Hi,

I'm building a treehouse/fort thing for my kids to play on in our backyard. I have plans, prices and am going to be building in mid-December.

But, I have heard a lot of conflicting information about whether to use pressure treated or redwood for the project. I know the arsenic thing has been taken care of and pressure treated is definitely quite a bit cheaper than redwood. Does anyone have any comments on the safety of pressure treated for a kid's play structure?

Also, do you need to stain or seal pressure treated wood? Can you? How about for redwood?

I'm searching the web for more information but figured I would check in with some guys that know something about this stuff!

Thanks,
Dan

 

Either would be fine, both should be sealed. PT should be left to dry before sealing, usually takes a month or two.

 

I would just use ptw for the framing and roof and use composite for the flooring. Ptw will form cracks over time and these can sometimes splinter. If you use this for decking, just keep in mind that children like to take their shoes off.

I stained my deck with solid stain and it did not prevent the cracks from forming; the industry calls it checking.

 

Not sure where you live, so redwood may be prohibitively expensive. I live on the right coast, and it is non-existent for practical purposes. My daughter lives in Denver, and the local HD has 2 x 8 x 16 clear redwood at reasonable prices. I nearly lost it when I saw it sitting there like our common PT lumber, drooling all over it.