Pressure Treated Wood: Why pressure treated wood is better :Triton Barns

Triton Barns recommends pressure-treated wood be used on the bottom perimeter of each horse stall.

What is pressure treatment?

Pressure treatment is a process that forces chemical preservatives into the wood. Wood is set inside a closed cylinder, then vacuum and pressure are applied to force the preservatives into the wood. The preservatives help protect the wood from infection by termites, other insects, and general decay.

Chemical preservatives can be classified into three broad categories: Water-borne preservatives, Oil-borne preservatives, and Light Organic Solvent Preservatives (LOSPs). These are discussed in more detail below.

Water-borne preservatives

Water is the most common solvent carrier in preservative formulations due to its availability and low cost. Water-borne systems do however have the drawback that they swell timber, leading to increased twisting, splitting and checking than alternatives.

Oil-borne preservatives

These include pentachlorophenol and creosote. They are toxic, have an unpleasant odor and are generally not used in consumer products.

Natural preservatives - Naturally rot-resistant woods

These species are resistant to decay in their natural state, due to high levels of organic chemicals called "extractives", mainly polyphenols.

What types of wood can be pressure treated and what are the differences in corrosion rates?

Tree logs from wood is cut have a number of different layers. The two most important layers are called heartwood and sapwood. Heartwood provides most of the "structural" strength to the tree while the sapwood helps move the sap from the base of the tree..

Wood preservatives are absorbed into sapwood easier than heartwood. As a result, different types of wood such as Southern Pine, with a high percentage of sapwood, are predominately used in pressure treating.

Wood species such as Douglas Fir have more heartwood so changes to the preservative are typically required to achieve adequate absorption and retention levels. The modification that is usually made is to change the "carrier" used in the preservatives. This carrier uses an ammonia base, which greatly improves the penetration but also tends to increase the corrosion of the preservative. (Sapwood species usually have an amine base.) This increase in corrosion may be short term or long term. Hybrid carriers, a combination of amine and ammonia bases, can also be used to treat heartwoodspecies.

Perforating the wood with small slits may also be utilized to increase the absorption of the additives in the wood

What types of pressure treatments are used?

Waterborne, Creosote, and Oil-borne (penta) are the three broad classes of preservatives typically used when pressure-treating wood.

Wood treated with preservatives is typically used in residential, commercial and industrial buildings. Creosote is primarily used for treating railroad ties, guardrail posts, and timbers used in marine structures. Oil-borne is most often used for treating cross arms and utility poles

Different waterborne preservatives used in building applications include: Chromated Copper Arsenate (CCA-C), Alkaline Copper Quat (ACQ-C, ACQ-D, ACQ-D Carbonate), Micronized Copper Quat (MCQ), Copper Azole (CBA-A & CA-B) and Sodium Borates (SBX/DOT).

These additives are often referred to by trade names such as: MicroPro%u2122, Wolmanized Natural Select%u2122 (Copper Azole), Smart Sense%u2122, Preserve and NatureWood (ACQ), (MCQ), and Advance Guard (Borate). Each preservative comes in different varieties so care should be exercised when specifying treated wood.

Some different oil-borne preservatives that are used are Pentachlorpheno, Chlorpyrifos IBPC and Copper Naphthenate. One advantage of these treatments is that they do not create swelling in the wood, but sometimes there is an increase is costs over water-borne treatments as well as availability in some regions.

Why is this so important?

When wood is pressure-treated, additives is injected inside the wood all the way to the core, to help it better withstand the harsh elements. It also helps fend off vermin, insects and fungus, which can add more than 20 years to the life of the wood. The amount of protection on each piece depends on how much chemical the wood absorbs.

Note: Be sure to wear gloves when working with pressure treated wood, to include a dust mask and eye protection to avoid irritation of your eyes, nose and skin

Triton horse stalls and horse barns are Hot Dip Galvanized after fabrication which allows the parts to be galvanized on the outside where you see it and on the inside where the rusting process starts in painted and pre-galvanized horse stalls and panels.

- Triton Barns