Replies

1. 
   Mooney | Jun 19, 2002 03:42pm | #1

   ok, they have a "green finish " you can put on to minimize warping , but really the wood is full of water , and normally here the wood is not seasoned either . The very best thing you can do is wait a year . The minumum is a three month summer. However ; many people get by using transparent stains , only to redo them in a year.

   Tim Mooney

2. 
   Mooney | Jun 19, 2002 03:49pm | #2

   Sorry , I read your post again to get through my thick skull that you were talking about priming and painting .  That would be a true disaster. You wood never be done scraping  pt pine if you painted it at this time.  {Now read my first again please} 

   Tim Mooney

3. 
   BillHartmann | Jun 19, 2002 05:09pm | #3

   " I'm talking about the nasty soon to be outlawed pressure

   treated (greeny-biege)."

   Pressure treated lumber is NOT BEING OUTLAWED!

   From "Finishes for Exterior Wood" which is based on the reports for the US Forest Service Forest Products Laboratory;

   "Finish characteristics of preservatice-treated wood are primarily dependent on wood species and grain orientation..."

   "Waterborne preservatives treatments DO NOT adversely affect the finishing characteristics of wood. In fact treatment with chromated copper arsenate (CCA) actually enhances the durability of the finsihes..."

   It goes on to say that the other water borne treatment processes don't have positive or negatively effects on the finish. CCA is what is being outlawed, not water born pressure treatment processes.

   "The main consideration in finishing pressure-treated lumber is the moisture content of the wood. In some cases, the lumber may still be wet from the pressure treatmentwhen it is delivered to the job site, particularly during cool or wet weather. If the wood is still wet it must be allowed to dry dry before before finishing so that the surface mositure is less than 20 percent. The rate wood dries once in places in a completed structure depends on weather conditions; under warm summer conditions, about 2 to 3 weeks should be sufficient for drying. For best finish performance, the wood should be at a moisture content typical of what it would be during the service life - about 12 percent mositure content for most areas of the continental United States."

   As you are painting and not staining this I would recommend waiting until the wood has stabalized in moisture.

   Take a scrap of cut off and weight it on a postal scale. Then keep with with the other wood. Repeat weighting it every week until you don't see much change.

1. 
   patrickofm | Jun 20, 2002 02:33am | #4

   Thanks for your input. I've had good results with latex exterior "breathing" paints which I use to cover brick, I figure that will work here too.  BTW if the wood is sealed by the pressure treatment, does that meann I don't have to shellac the knots?

1. 
   Mooney | Jun 20, 2002 04:34am | #5

   Come back in a year and tell us how it turned out .

2. 
   BillHartmann | Jun 20, 2002 04:35am | #6

   Pressure treatment does not "seal" the wood. If bonds chemical to make it untasty for termites and fungus.

   It will still bled sap. I have a couple of spots on my dock that are bleeding.

4. 
   Piffin | Jun 20, 2002 06:24am | #7

   Not sure what it is you are painting. That can effect the answer. I use PT for a lot of porch railings. We mill out the parts ourselves. I also use red cedar sometimes.

   I try to plan ahead and have the material drying for three months before milling just save taking a bath in the chemical but also because of painting.

   For the most part we let it season/dry in place after installation before painting. We use BenMoore oil primer and finish paints for all exterior. If the wood is dry before painting, the paint holds as well to PT as to anything else. Mill glaze can cause more problems than the chemical does.

   Dry it, sand it, prime it, paint it, then play on it without worry.

   Bill's right, treatment doesn't seal the wood at all.

   Excellence is its own reward!
1. 
   rez | Jun 23, 2002 04:52pm | #8

   piffin- A while back I had sistered PT joists to strengthen the second floor of an old farmhouse I am rebuilding. The kitchen will be beneath these PT joists. The underside of the second floor t&g will be left exposed between the joists and a cedar or maple covering will go over the PT joists. Since it is a kitchen area I am in hindsight concerned over the PT and am considering sealing it before the finish wood is applied. Do you think that I am over-reacting to an invalid concern or should I use an oil primer as mentioned in your previous post. I would much appreciate your thoughts on the matter. Thanks- rez

   Half of good livin' is staying out of bad situations.

1. 
   Piffin | Jun 23, 2002 07:14pm | #9

   Well, I probably wouldn't recommend installing it there in the first place but now that it's in and dry, you've got nothing to worry about. (BTW did it drip into your coffee in the meantime?)

   I'm no expert but from the literature that I've read, the two ways the arsenic can be released to hurt you are heat and chemical leaching by acids.

   If you ate soem dust from it, could the heat of your body and the acids in you stomach do it? I don't know if they've tried that experiement.

   If your house were to burn down would the smoke contain some nasty stuff from it? You bet! But in that scenario, you've got other things to worry about - just don't plant a vegie garden on the ashes and eat the produce.

   If you used it for a vegie garden border and then added manure (acid) to the soil would it leach enough into the soil to hurt you? Some folks are worried that it might but there's no proof of it.

   I think the biggest concern is using the stuff for playground equipment. If kids rub their little half naked bodies all over it while it is still wet with chemical they probably absorb enough to be measureable in their systems. Some kids even gnaw on wood like horses and goats do at the corral too.

   But unless you plan to start rubbing your marinated meat all over the joists before cooking them, I can't imagine a scenario where you need to worry. You already did the deed. Now enjoy the feed.

   Excellence is its own reward!

1. 
   rez | Jun 24, 2002 03:07am | #10

   Thanks, it's all in the learning curve. You live, you learn, you do it better the next time.

   half of good livin' is staying out of bad situations.

1. 
   oldpro007 | Jun 24, 2002 06:22am | #11

   Hey Rez and original poster; Unfortunatley I have too much experience with painted & treated wood. It aint fun. But it does take a coat very nicely. My experience tells me to oil prime it. Twice on the knots. Then use any good latex. I prefer Ben&Morbids or sherriwilly. Use their best stuff. It costs more and is still cheaper than the lesser expensive paints. Only in the long run.

   I am building a fence this week, about 112 feet, 4500 hundred. Shadow box, treated, rough cut, kiln dried to 14%, SYP. And primed, painted and twice...Old Pro, day or both...

2. 
   rez | Jun 24, 2002 08:36am | #12

   bet you have a good sprayer:)

3. 
   oldpro007 | Jun 30, 2002 05:03pm | #13

   Rez; haven't had time to find this post again lately.

   I'm renting a small graco airless for this job but my next tool is going to be a HVLP, the big graco with 2.5 gallon pot (and the cup),  all selfcontained. I've got the price at 1150 but am getting ready to shop. I may switch brands as there a pretty decent spray equipment here in Charlotte that sells more industrial type equipment. I would like to spray every thing from laquers and stains to latex and those pesky oil primers.  My thought are perhaps to get into two part spray finishes. I am not a painter but am getting pretty darn tired of painters screwing up a good job. For this job though... we will do it the messy way.

   By the way, I've read somewhere on the net that California is eliminating the airless sprayers. You know what they say; As California goes, so goes the country.Old Pro, not quite old, not quite pro, but closer every day on both...