I have an arbour in the garden which came as a kit of tanalised timber components.
After several years, the thin roof timbers look as if they would benefit from more protection against decay.
I don't want to treat the whole structure, or to significantly change its appearance.
Are there any products available these days which would be of any use?
Once upon a time I would have reached for a can of Solignum or Cuprinol, but these days I guess it is all pastel coloured stuff that would be safe to drink.
For about 7 - 8 yeras I've been using a product from Wickes It states that the VOC content is "very high", so it's probably OK. I use it mostly on a shed made from plywood and apply it all over (on the sed, not myself!) every 3 years. I like the solvent-based, soak-in type, as there's no coating to degrade or to be rubbed off before renewing. Having said that, for the first 6 months or so, it is water-repellent. When renewing a fence, one of the new posts went where an old, rotten post had been, so I got the hole to the right size then liberally splashed the preserver all around the hole. Also, when the posts are in and the Postcrete set, it run some in around the post. I hope it works.
A friend had a house timber that needed replacing due to wet-rot having reduced it to something I sucked up with the vacuum cleaner. Nothing could be done about the damp area at the time which was at one end of the timber. So I let the replacement timber dry out for weeks, and then stood in a shallow foil take-away container of cupronol wet/dry-rot protection in the shed for a few weeks. This wicked up the timber and dried out on the surface leaving crystals of the active ingredients behind. It's never gone rotten since (30 years). The only irony is the light coloured crystal bloom at one end of the timber looks like a nasty fungal infection, but the timer is still absolutely rock solid if you try pushing a bradawl into it.
However, I wouldn't do this with outdoor timber. The chemicals would leach into the soil and might do nasty things to nearby plants, and to humans who eat any vegetables grown nearby for years to come.
Also, posts outdoors don't rot in the wet ground, or in the air. They rot only at the bounday where they have both moisture and air exposure. Having watched workman last week replacing several snapped-off posts of my neighbour's fence, the soaking wet stumps were just as solid as the surviving tops of the posts - it was only a 2" length at the soil boundary that rotted.
Absolutely correct. We have several hundred metres of electric fence supported by hammered in round wooden posts. The fence has been in place for 16 or 17 years now. The occasional post fails (one did in the recent Katie storm) and they always break at the air/ground boundary.
Of course the stress is probably greatest at that point too but the left over bit of post in the ground is always pretty sound, I pull them out by driving a long screw into them and lifting with the hydraulic lift on our mini-tractor. The screws always drive in quite well and hold without problems.
Same experience here. So what I've done for the last 20 years when putting new posts in, is to wrap a piece of roofing felt around the post so that 12 " is below ground and 6" is above ground. Secure with clout nails. Seal the around the top edge of the felt with gutter sealant and Bob's your uncle! Never rots after that. Oh, almost forgot..... seal the end grain of the pos t with gutter sealant also, so that it doesnt soak up water that way.
Funnily enough I thought your header would make a strapline for some wierd tasting brew from a one man and a dog brewery. Especially if it was beer from the wood.
Have a look at the ingredients list of Cuprinol 5* Wood Presever. ISTR hefty amounts of zinc componds(*). I don't think you'll be able to get the proper "tanalising" stuff, as that is (should be) based on CCA (chromated copper arsenate).
(*) Looks like they've buggered about with that as well. Pretty sure the can I have is solvent (kerosene like) based with zinc compounds. Current stuff is water based with propiconazole and cypermethrin.
The other three cuprinol wood preservers contain
3-iodo-2-propynyl-n-butyl carbamate and propiconazole. WTF are they?
Yes, it certainly was solvent based. I well recall the fumes when crawling around the loft in summer! And if I've found the right notes, they have replaced flufenoxuron by cypermethrin (presumably 'cos the EU banned the former).
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.