Wood preserver question?

David I am not familiar with French preservatives but in the UK there is not to my knowledge any naturally yellow active ingredient so I suspect any yellow colour is a dye. The equivalent of the Coshh and Copr Regs applies in France (notionally!) and so I would simply ask the French suppliers for the process and material and then send me the information whereupon I can find out for you its likely efficacy as by law all preservatives are now (in theory) determined by efficacy data! FWIIW I would use my own fluid regardless then I would not be reliant on others alleging they have treated it! If it is a stinky job applying the preservative - the chances are you have an inferior product as a WW preservative nowadays in the UK can be water based and have absolutely no smell. One of the problems of using this stuff commercially is that the client suspects it has not been treated! Chris

I've only seen this colour of preservation in France not UK. Most NF (equiv to BSI) marked wooden products seem to come ready finished with this durable finish but I don' know what it is.

Have a look round in the local brico. They often have pictures of the relevant bugs on the cans of preservatives.

hth

Bob

PS remember not to ask for preservatives down at the brico - you might get very strange looks LOL

ROFL! they sell almost everything else though...

Sounds like the same stuff being used for general house building framing and the like since a couple of years at least in the UK. If I'm reading your description correctly it is likely to be "Vacsol Aqua"

Grandmother and eggs - I guess you may know this already...but AIUI modern wood preservatives are typically either borate based or CCA (Copper/Chrome/Arsenic) - known as tanalised - or more recently tanalith (which I think dispenses with or reduces the arsenic content). Both types require deep penetration, either by soaking by immersion, or better still by pressure treatment for maximum effect. Given the regulatory environment, I'd expect France to be using much the same stuff.

The wisdom I hear is that any coating or treatment works to some extent against woodworm - they don't like to munch through any sort of coating or treatment.

Much info here:

That sounds like the stuff! Bright yellow. Natural colour within. According to the website you mention it is for medium protection against insects.

I've just had a word with a local joiner too. He says it is protection against worm but it doesn't penetrate very far into the wood and he advises me to treat any cut ends.

Thanks for the replies everyone. I'm not keen on nasty chemicals but sometimes they are the better of the evils. At least at this rate I can keep application to a minimum but still get good protection.

They are getting used to my bad French at the Brico. I once bought 16 fencing stakes - the lady at the checkout asked me how many I'd got. My mind went blank. I'd forgotten 16 was "seize". Logic went thus 18 is dix-huit, 17 is dix-sept so therefore 16 must be dix-six. So I said "J'ai dix-six". I got a very strange look - then she counted the stakes her self. In retrospect I think I told her that "I had died".

Funny that, this week I got some 3 x 3 fence posts from Wickes which were yellowish. Previously they have been greeny brown. Customer asked if they were treated. You could see heavy specs of green chemical residue, so they must have been. The colour has definately changed though.