our previous house.