Thats why you have to look for the "ground contact" rating. I can't
believe they sell pressure treated landscaping timbers that are not rated
for ground contact. Yet people buy em (pressure treated is pressure treated,
right?) thinking they are getting a bargain and they rot out in 5 years
(the timbers, not the people).

The local big box store had timbers on sale (rated for ground contact in the
ad). WHen I got to the store I could not find a single sale timber that had
the ground contact rating printed on it. YEt the more expensive timber (next
pile over) had the ground contact rating on every timber. I bypassed the
sale.

This goes both for the old arsenixc ones and the AC-3 ones.

"EXT" wrote in message
anews.com...
My experience is that the treatment only penetrates a small distance into
the wood, everywhere from 1/4 to a couple of inches depending on the wood.
I have seen pressure treated wood develop a crack in the surface that
exposes the untreated portion allowing water and fungus to enter and the
wood to rot from the inside so that it is like a tree that looks sound but
is hollow in the center.

"Tony Hwang" wrote in message
news:WWopi.2960$rX4.2724@pd7urf2no...
wrote:
Now that they have banned the Arsenic treatment for lumber, I am
wondering if this new treated wood is any good? The stuff barely even
looks treated. I do favor eliminating toxic chemicals from our lives,
I am not going to pay for treated lumber that will be rotted in a few
years and from the looks of this new stuff, I fear it will rot as fast
as untreated lumber. I just discovered this new stuff, and I refused
to buy it. I was lucky to find a small rural lumber yard that had a
large stock of the older arsenic treated wood on hand, and even though
it cost more, I bought it. At least I know it will last for years
like all the older treated lumber did. Somehow I have a feeling this
new (so called) treated lumber is little more than plain lumber
sprayed with a green colored water. I dont want it !


Hmmm,
Very interesting. You do favor eliminating toxic chemicals and yet buy
that lumber treated with arsenic. I never knew arsenic is not toxic, LOL!
I built a cabin on a newly treated wood pile, after 10 years it still
stands. Whatever that green stuff is injected into wood.