Treated lumber no longer will be sold

[Hoop]

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/...d-lumber_x.htm

Looks like thousands of people are going to be thrown out of work. Those involved in building treated wood foundations/basements just had there jobs eliminated.

[Ed in S. AL]

Why will they be thrown out of work? Can't they still build without treated lumber? I think so!

Now the people who work at the lumber mills making treated lumber may loose their jobs, but not the average guy building.

[bgak47]

They'll find a substitute treatment,it'll be approved, & 10yrs from now they'll find out that it causes cancer too. The price of cedar & redwood is sure going to go up!

[Marchwind]

I live down the road from two treatment plants. They are the only things in this tiny town. I doubt they are going anywhere. They already have alternatives but I can't remember what they are right now.

[Beeman]

Interesting,
There's a treatment plant in the next town ovwr. They've almost tripled in size in the last 2 years and have added a fleet of their own tractor trailers. They show no signs of slowing down and have been hiring steadily. I remember hearing about the phase out but had forgotten about it. i thought they were just going to prohibit consumers from purchasing raw lumber.

[fordy]

I was told in H.Depot a couple of weeks ago that they have changed the formula and the "new" formula is currently being utilized to treat lumber and they won't miss a beat. I bought 2x8's to floor a trailer and they showed me lumber with the new chemicals and you can't tell the difference. This industry is too large and essential in terms of the necessary applications and uses for treated lumber for it to just disappear . The bush adm. isn't going to sit by and let the industry and all the jobs be killed by a gov't edict. s.kuteman

[Gary in ohio]

Current treating methods go away. Been in the news for a year or more. The new method of treating lumber has been phased in the last year. Homedepot, lowes has had the new treated wood since the summer.

[bare]

I still remember the effect the old preservative Penta had on folks. We have an old post company not too far from here. I knew the family well. Hard workers with lots of kids. The entire family is gone now, having all suffered strange cancers. Even when they realized their family was slowly dying off from it, they continued in the business for lack of anything else to do. Sad.

You probably hear more about Libby, Montana because of the asbestos problems there and it being an EPA superfund site. Years prior to that, half the wells in town were contaminated forever by Penta in the ground water.

I wonder about the government studies that showed Copper Arsonate to be a safe alternative. I hope whatever alternate treatment they come up with is as effective and harmless.

[Darren]

CCA treated lumber will still be available. There is no alternative for lumber destined for saltwater immersion. The 2.5 megatreated stuff unlike the wimpy .4 treated lumber they sold homeowners will still be available if you know where to get it.

[big rockpile]

Faced with this today my Son is wanting to put a new floor on a Trailer his Grandpa told him to use Oak Lumber,said long as it isn't on the ground it will last a long time.We have some Treated Oak that I was thinking would last longer.

big rockpile

[Darren]

I've got a foot bridge we use when the creek is way up. I use 2" oak on that for decking. It lasts two to three years. The same stuff used vertically on the barn lasts for decades. On a trailer, it won't last long.

[bulldinkie]

we just bought 40 acres of pressure treated fence. This has been going on for years they had to take a certain chemical out replace it with something else.

[Runners]

Originally Posted by Darren

CCA treated lumber will still be available. There is no alternative for lumber destined for saltwater immersion. The 2.5 megatreated stuff unlike the wimpy .4 treated lumber they sold homeowners will still be available if you know where to get it.

What's CCA stuff - is that the brown treated stuff like telephone poles? What about the green treated stuff? I heard one guy refer to it as salt-treated, he was saying it was salt & a concoction of chemicals. Claimed it was stronger as well.

Bill

[j.r. guerra in s. tx.]

Runners, if its the 'good stuff', then it is likely the stuff that is about to be banned. Thats how life works sometimes.

Really complicates my life - I'm an architectural draftsperson - pressure treated lumber is -THE way to go for roof soffits and trim for house construction.

[Runners]

I drew up some plans for an elevated, enclosed deck / deer hunting stand. The power company has been replacing all the cresote poles with these green ones. Every one of them looks thinner, and weaker to me....

I'd love to get some of those old poles to support my project, and the last thing I want to do is replace soffit & facia boards because some tree rat (or tree climbing beaver) chewed into the thing. I'd rather they DIE of arsenic poisoning than climb 25' in the woods to fix their damage.

[bgak47]

Creosote treated lumber works well for structures like bridges & pole barns, & is good for fence posts & telephone poles, but not so good for houses or decks because it stinks & bleeds stickey gunk. I'm sure that various forms of water-resistant or water-proof building products will become available in the near future. One product that I have seen is a mixture of wood chips & plastic that is supposed to be impervious to moisture & stronger than wood. These composite materials will eventually replace treated wood products.

[Darren]

The CCA treated lumber is the stuff that will no longer be sold to the general public. Depending on the amount of treatment it can range from a light green, .4, (the stuff sold at Home Depot, Lowes and most supply places and now banned) to a very dark green almost black, 2.5, (found at lumber yards specializing in supplying bulkheaders and other contractors doing marine work). The 2.5 stuff will still be available to contractors in coastal areas. No alternative exists, so it's excepted from the EPA ban.