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Copper Green

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(@jules-j)
Posts: 727
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I'm rebuilding a porch on our country place. Well, it's only 5 miles away from here we now live in town. The wife could care less about the place. I want to hang on to it because I'm too old to be homeless. Anyway, about 15 years ago we built a 10ft x 48ft deck using treated lumber. 4x4 post set in concrete, 4x4 treated?ÿ h-beams on 3 post 4ft centers, and treated 2x8 treated lumber for the deck surface. I put new siding on the double wide trailer last summer. I had to wreck the deck. Most of the treated lumber was rotten except for the 12 post I needed to save for the 8ft x 10ft porch I need for entry into the front door. Taking the siding down there was a 8ft 1x6 untreated board under the front door that showed problem 28 years ago. When I exposed that board last summer it was beautiful. Looked better than new. I remembered using a product named COP-R-TOX PRESERVATIVE. It did a great job. I need the 4x4 post to last for 20 more years. Couldn't find COP-R-TOX PRESERVATIVE. So I settled for a product named Copper Green. I applied it with a brush. Boy was that wood thirsty. Has anyone ever used Copper Green before. What was your experience?

 
Posted : 08/05/2020 9:18 am
(@dave-karoly)
Posts: 12001
 

I'm using it last year and this year so no idea how it works.

I'm building a 15x20 foot deck with pavilion, like a pergola except the roof is going to be solid, rain and sun shelter.

I did 9 6x6 posts on 12" diameter concrete piers with stand off bases which carry 4x8 beams carrying 2x6 joists above that. All pressure treated Douglas Fir.

The pavilion is redwood (still in progress). 8 4x4 posts (L-shaped), 5 sit on their own 12" concrete piers, 3 on the rear 4x8 beam. The design kind of evolved as I went.

I used cheap PT 2x6 Hemlock Fir boards (from the Home Center as Tommy puts it) for the deck boards, they are cheap, functional but twisty etc. Probably replace them with redwood in a few years, I can use them elsewhere.

 
Posted : 08/05/2020 9:50 am
(@norman-oklahoma)
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I built a deck using treated lumber about 15 yrs ago. Used a copper solution for end cut treatment that I got from Home Depot. No idea what the product name was.?ÿ We took the deck down a couple years ago when we reno'd the house. All the treated lumber was solid.?ÿ

 
Posted : 08/05/2020 10:10 am
(@dave-karoly)
Posts: 12001
 

Contractor I know says the formula has changed, the PT isn't nearly as durable as it used to be.

I have ground contact PT but none of it is touching the ground so hopefully it lasts longer.

 
Posted : 08/05/2020 8:47 pm
(@just-a-surveyor)
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@dave-karoly

Pressure treated (PT) has changed. I was told that they stopped using aresenic and if their was any other toxic stuff of similar nature then that would have been banned as well. 

 
Posted : 09/05/2020 3:59 am
(@jules-j)
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Pressure treated lumber is not the same. I have some from 1985 that is still solid. The PT from 1995 has rotten away. No ground contact. Thus the reason for using Copper Green. I don't want to go through this again. I have used anti freeze as a wood preservative before, and got very good results. But they changed that formula too.

 
Posted : 09/05/2020 5:25 am
(@just-a-surveyor)
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I can't imagine anti freeze doing anything useful since I believe it is mostly glycerin.?ÿ

Now when I was a boy most of the old farmers would mix up there own version of cresote and the basic recipe was 5 gallons of roofing tar, 5 gallons of diesel and 5 gallons of used motor oil. Mix that up real good.

They had some big tanks that had the top cut off and hinges installed to make a lid and they would submerge properly dried and cured rough cut timbers or planks and let them soak for maybe 2 months.

After a proper soaking they would fish them out and let them drip dry before installing. These were for out buildings and fencing.?ÿ

 
Posted : 09/05/2020 7:53 am
(@bill93)
Posts: 9834
 
Posted by: @just-a-surveyor

I can't imagine anti freeze doing anything useful since I believe it is mostly glycerin.?ÿ

Ethylene glycol and a few percent additives for corrosion protection, etc.

 
Posted : 09/05/2020 8:22 am
(@jules-j)
Posts: 727
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Posted by: @just-a-surveyor

I can't imagine anti freeze doing anything useful since I believe it is mostly glycerin.?ÿ

Now when I was a boy most of the old farmers would mix up there own version of cresote and the basic recipe was 5 gallons of roofing tar, 5 gallons of diesel and 5 gallons of used motor oil. Mix that up real good.

They had some big tanks that had the top cut off and hinges installed to make a lid and they would submerge properly dried and cured rough cut timbers or planks and let them soak for maybe 2 months.

After a proper soaking they would fish them out and let them drip dry before installing. These were for out buildings and fencing.?ÿ

Ethylene glycol is a proven wood preservative use in the boating world.

 
Posted : 09/05/2020 11:43 am
(@just-a-surveyor)
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@bill93

Yes, ethylene glycol, that what I meant.

 
Posted : 09/05/2020 2:13 pm
(@just-a-surveyor)
Posts: 1945
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@jules-j

I had no idea but I will certainly look into it. If that works and is an effective wood preservative it would be far easier to use anti freeze to soak wood. 

 
Posted : 09/05/2020 2:15 pm