If you ask owners of wooden swing sets what the best wood is, you’ll get a variety of different answers. There are those who love their pine set, others who will tell you cedar is the best, and still others will say nothing beats a redwood swing set. The final decision is up to you, but there are several reasons that make redwood your best possible choice.

In order to fully understand the qualities that make redwood the best choice for your swing set, you need to know a little more about the wood itself. Not all redwood is the same and it’s important you know exactly what kind you’re paying for.

Although redwood is available in several different grades, a commonality between them is the pink/red color that ages to gray over time. A widely used grade of redwood is Con-Heart, which means it’s a construction grade wood that comes from the heart of the redwood tree.

The natural resistance to rotting and insects only exists in the wood from the heart of the tree. The outermost wood requires staining every year, due to the lack of natural defenses against decay. Con-Heart wood needs no maintenance and if the company you’re buying from tells you the swing set will need to be stained annually, you’ll know it isn’t the heart of the redwood.

Something to be aware of is the presence of any white wood in the swing set you’re considering. This is sapwood and has no resistance at all to insects or decay. If you see sapwood, you’re not getting Con-Heart wood, because heartwood doesn’t have any sapwood. An advantage to wood from the heart of the tree is that its resistance goes throughout the wood so that exposed parts that have been sawed or nailed are just as safe from bugs and diseases.

All woods have a natural response to moisture, and even redwood will swell a bit when it gets wet and shrink slightly if it gets very dry, but it does so to a much lesser degree than other woods. Known for its stability, redwood is able to hold its shape with far fewer incidences of cracks, splits, or warped boards or beams.

Swing sets made with redwood are incredibly durable, in part due to their natural ability to ward off disease and decay. This means your redwood swing set will look better than one made with a different wood, even 20 years later.

When shopping for a redwood swing set, be sure to ask enough questions or read enough fine print to know that if you’re paying for redwood, you’re getting 100% redwood. Many companies use a mixture of woods, including redwood, but still refer to their product as ‘redwood construction’. Look and listen for words that indicate other woods have also been used, including Chinese fir and Red Cedar.

Before you finalize a purchase, especially if your swing set is made from Con-Heart wood, find out if Con-Heart was used for the entire set or just for the larger pieces. In order to enjoy the most benefits from heartwood’s natural protective ability, the whole set should be constructed with it, not just the beams and bigger pieces.