Wood and decay.

[Tom The Great]

Hi everyone,

Just a set of dumb questions, since this seems like a simple solution. I repaired a section of porch railing two years ago. It seems that a spacing block (untreated/painted) left in after home construction wicked water up(from poured concret pad) and rotted.

Today, I found a bubble in the paint and I touched it. It was hollow, and as I pushed I went into the wood. It seems that section of porch is exposed to a lot of rain, and dries out slowly. Now my question, since I have to once again replace the decayed parts to prevent further damage, will ordinary 'treated lumber' work well? Or should I be looking for a special lumber highly rott resistant, if such a thing exists?

Thank you,

tom

[Pete C.]

The regular treated stuff (ACQ now) should last longer, but if you don't want to mess with it again and don't mind spending a bit more there are some nice PVC railing systems on the market. These are not the plastic-wood composite deck items, but rather cellular PVC extruded over galvanized steel components. No need to ever paint either.

Pete C.

[barry]

BTDT. PT lumber may resist rot a bit longer than untreated, but not much.

Worst case is lumber that's exposed to moisture and air, like with path to wick moisture up into wood. Common solution is to isolate end-grain of verticals from surface below and/or provide internal ventilation paths.

You'll find some appropriate h/w at Homey's.

HTH, J

[Dan Espen]

Here's a picture of "Permarail":

Looks like wood, lasts like vinyl.

Go here:

and scroll down to see my comments about it.

[Rich Greenberg]

Use plastic "lumber" such as trex.