Things changed.
Dad had some success in backyard extreme makeover. More activities is going to happen in our real backyard. The designed scheme is going to be blogged soon. Now a swing set seems to be a good idea, which can work like a magnete to balnace the front yard endless attraction to me, and to Tony very soon. Dad even started to imagine that he sat on our new patio and enjoyed watching us jumping up and down like two little squarrels.
That is the start of our dad's swing set story.
A swing set could easily cost more than 1000 bucks. So a used one from craiglist was not a bad idea. Remember, I still got two super gigantic ones in my other 'backyard'. It happened tha a nice guy was giving away a nice wood swing set for free due to moving. Otherwise he had to chop them down and sent them to land fill. Dad found this out and thought it's pretty good deal. Then dad drove to Georgetown next day, a Saturday.
Pretty solid stuff, but it was too big. Actually way too big for dad's little honda civic hatchback. Impressed with the quality of the wood swing set, dad decided to take them apart. If he knew how much work it took in the beginning, he definitely wouldn't do it. In the end, with two trips and eight hours hard work under August Texas full sun (mightbe a little shade some times), every piece of the swing set sat in our backyard. Dad finished up a full gallon of water, two cans of coke and quite bit of fruits and survived. And also dad felt pretty guilty for being late to Mrs. Jill's super party (As it started, it couldn't be stopped. Everything in the backyard had to be cleared out at the end of the day). Here we had to mention the owner's friend John gave quite a bit critical help at disasemble it.
It was definitely not worth the time and hard work. But thinking about trees were saved and things were not wasted for land fill, dad still felt good about it.
With a little bit sunburn, dad decided to take a rest and install it at the next weekend instead of the next day.
Dad reminded himself a friend mentioning pre-treated wood was more durable for outdoor use. So he googled the web a little bit to find out what has been done with the swing set.
Then he was shocked.
Prior to 2003, almost all outdoor wood used CCA (Chromate Copper Arsenic, a kind of pestcide) to pretreat for preventing termite, fungi, etc. Arsenic in CCA is so poisonous that it was banned for residential usage after 2003. Kid's swing set, definitely NO CCA.
The swing set dad got was made in 2003. Though dad couldn't find if the wood was treated with CCA or not, most likely it was. Or we had to assume it was.
It is pretty scary as wood structure with Arsenic (before 2003) is EVERYWHERE. WE DIDN"T KNOW IT UNTIL NOW.
NEVER EVER burn treated wood. It will cause serious health problem. WE DIDN"T KNOW IT UNTIL NOW.
Be cautious while sanding or sawing treated wood. Wood dust can cause serious health problem. WE DIDN"T KNOW IT UNTIL NOW.
After contacting treated wood, wash hand first. WE DIDN"T KNOW IT UNTIL NOW.
Stain can help confine chemicals inside wood and reduce leeching. But as for structures for kids, especially yound kids, who occasionally put their fingers and hands into their mouth, can we trust this reduced leech?
To get a better night's sleep, don't have treated wood structure for kids.
Is dad over cautious? He could be. Please forgive him as this is a wild world. Three deer infant powder milk in China killed a few babies and sickened thousands. An English scientist claimed heavy usage of insectcide in Spring is directly responsible for spring babies statistically were not as well develped as fall babies. Arsenic in Kids swing set? If all pieces come together, you would get rid of the swing set. Maybe just for the peace of mind.
So good that my other 'backyard' has an all metal playscape.
And dad definitely gonna get cedar swing set (untreated) for us.
