Are Swing Sets Safe with Pressure-Treated Wood?

Pressure-treated wood is an excellent product for constructing swing sets, playgrounds, houses, sheds, you name it. People ask, “Is pressure-treated wood safe for my children to play on?” And the short answer, if you don’t want to read the whole article, is yes, our modern, pressure-treated wood is safe.

“Wait,” you say, “I read somewhere or saw on Tiktok that pressure-treated wood is full of chemicals and unsafe for the environment!”

There used to be some truth in that statement. Things have changed for the better. Read on for a quick history of pressure-treated wood and what makes the wood King Swings uses safe for kids to play on!

How Wood USED to be Pressure-Treated

Using compounds, chemicals, and the like to preserve wood has a rich tradition clear back to the ancient Greeks using olive oil to help preserve wood. You can trace this method back to the time of Alexander the Great (Yes, history nerds, I know Alexander was a Macedonian, not Greek.). However, not all wood-preserving techniques were as simple, safe, and savory as slathering it with olive oil.

During the 1970s, companies began using CCA during the proper pressure treatment. What does that abbreviation stand for? Chromated Copper Arsenate. Yes, that is right. Arsenate.

What was the big issue? A study found that the chromated copper arsenate leached from the wood and was likely to bind to soil. This meant people were being exposed to more arsenic than previously assumed.

To counter this, in 2004, the EPA and the industry at large came to a voluntary agreement to begin to restrict the use of CCA. According to the Wikipedia article, the EPA never sounded a strong enough alarm to require people to dismantle or remove structures made out of CCA-treated wood. They were careful to clarify that they were not saying it stood as an unacceptable risk to people and the environment but that it wasn’t a good idea and new replacements or processes should be found.

King Swings Pressure-Treated Wood

So, let’s fast forward to today. King Swings uses pressure-treated wood in our swing sets. Should that be concerning to you? Is there any danger to the health of your children?

King Swings sources our yellow pine from Culpepper Wood. The following information is pulled from their website, chiefly the FAQ page. Jump over there if you want to learn more!

King Swings pressure-treated wood uses Culpeper Microprp Technology. This means it is perfectly safe. It uses micronized copper preservatives that are nontoxic. Scientific studies have shown that any copper that seeps from the wood actually becomes biologically inactive, meaning there are no ecotoxic or other environmental impacts.

In fact, this technology “is the first treated wood process to be certified under Scientific Certification Systems Environmentally Preferable Product (EPP) program based on Life-Cycle Assessment.” You can see the certification here.

Ok, that is a lot of big words. What does it all mean? It means you can run barefoot on it, plant gardens around it, eat a snack on it, or just lay out on the wood on a sunny day. It is safe for use in playgrounds.

Conclusion

Thanks to modern technology, certain types of pressure-treated wood, such as the type King Swings uses, are safe to use in swing sets.

Our yellow pine is one of the hardest softwoods, and since it is sourced from the southern United States, it is very affordable. Coupled with the pressure treatment, you get strong, durable wood. In fact, it is so strong that we feel comfortable giving the lumber in your swing set a lifetime warranty against rot, decay, and insect damage.

A lifetime warranty? Yes, that is how confident we are about the wood quality used in our vinyl swing sets.

King Swings has been crafting swing sets for 35+ years. As a family-owned business, we care about using safe products for our children to play barefoot on, have water fights, and even have a picnic. We hand-make every swing set, and our crews deliver and install it in your backyard.

Reach out to our swing set design team if you have any questions! They would love to help you out!