Wooden Fence?
Question:I'm confused by the different kinds of preservatives for wood. I just finished making a fence with pressure treated lumber and i was wondering if i need to apply wood preservative to it or stain it. I'm confused as to what staining wood and applying wood preservative actually does if the pressure treated wood is supposed to repel moisture and insects by itself.
Answers:
Use Thompson's Water Seal.
you are such a NERD ! ( which is why i like you x.x.x
( carry on the nerd acting cos i like it :.)
yes you are right, but sometimes here in our weather conditions you still need to go ahead and apply a preservative on it a nice stain,Thompsons
The pressure treated wood is not designed to repel moisture. it is impregnated with an insecticide and bacteriacide that keeps it from rotting. If you want to keep it looking good you need to wait until the wood dries and the cellular walls collapse and fully shrink to it's final size then apply some sort of oil based stain, which will coat the wood and keep out new moisture. It will be less likely to crack and spllit that way and will be less likely to warp excessively. Remember that a treated fence will warp and twist in places with exposure to the sun, so don't be surprised if you have to replace certain parts of it after a short while. Nothing you can do about that.
You don't really ned to do anything to pressure treated lumber. A stain may give a more pleasing appearance, but as far as preserving the wood, it's not necessary. If you do stain, use a latex based stain, since pressure treated wood tends to retain the moisture from the treatment for a long time.
Treated wood really is not appropriate for fencing. It will not rot but once the moisture evaporates you will start getting gaps between the boards.
Cedar or vinyl would have been my first chose, but staining it will not help preserve it. If you do, however, you need to wait until next summer to stain it, because it will not take.
Pressure treated wood is designed more to be insect proof than water proof. I can tell you from experience in a moderate climate (Maryland) that pressure treated wood will rot. I don't know how you attched the fence to the ground but buried pressure treated can start to rot in just 4-5 years and exposed unwaterproofed pressure treated wood will really start to warp, crack, split and then rot within a few years more. You will want to wait a year to let the wood dry more completely or the stain won't take. Then you can either do a coat of clear waterproofing like Thompson water seal or maybe a more expensive brand name. I had really good luck with the best Olympic stain. This may allow the wood to fade to a gray color. Some people like the gray color. If you want to keep it a certain color then use a waterproofing stain. In my climate you will want to do either the waterprooofer or waterproofing stain about every other year. If it is colder or much warmer there then do every year or do two coats right in a row.
Don't feel bad, if you had used non-pressure treated wood then you would have had to do a coat of stain and then a few coats of waterproofer the first year and then a couple coats of waterproofer every year. Or paint it a few coats at first then a coat of sealer.
It is recommended that for the first 6 months to a year you do nothing to the pressure treated fence except look at it. Adding Water Seal is not necessary.
After a year or so you can treat it or stain it.
Pressure treated wood already has been treated and will last for years untreated but will last much longer if you stain or treat it again.
Untreated wood requires staining, painting or treating almost immediately.
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