Pressure treated wood?

redser7

Hi. Had a new side gate installed this morning while I was out. It's supposed to be made of pressure treated wood. But to my eye it doesn't look treated. It's light yellow in colour whereas I expected it to have that green tinge of treated wood I've seen before. Could this still be treated? The frame does seem to be treated and has that green colour. Here's the chap's Facebook page and you can see examples like mine where the main timber used is light yellow but frames are greenish. He claims he uses only high quality pressure treated wood. Thanks for looking, I don't want to accuse him in the wrong.

the_pen_turner

I often get timber treated in a local timber yard. it all comes back with the yellowy colour. there is no green dye in it. I asked for green for a specific job (where it would have to be signed off and they wanted it green). it would cost extra because they would have to add in loads of dye.

go out and small the door and report back.

redser7

Thanks. It just smells like wood to me good to know iT can be different shades. Just expected to see that green shade.

my3cents

I use treated timber all the time (even burn a lot of it - shock horror I know I'll die) and only rarely does it have a green colour. Doesn't even have much in the way of a preservative type smell. If I'm making anything with it I always treat any cut ends and all joints with Larsens preservative and don't worry what colour I use clear or green as the green colour faded very very quickly.

One thing to note is that if the gate was custom made and its construction included proper joints (mortise and tenon for example) it may well be made from untreated timber. The reason is untreated timber is often a better quality timber and better for machining and looks better.

Just get a tin of clear Larsens and give it a good soaking, local builders merchants should do 5l for around €23 don't bother with the one that says its ecological its rubbish get the toxic one http://www.larsenbuildingproducts.com/products/range/8/category/38/-/0/product/323/ it really does a good job.

redser7

Thanks a million, I'll do exactly that!

my3cents

redser7 wrote: »

Thanks a million, I'll do exactly that!

I've just checked a brand new chicken shed I've just built in pretreated timber and the timber is exactly the same colour as the gate pics on your mans facebook page. Untreated is a lot whiter.

I'd still use the larsens protim on it as there is no preservative on the cut joints. The pretreatment only goes in so far so soak any end grain and go back and do around the joints several times. Moisture is held in the joints so this is the first place you often get any rot. With the pretreatment and the Larsens I'd expect at least 20 years of life out of that gate.

If you really want to go to town then use Textrol once the wood has weathered a bit and recoat every 3 years (google it available mail order but expensive).

redser7

Thanks again, great advice!

sbsquarepants

my3cents wrote: »

If you really want to go to town then use Textrol once the wood has weathered a bit and recoat every 3 years (google it available mail order but expensive).

Jaysus, when you said expensive you meant expensive!

my3cents

sbsquarepants wrote: »

Jaysus, when you said expensive you meant expensive!

The reason I recommend it is because its so easy to use and works really well. Preparation is minimum because it soaks into the wood. I've a 10 year old extension that I finished in shiplap and all it needs is a brush off every 3 years and a recoat, apart from the colour (which you can restore with Netrol) all the timber is still as good as new.

jack of all

I made a pair of timber side gates from planed, untreated softwood nearly 18 years ago. They were originally brush treated with Protim/ Larsens/ Panabond (take your pick) green wood preservative and are touched up each year. They are still sound and free from any rot, some weathering of course, but this is to be expected.

I often treat planed softwood for use externally and use plenty of wood preservative. If you like the green colour (and I do) here's a tip- buy a tube of artist's green oil colour from an arts shop and squeeze some of this into your tin of preserver. Throw in some pebbles as agitators and you'll get a good dark green that will resist fading!