Each day, I hear about customer's concerns about new wood. The biggest concern is whether or not to wait six months to allow the chemicals infused in new wood to seep out of a wood deck before sealing it. It is a valid concern. Manufacturers of wood products infuse the wood with protectants to keep insects from eating the wood. In the early days, the chemical infused was a product that contained arsenic. It was poisonous and killed all insects. EPA regulations made the wood manufacturers stop using arsenic in wood products. See below:
From Wikepedia: "Wood that has been industrially pressure-treated with approved preservative products poses a limited risk to the public, and should be disposed of properly. On December 31, 2003, the U.S. wood treatment industry stopped treating residential lumber with arsenic and chromium (chromated copper arsenate, or CCA)." Wikipedia goes on to point out,
"Dipping:
Dipping consists of simply immersing the wood in a bath of creosote or other preservative for a few seconds or minutes. Similar penetrations to that of brushing and spraying processes are achieved. It has the advantage of minimizing hand labor. It requires more equipment and larger quantities of preservative and is not adequate for treating small lots of timber. Usually the dipping process is useful in the treatment of window sashes and doors. Treatment with copper salt preservatives is no longer allowed with this method."
Other methods that are important involve heating the wood to one hundred and eighty degrees to make the wood stronger and less attractive to insects. Creosote is used as a more natural preservative and does not have the dangerous properties that arsenic once had.
It makes for very interesting reading if you are a nerd like me. Here is the link:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood_preservation#New_technologies
One last thing, do you have to wait six months for infused chemicals to evaporate from the wood? Six months is an arbitrary number. It is used by any know-it-all who is building a fence, because he or she does not want to do the dirty work of protecting a new fence. Once the fence is erected and the fence-building company is done, they just want to get on down the road. Figuring out when you can finally seal a wooden fence requires nothing but inspection.
Go to your local Home Depot or Lowes and look at the new wood section and personally inspect their wood for decks. Many times, the wood is green in color, that is partially from the Creosote infused in the wood. But, apply some pressure with your fingertips and many times you will see the wood appear to release moisture onto the end of your fingertip. Do the same thing to the wood that was just erected around your home in the form of a fence or a wooden deck. You can visually see that the wood is still wet. On the east coast, in Richmond, VA where my business, Southern Home Wood Deck Cleaning and Water-sealing and Staining, between the months of March and November of any given year, wood does not take six months to become presentable for sealant and stain application. A simple, visible test is needed along with an understanding of how the chemical leaves the wood. It dries out with exposure to the elements.
If the month of April produces continual showers, more time is needed before pressurized-wood can dry and stain or water-sealant can be applied. May, or during the hot summer, wood can condition in a number of days. Or, at the most a week or two. A common-sense approach is all that is needed.
Lastly, some acrylic sealants and stains can be applied the day a wood deck or fence is built. Wolman's has a product-line of acrylic sealants that can be put on the wood surface immediately.
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