Pressure Treated Wood
- Pressure Treated Wood
- Arsenic Contamination
- Arsenic Effects
- Arsenic Information
- Arsenic Ingestion
- Arsenic Poisoning
- Arsenic Symptoms
- Arsenic Wood
- Cca Lumber
- Cca Wood
- Legislation
- Painting
- Removal
- Sources
- Toxicity
- Treated Lumber
- Treatment
- Wood Safety
Pressure Treated Wood
Contact a Pressure Treated Wood Lawyer
August 29th, 2004
"New products not necessarily safer"
Pressure treated wood using arsenic, an effective poison for hundreds of years, was used in deck construction for many years but is no longer sold for residential use. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) banned most uses of arsenic as a pesticide in 1991 except for CCA. CCA, or chromated copper arsenate, was used in lumber to protect wood from rotting. Due to its links to cancer, CCA has been replaced and the alternative lumber products are treated with things like alkaline copper quaternary (ACQ) or copper azole (CA) that are on the market and sold under names like ACQ Preserve and NatureWood.
While these new lumber treated products are supposed to be safer than pressure treated wood with arsenic, some new products are treated with sodium borate (sold as Advanced Guard or DuraBora) and should not come into contact with moisture. If looking for a product for deck construction or other outside repairs, lumber treated with borates should not be used. According to many environmental advocates, homeowners wishing to replace the arsenic pressure treated wood (CCA) should use composite lumber such as Trex instead of the new treated lumber in case ACQ and CA are found to be problematic in the future.
As with arsenic pressure treated wood, precautions should be taken with other new lumber products, like making sure to wash your hands following contact, cutting the lumber in open spaces and wearing gloves and protective goggles. Though considered to be less toxic to humans than the arsenic in CCA, the new lumber products can corrode metal connectors and fasteners more quickly because of its higher level of copper compared to pressure treated wood with arsenic.
