New dock question

When you factor in longevity, splinters, maintenance and the like, you may want to look at a composite material. It may very well be worth the extra cost.

I realize that but that's not what I want to do. Any other takers? Cedar or treated?

Red Pine, painted with hull-paint, ought to hold up as well as any other common species. By the way, the arsenic in the wood is a non-issue for casual human contact. Decades of immersion might leach enough out to have a detectable effect on the lakes ecosystem.

Treated lasts longer. I thought CCA is no longer available, it is now something less toxic and stainless fasteners are best.

I would say to avoid treated no matter what. Splinters from treated wood are very bad, and a simple sliver in a finger can end up requiring pretty dramatic surgery. If you don't want to use composite, then consider cypress as a very rot resistant alternative.

rusty redcloud

Cedar is pretty soft and won't hold up to heavy use.

Docks around here are all PT. I doubt you can find wood with arsenic, even in Canada, but it is pretty harmless unless you eat it.

The hard science of whether a PT dock will kill someone is secondary to perceptions. Sooner or later you'll have a guest that won't let their kids play on it if it's PT, and sooner or later the local newspaper will report that mysterious substance X is in the lake and maybe it's coming from someone's PT dock. Nothing will beat being able to say that your deck is just good old 100% cedar as you put your feet up in your Muskoka chair and open another Blue Lite.

Chip C Toronto

What are you planning on using for a float? If you are using styrofoam (bead board) you can just glue AC plywood to the top, wrap a canvas skirt around it to shield it from sunlight, and hang lath lattice off the sides to protect the foam, or maybe hang 2x8 boat bumpers. You might build a ladder or two for the swimmers, and screw some cleats to the plywood for the boaters.

All new treated wood is ACQ. You need dipped fasteners and hardware but all dock hardware is dipped already. Arsenic is a thing of the past. But that is in US just noticed your up north. Go with the treated. I have built many and never had a problem. Composite requires 16OC centers or it will sag. Depending on your flotation system it may be difficult to get framing that close together. You can span almost 3' with a treated 2x6.

I have never built a dock so can't speak directly to that but have had splinters from both CCA and cedar (arsenic is no longer used for pressure treating in the US). The cedar splinters (IMO) are a real bitch compared to pine. Either way I suggest you use a good marine finish on whatever you choose. Several coats of marine paint or varnish would reduce splintering.

Have you considered using cypress?

Still plenty toxic. The MSDS on ACQ:

To the OP: What you want to do, and what you should do, are not necessarily the same thing.

Hull-paint? You mean a marine topsides paint? A bit expensive, no?

Hey, buddy, I'm just going to pee a little bit in your pool...mind if I come over tomorrow?

Hi Chip. Greetings from Crane.