Hello,
I would like to replace a rotten garden gate. I 've read old posts here and larch and Douglas Fir are recommended for outdoors but I can't find anyone locally who sells them. Looking in places like Wickes, they sell gates made from softwood. Provided it is given a coat of paint or creosote-substitute, would softwood last outdoors?
I wondered whether treated softwood would be better because I thought the preservative was applied under pressure to help it penetrate further into the wood? How much further does it get into the wood? Is it much better than a surface coating of paint/creosote?
I notice most treated softwood is rough sawn and I think that's because it absorbs the treatment easier than planed wood does. But some rough sawn timber is very rough! Is there a way to tidy up very rough, rough sawn treated timber without sanding or planing all of the treatment off? Or is it just a matter of rummaging and selecting the best samples off the shelf at the timber yard?
I had a wander around Focus during my lunch hour and I notice they have some planed treated softwood: that rounded edge C16 and some shiplap cladding, which I hadn't seen anywhere before.
Thanks, Stephen