Question: I put down 6×6 PT lumber for a retaining wall as well as to frame out some steps for a walkway. Should I treat it with some stain or sealant? How, long will it last if I don’t?
Chief of all sinners.
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Replies
depends on several things like soil conditions (does it drain) and the retention rate of the wood you installed - but it is probably .40. Even so, I think the jury is still out on the "new" PT lumber.
I don't know how long the "new" PT lumber will last but I can tell that the "old" PT lumber lasts a really long time. In 1981 I put an addition on to my house that required me to build a 3' wide by 5' high retaining wall to frame out an outside strairway. It was late in the fall and I really needed to get something up so I could hold things in place for a while. The stairs are made out of cast in place concrete. I had some 5/8" PT plywood that I used for the stair well side. and a piece of 1/2' that went at the end. I figured that I would replace the whole thing in the next few years. Well 25 years later it is still there looking as good as a plywood retaining wall could possilbly look. I don't when I will get around to replacing it but it won't be for product failure reasons. Roger
Just make sure that you have PT lumber with treatment tag on it that list the chemical retention level and not Lamdscape Timbers.
Landscape timers don't have enough treatment.
For CCA I had 2x6 burried for 20 years with one edge exposed and it showed no deteriation when I dug it up.
that depends on if the the timbers are rated for ground contact or direct burial...
get the information ftom the tag on the end or it says so in the grase stamp....
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming
WOW!!! What a Ride!
Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
Thank you breaktimers. The rating is for gound contact. I think I'll just let those timbers be.
Chief of all sinners.
I made a "temporary" walkway out of 2x6 Doug fir in 1971. I just gave it a good coat of Jasco Termin-8 at that time, and it's still in good shape today.
-- J.S.
If it's CCA and .60 treated (AKA: treated for ground contact), it'll last a very long time.
AS others have said, the jury's out on ACQ for longevity.
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"Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd." Voltaire