Who has a Rainbow Playset for their children?

[sassyat30]

Any other experiences?

 

[Duckfan-in-Chicago]

Is there anything you can do to treat the wood so it's not appealing to bees?

If you paint it, or finish the wood, it's supposed to help keep them away.

Just found this...these were the type of bees I had:

http://unexco.com/carpbees.html

The bees will make short work of it if you're not vigilant, and the kids won't want to go near it with all those bees buzzing around, even though the bees won't hurt the kids. Forget redwood, use pressure treated wood for your swing set and paint it if you want it to look like redwood. The kids won't care.


WHAT CAN YOU DO TO PROTECT YOUR REDWOOD SWING SET?
Well, not a whole lot, it depends on how long the bees have been there. But the first order of the day would be to STAIN it. With an exterior oil-based stain. And you'll probably have to do this just about every year, some stains are better than others. If you know the manufacturer of your swing set, contact them for specific recommendations. It might be a good idea to do your staining in the spring, before the bees are in evidence. A fresh coat of the stain will definitely help keep these bees at bay.

 

[KirstenB]

My friend bought one for $7000 for her kids. They LOVE it!!! Also, they're moving (unexpected transfer), and she said Rainbow said they'd dis-assemble it, and re-assemble it at the new home, which I thought was pretty cool. We have a cheaper one we bought at Sam's Club for around $1100. We like ours, but you can definitely tell the difference in the quality of wood used in the Rainbow set. If we weren't trying to watch our money, I would have loved a Rainbow set.

 

[mominwestlake]

We've had our Rainbow playset for 6 years now and it still gets a ton of use. Our oldest is 15 and our youngest is 5. We got the monster model. We haven't had a problem with bees. We do stain ours every other year. You really can't beat the quality of these playsets.

 

[mjkacmom]

We've never stained it, and have had no problem with bees.

 

[connorlevismom]

We have one and my son likes it. He is only 4 so he does not love it yet. They are very pricey so you may not get a whole lot for $2000. We have 2 swings, the rope swing, one slide, a ramp and a ladder and it was $4500.00.

Also, I have never noticed bees with ours, at all.

Kristine

 

[Duckfan-in-Chicago]

These boards are read by people all over the country.

We have a few people around here with decks that have had the problem with the bees too. It isn't like a bee from Chicago is going to travel hundreds of miles to a swing set in another state but it is something that can happen if you've had issues with bees in other locations around your neighborhood.

 

[breezy1077]

Definately haggle with them. I was able to get extra attatchments for free

 

[sassyat30]

Definately haggle with them. I was able to get extra attatchments for free

Thanks. I was planning on it. I'm not spending all that money for nothing!!

 

[clh2]

We've had ours since DD was 4. She'll be 14 next week. She didn't use it at all last summer, so this summer...we hope to sell ours.

This was a GREAT investment for us. We live in the middle of nowhere, so there aren't parks close by (like I had when I was a kid).

 

[Tinks]

We've had our Rainbow Play system for about 6 years now and we love it. I am so glad we went with Rainbow! I really struggled with the idea of paying that much for a swing set (and we do not have the deluxe version by any means! Ours is actually pretty simple!) It has held up beautifully and we don't stain it or do anything to keep it up. DH, who was a skeptic, agreed that we made the right decision.

 

[sassyat30]

Thanks everyone.

The main reason holding DH back from being completely on board with me is the cost.

Though I've plead my case (quality of wood and accessories, how much the kids love the neighbor's Rainbow, the re-sell value in the future and the fact he doesn't have to do anything ~ it will just one day magically appear in our yard, ready to go ) and I'm letting him stew about it.

But, I think I'm gonna run up to the showroom today (didn't get there yesterday) and see what they can do for me.

If I'm not able to get anything for $2000, then we'll come up with something else.

Thanks for everyone's comments!!

 

[mominwestlake]

Can anyone estimate the resale value on a playset? Did anyone buy their playset used? Maybe the OP could use that when talking it out with her dh.

 

[breezy1077]

Thanks everyone.

The main reason holding DH back from being completely on board with me is the cost.

Though I've plead my case (quality of wood and accessories, how much the kids love the neighbor's Rainbow, the re-sell value in the future and the fact he doesn't have to do anything ~ it will just one day magically appear in our yard, ready to go ) and I'm letting him stew about it.

But, I think I'm gonna run up to the showroom today (didn't get there yesterday) and see what they can do for me.

If I'm not able to get anything for $2000, then we'll come up with something else.

Thanks for everyone's comments!!

the nice thing about rainbow is that you can upgrade and add on later so to start with something smaller might make sense

 

[Melrosgirl]

We've had ours for about 5 years now. The sunshine castle. I think it was about $3500 with installation. Only problem we've had is the bee issue mentioned above. Carpenter bees ruined it two years ago. Holes, etc. in it. Rainbow replaced all the wood for free though. We had to replace the wood (labor) ourselves or pay them $75 to do it. We opted to pay them as it was a lot of wood. So they do stand by their product.

We moved last year and paid them to take it down and reassemble it for us. $550 it cost to reassemble it. Rainbow is 60 miles from me, so that was a big part of the cost. I only moved a few miles away from my last house.

The kids love it. I expect to have it several more years.

 

[golfgal]

There is a Rainbow system in the park near my in-laws, well it looks like it is in their yard since they live right next to the park. They have lived there for 16 years and the set has been there at least that long. Just last summer it looked like it needs to be restained. It is used a LOT and is in good shape.

Having said that, I wouldn't get one now. You have about 5 years, max, of kid usage time left for your kids (maybe a year of use from your older child). Is it really worth the money now to get one? None of the older grandkids play on the set any longer (that being the 10+ crowd). The novelty will wear off after a year or so and it will sit unused more often then not. If your kids were 5 years younger I would say go for it.

 

[kaw1218]

We have a Rainbow swingset.

We looked for months at all our options.

My kids are now 9 and 11 and they still go out with their friends to swing.

We have the Monster one with the taller swingbar.


I believe we've had ours now 4 years. It's still in perfect shape, we only need to stain it this year.

We did spend $5000 on it with all the options we wanted.

And having them install it was perfect.

 

[sassyat30]

Well, I want to the showroom today and picked one out! Though I didn't order it...I want DH to see it and definitely okay it first.

The one I'd like to order is very basic and simple. With the specials our Rainbow is running right now, it will be $2399 with $100 in free accessories, but I'm going to see if I can get that lowered a bit.

It's the Carnival Clubhouse Design #1...though they do have a bargain lot that I'd like to go back to and look at a little closer. Today, it's raining pretty hard here and it was a mud pit, so I didn't want to walk around in there.

The saleslady did point out a couple sets in there that would be similiar to what we'd want, but a little more deluxe at reduced prices. They were factory overstocks, pre-owned or scratch and dent models.

So, hopefully, I'll be able to take DH and the kids back tomorrow to let them play on it a bit and see what they think.

'Course, they're going to want to bring home the $50,000 set.

 

[sassyat30]

It's this exact one ~ http://www.rainbowplay.com/index.php/swing-sets/package/carnival-clubhouse-design-1/