How to protect my Sandpit...

[SoupDragon]

OK, I need to paint my wooden sandpit with something to protect it. What is the bestthing to use?

soupy, if it's unassembled you can use one of those soak-in things (taneliser or something?) - stand it in a bucket for hours and it will soak into its marrow!

It'll have to be a bl*ody big bucket!!

At least he wasn't grovelling around it touching up every last centimetre with a sable brush, bk, which is what happens when dh is commissioned to paint anything in our garden.
It is the garden shed not the Sistine Chapel FGS.

hmmm, yes there must be a happy medium on that spectrum, marina!

pmsl

Youre probably best off with the plastic hippo then!!

I will get my revenge. It has developed an interesting ecosystem of nasty hoppy things in the sand and he can jolly well decant them all and refill this Spring. That'll larn him...

LOL BK - I can visulaise the scene...Marina, slugs ate through DS's paddling pool last summer - some particular kind of plastic - could the same fate not befall the hideous hippo - which you have whisked out so quickly that the damage can't be inspected? or couldn't you spot a product re-call notice in someone elses magazine at work, which says hideous hippos cause skin complaints? Distant memory of bad hol is causing psychological damage? Neighbours had to borrow it fdor emergency unplanned homebirth and you don't want to ask for it back? or "it's hideous, I've got PMT and if that bloody hippo isn't out to be collected by the council's bulky rubbish service in the next 10 mins i shall slit everyone's wrists!"

Plastic vbad for kids, it's probably full of phlalates and the artificial turquoise paint is even worse, little known colouring dangers. There's probably lead in there, Marina. Do you want me to fake - sorry, meticulously research and write - an article on it I can sententiously send on to you?

Ha, great to see this thread as dh has just spent the afternoon assembling a certain sandpit. Didn't realise until today that it was untreated and the instructions were in German! When he started cursing under his breath after I'd pointed out a bit he'd done wrong I beat a hasty retreat! I was ridiculously early picking dd up from school but it was worth it.

Now he's got the huff because I want the nice coloured wood preserver(blue to match the canopy) and he wants to match it up with the wooden swing seat at the end of the garden(boring!).

I wasn't overly concerned about the German instructions (I can build Ikea stuff virtually blindfold) except for the few bits that were clearly warnings of some sort.

You can get rid of the hippo, Marina, but it's too late for the cheap Tchibo sandpit I think...

I will have to rely on bk inviting me to any shoddily painted pit parties this summer.
This hippo would survive a direct hit from an atomic bomb. It is unquestionably the cockroach of the children's outdoor play equipment market.
There are some promising lines of deceit developing here though, I may yet triumph.

Plastic can go terribly brittle in sunlight you know...

Especially if you whack it with a sledge hammer.

Message withdrawn

Tchibo, pah! B&Q do a 1m sq wooden pit with a bench ledge, and a canopy that comes down as a lid, I believe.
Can't you tell I'm getting my pleasure vicariously, here?

I'm not sure I'd use the sealers / preservers / anti-rot treatment thingies... They tend to be covered in warnings about pets / leakage into water / being poisonous etc.

(Check your tin CAREFULLY before you use).

I'd recommend Danish Oil which I believe is a non-toxic penetrating oil. It will feed the wood helping it to repel moisture and it will make the grain look rich. When it fades, you can reapply with sponge / brush / roller.

blu, the b&q one is more expensive and smaller... but i think it comes pre treated