All metal and wooden jungle gyms require regular maintenance to ensure their safety. We've put together the following programme to help you optimise the safety of your learners and the life of your jungle gym equipment.
Monthly Safety checks
Inspect the following elements of your jungle gym:
Check the strength and integrity of any ropes : cargo nets, climbing ropes, rope bridges, tyre swing supports
Check for any instability or wobbling of the structure
Tighten all nuts and bolts, be sure to replace any that exhibit wear and tear
Check wooden support poles and floorboards for dry and wet rot
Dry Rot
Dry rot destroys wood by eating away at parts within the wood which give the timber strength. This ultimately reduces the wood to a dry and crumbly state, causing it to weaken and rot. Dry rot is able to travel through building materials other than timber and quickly.
Identification:
Damaged Timber
Concentrated Spore Dust
Hyphae
Mycelium
Fruiting bodies
Wet Rot
Wet rot can be caused by a fungus and tends to remain in the damp area, rather than spreading like dry rot. In general, wet rot is a term used to describe many types of fungal species that can strike at any wood where moisture and dampness linger.
Identification:
‘Cuboidal’ cracking
Wet rot fungus
Timber darkens or lightens in colour
Existence of damp
Localised decay
Every 18 Months : Wooden units should be re-treated with Waxol or a similar product
Every 24 Months : Metal units should be checked for rust. The pipes which rest on the ground tend to rust first due to rain or irrigation. Remove rust with a fine grit sandpaper. Apply an undercoat and, thereafter, any type of catalyst paint. Ask Rustics Jungle Gyms or your paint specialist to advise accordingly.
Every 36 Months : We would recommend the repainting of the entire metal structure. Please do not remove all the paint. Remove only the rust affected areas with sandpaper. Apply an undercoat to the affected areas and then repaint the whole jungle gym with any type of catalyst paint.
Please be aware that the outside appearance may be fine but there may be wear on the parts which cannot be seen, for example, bolts may be corroded inside the pole.
With correct regular maintenance, the lifespan
on wooden units is 10-12 years
on the metal units is 20 years