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Got into a heated debate with a neighbor about whether treated lumber needs to be sealed. What side are you on?
I mean, I've been building stuff in my backyard studio for like 6 years now. Two weeks ago my neighbor Dave came over to check out the new planter boxes I put in around the studio. He's been doing carpentry for 30 years and he looked at my pressure treated wood and said 'you know that's gonna rot out in 5 years if you don't seal it.' I told him I've always heard treated lumber is fine on its own, that's the whole point of it being treated. He laughed and said the treatment just keeps bugs away, not water. We went back and forth for like 20 minutes. He finally pulled up a video from some building inspector in Oregon who showed moisture readings on unsealed treated posts vs sealed ones. Now I'm second guessing everything. Has anyone else run into this disagreement? What do you do with the wood around your studio space?
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dixon.nathan4h ago
Yeah actually your neighbor is mostly right but also kind of wrong. Treated lumber is already soaked with chemicals that resist rot and insects, but moisture can still get into small cracks and end grain over time. I learned this the hard way when I put up a treated privacy fence and the tops of the posts started splitting after two seasons. Sealing just the cut ends and any spots you drilled is usually enough for most stuff, but for stuff like planter boxes that stay wet, a good deck sealer helps it last way longer.
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