Is my deck poisonous?
Question:We just had a new deck put on our house and its not stained/sealed yet. My father-in-law says we need to keep the baby off the deck because it is "very poisonous right now". I read on the internet that pressure treated wood used to be poisonous because arsenic was used in the treating process, but that is supposed to have stopped years ago. The marking on the deck is: SPIB Premium R.E.D. KD 19 HT 004 - can anybody tell me if this is poisonous or if that's all ancient history? Thanks!
Answers:
Yes, it is still poisonous. They still use poison to treat decks. Unless your baby is part termite though, I wouldn't worry to much about it. (btw, termites are immune to Arsenic ingestion poisoning lol)
Any wood decking material will contain some kind of natural or man-made poison. I don't know about Trex and other similar man-made decking but it seems they would advertise safety if it were indeed safe.
The problem is,,, you want to keep insects from eating your deck. Bugs don't read or heed warnings, thus you need to kill them with poison. Some plants have developed this through nature (cedar, teak, mahoghany etc) Some need a little help (pressure treated pine) Your baby won't die by going out on the deck, just make sure you remove any splinters he/she gets in a timely manner. If you don't, you'll know it pretty quickly. Those wood splinters will fester and become infected very quickly. I know, I'm a carpenter lol.
i heard that if if it wasnt stained then it definatly could be poisonous i'd listen to ur father-in-law just to be safe.
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