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Preserving milled lumber

Started by Jmiller160, April 04, 2017, 11:19:19 AM

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Jmiller160

What is the best way to preserve milled lumber?

reswire

I found a company on the net, that sells concentrated copper napathate (hopefully spelled correctly) the same ingredient that was used in the old product "Cuprinol".  It sells in 5 gallon containers, and when mixed at 2% with diesel fuel (now commercially available at 1% with water), creates 25 gallons, and is an excellent preservative.  Diesel fuel soaks into the wood at a far better rate than water, and the sales person sent brochures with pictures of how to treat fence posts as well as regular decking lumber etc..  I'll look for the brochures if I still have them, but I know the company is still there, selling 5 gallons, 25 gallons, and 50 gallon containers of concentrate.
Norwood LM 30, JD 5205, some Stihl saws, 15 goats, 10 chickens, 1 Chessie and a 2 Weiner dogs...

reswire

The last time I used it, the price for the mixed product was close to 25 bucks per gallon.  I believe 5 gallons of concentrate (makes 25 gallons mixed with fuel), was 250 dollars.  Works out to what you pay for 1 percent, water mixed at the box store.  The two percent solution is equal to what is used on most commercially treated lumber; if you do the application correctly, you will have a better, end product.  They recommend setting the posts in a container with 4 inches of solution, allowing the CN to wick up the post for 24-48 hours.  If you set posts at 24 inches, the solution should soak up the exterior and interior in that time frame, and the rest of the post is brushed on application.  Of course do all staining outside, the smell and fumes can make you sick, and rubber gloves and a respirator wouldn't be a bad idea, either.  When I use it, I take extreme caution.  The posts I set are 5 years old now, and haven't shown any signs of rot or decay.  I've used treated lumber on my farm and only gotten 15 years out of the posts (wet, clay areas usually), so if I can match that, I'm happy.  My father used to brush the stuff on untreated lumber, and some of the posts are now 30+ years old, and still strong.  He is also in a wet, clay soil environment.
Norwood LM 30, JD 5205, some Stihl saws, 15 goats, 10 chickens, 1 Chessie and a 2 Weiner dogs...

Jmiller160

how safe is it though for building a log home with ?

longtime lurker

Product is Copper Napthenate, manufacturer is Nisus Corp.

Its safe enough. We mix it with diesel as above for exterior applications, or with white spirit depending. Smell is not so bad, fades faster with the white spirit.

Look if its under a coat of paint etc its sealed in. If you can't contact it paint is irrelevant. If you are going to be touching it and want unpainted better to go with borates.

In ground contact  creosote is better.

None of the above are worth a double DanG if not applied correctly or used in the wrong place.

The choice boils down to how long you want the cabin to last, and what the decay risks are.
The quickest way to make a million dollars with a sawmill is to start with two million.

Jmiller160

I was mainly wondering for my floor joist , need protection from termites and stuff to

Magicman

Other than metal termite shields and proper ventilation, no treatment is needed.  For lumber to rot it needs moisture and foundation vents take care of that.  Termites will absolutely eat pressure treated lumber and the metal termite shields take care of that.  LINK
Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

Jmiller160


Don P

Crawlspace venting can cause problems sometimes. I was involved in a diagnosis/repair project not too long ago, it was not the first time. The joists and girders were rotten below the insulation, when I pulled the insulation aside the joists were still bright and in perfect condition. This article explains that problem;
https://buildingscience.com/documents/insights/bsi-009-new-light-in-crawlspaces

Also remember that a termite shield does not stop termites, it simply, in theory, forces them to tunnel around the metal thus showing themselves. Most houses have too many hidden places where you cannot inspect the shield to rely on that alone.

Jmiller160

That's what I was thinking to a house is a big place.  My orkin man that i use now for my trailer told me to let them treat it when I get the floors done, I don't know how well it'll do but they garuntee their work

Kbeitz

I had problems with termites in my old barn. My fix was to brush old
motor oil on any beams that touched the rock foundation. Worked great.
Collector and builder of many things.
Love machine shop work
and Wood work shop work
And now a saw mill work

Don P

It does work, it is not good for us or fire.
I'm not a big fan of the orkin man but he does have his place and many banks require a soil treatment. I poured what we call a "rat slab" in our crawlspace that has worked well for about 30 years. We swaled the soil under there and put in a sloped perforated drain pipe out to daylight outside, washed rock over that to level it, plastic and about 2" of concrete (nobody is driving under there it is just a cap. There is a screened drain in the concrete down to the drain below that has only had water in it once when the water heater under there failed. It's just a bull floated finish but makes for a nice crawl to work in. I did put in vents to make the inspector happy but they have been closed ever since. If we do for some reason get a moisture problem I'll solve it the same way we did in those damp houses, with a dehumidifier under there. For termites, borate has become more common in places with high termite pressure. It is non toxic to us but kills wood eating bugs and decay fungi. Treated lumber will kill termites feeding on it if the treatment is complete (the same can be said for borates or any treatment). Heartwood is full of extractives that make it hard to get anything into, I suspect that is where MM has seen them feeding. They will "try" just about anywhere. The last house I worked on they had come up inside the block through cracks in the joints. We could see them running in the decaying roots of the mint bed outside. Once inside the block they made mud tunnels up, no termite shield or the required solid poured cap so they didn't need to come out to view they just went through the sill and up into the walls, all the way to the second floor walls. They seemed to run out of steam about 15-18 feet above ground. Our subterranean termites have to go to ground every day so I think that was just their height limit.

longtime lurker

If lumber is properly treated with the correct treatment solution no termite is going near it.

Properly treated would include the application of a napthenate solution to ends cut during the building process etc - even if the lumber is pressure treated. Most hardwoods have negligible uptake of the treatment solution via commercial pressure treatment processes but it does form a barrier layer a couple mm thick on the surface of the timber which is enough to stop them wanting to chew through it. it will not prevent them from tunneling along inside the treated wood if they can gain access without going through the treated layer which is why in high termite risk applications remedial treatment of cut ends is so important.

Stump caps are also important, because of the physical barrier they provide. Around here concrete or timber stumps long ago lost favour to steel. Termites arent afraid of a bit of cement or brick on their way to your floor and wall cavities.

'Both is the correct answer if you're in high termite risk areas. Along with chemical pretreatment of footings, ongoing preventative application of insecticides etc.

Old engine oil is a creosote substitute. It works.
The quickest way to make a million dollars with a sawmill is to start with two million.

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