I walked over to my woodpile to pick out a few pieces for a small job. I had some 2x6 PT stacked on the ground - these pieces had been there about 3 years. I turn them over and ....... riddled with termite damage to the point they had zero value.
Kind of reminds me of the last time I was in Lowes. I looked at their PT lumber and it had mold growing on it. No kidding. Anyone else seeing serious deterioration of building materials?
"PT" really doesn't mean anything unless you know the concentration and the material. I wouldn't buy anything less than .40 and if it is going to be on or in the ground I would get .80 CCA from a marine contractor supply.
Under government orders the wood people have removed chemicals toxic to kids, small animals, and baby insects.
It's for the children.
I had the same thing happen to me with PT 4x4's from Lowes (top choice). I carried them back to Lowes and complained. The department manager said the warranty was from the supplier and not Lowes so they wouldn't do anything. I asked for the store manager. He said to get replacements off the pile out front, but he wasn't happy about it.
The problem is that the treatment does not penetrate all the way through the wood. It leaves an untreated center. As the wood cracks & splits as it normally does, it leaves an opening for termites to enter and eat out the untreated portions. You then end up with a hollow shell of wood.
Where's good old creosote when you need it? We once had stuff that killed termites, prevented wood rot, toilets that flushed, no bed bugs and shower heads that would blow you out of the shower. I think our technology is devolving. 8-)
TDD
butz you gitz ta feelz good fer da chillrens
This is an example of some 20 year old CCA lumber. Note the stuff right on the ground. There is different grades of PT.
Same reason I'm battling ants in the kitchen in recent years and NYC is becoming riddled with bed bugs. EPA banned chemicals that worked in the past.
Lol. So true.
No they didn't ban it, they just put it in a 'restricted use' category. Which means you have to get a permit to use it. Which means you have to take a test showing that you have some common sense for using pesticides. Which means you can't buy the good stuff over- the-counter but you can still buy it if you have a permit. Which means EPA is trying to keep the potent/good stuff out of the hands of dumb-asses while still allowing it's use for those who know how to use it properly.
AMEN, bro!
It's not the epa. PT wood has always had penetration issues. They want to cycle the wood through the pressure chamber as fast as they can. And they don't want to make sure the wood is properly dried before hand. So it's almost impossible to get saturation all the way through. Any cracks or end cuts expose what is basically untreated wood.
I used that tree cut repair tar to coat pt wood in situations where I'm going to bury it and it's critical that it not rot.
Well, it certainly is EPA that has banned many of the earlier products and it isn't at all clear the replacements are as good (and in some instances it's pretty clear they're not). Whether it's an overall win is probably debatable in some instances (I'm yet to be convinced there was any real significant issue in the PT case that needed to be fixed) but otoh, DDT clearly had some significant unintended consequences used as widely as it was initially.
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Nope, I've seen the same problem with pt wood that was made 20 years ago. It's not the compounds used, it's the lack of penetration. If you want permanent ground contact you need to get .40 or .60. And do not cut it where it will contact the ground.
What EPA-banned chemical kept the ants out of your kitchen in the past? That problem has pretty simple solutions, beginning with sealing entries and eliminating food sources. Hornets have been bugging me lately outdoors, but it's getting cold and I have a winter coat :o) They seem to become more pesty during severe dry spells....just looking for a drink.
The solution to ants in the kitchen for lots of folks is to smother the yard with poison, often applied during inappropriate conditions. Some of my neighbors, who have never read a label, use a 50# bag of poison to CRUSH the bugs to death....
Same old problem of too much of a good thing. PT used to be for fence posts, until everyone on the planet built a deck and a play yard...
So many prescription drugs are disposed of that they show up in water supplies and in our body tissues....there are probably very sensible solutions to that problem, too, but too many conflicting money issues.
In news: snipped-for-privacy@mx01.eternal-september.org, Smitty Two spewed forth:
Dursban, too
I use a tiny chaulking gun
I've found this works great for tiny ants.
The best way to control ants is to figure out what they are eating and bait them with that, using good old boric acid (about 1:12 with the bait food)
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