Maintaining your wooden playhouse
Maintaining your playhouse ensures that the pre-painted colour stains will continue to be vibrant
and will help maintain the wood strength and quality. It is important to check all fixings regularly to
ensure the playhouse is consistently at a safe and secure standard. As with any natural wood,
changes and movement can occur, which means that accessories such as handles may need
tightening occasionally. Checking the screws regularly will make sure that the panels are always fixed
together tightly and securely.
The type of outdoor space in which you’re playhouse will be living can determine the type of
maintenance that’s needed, too. If the playhouse is in an open space that is susceptible to very harsh
weathers, or is under overhanging trees or has grass growing near the bottom of the playhouse, it’s
important to maintain the surrounding areas to ensure the wood isn’t obstructed. If the playhouse is
on grass, be sure to mow the lawn quite regularly within the surrounding area, as the moisture from
long grass can start to seep into the wood. It is also advisable to pay special attention to the bottom
of the playhouse when applying wood treatment as this will prevent moisture from the grass
entering the wood.
If trees are nearby, or any garden bushes, be sure to keep the branches trimmed to prevent them
from coming into contact with the playhouse, as this can encourage moisture as well as moss or
even branches to start growing on the playhouse, and therefore affecting the wood.
The roofing area of wooden playhouses requires your constant attention and vigilance to ensure
that the roof felt is not damaged or torn. These problems can quickly lead to water gaining entry into
your child’s playroom, which will cause the room to become damp and the wood then may become
rotten.
You will need to replace the damaged area of roof felt as soon as possible. You can patch roof felt
and your local DIY store can sell you a plastic rubber seal that can be sprayed on to the roof to
provide an excellent level of protection. Repainting the whole roof area will hide your repairs.
If a month or two goes by without you inspecting the inside of your garden playhouses, the problem
could have been manifesting itself for all of that time without you knowing. You will need to remove
any rotten wood and replace it and seal it again as soon as possible. If there has been any period of
heavy snowfall onto the roof of your children’s playhouses, hopefully you remembered to remove
the excess weight from the roof as soon as you could before the roof structure became
compromised.
Maintaining wooden playhouses is not a difficult task providing you take the time to regularly look
all around the play area to check for potential damage and future problems. A cursory regular glance
might save you a substantial amount of DIY work later.