Building your own Swing Set: Pressure Treated Wood or Not?

We got a build-it-yourself swing set for the kids last year for Christmas. If you want a wood swing set and you have some time to put it all together, it’s definitely the best way to go. You buy the swing set kit which lists the sizes of wood needed then you buy the wood separate. This leaves the quandary of whether or not to use pressure treated (TOXIC) wood. Others have asked me about this so I thought I’d mention what we did here.

We ended up going with the pressure treated. We had heard bad things about it but there did not seem to be much of an option. For anything you want it to last like a swing set that is just going to sit outdoors, I think you pretty much have to use it. We primed and painted it, so I feel like all of the bad stuff is out of the kids’ direct contact. It’s been a year now so it is probably due for a new coat of paint, but it still looks great. I built the kids' a sandbox with regular wood -- I only stained and waterproofed it. It's 3 years old now and it looks pretty bad. I think it would have held up much better if I had used the pressure treated wood. It seems as though all wooden structures that are intended to last longer than a year are usually made out of pressure treated wood. I suppose our sandbox is an exception but it sure has not help up very well.