[vinceparisi]

Is using the ‘new’ pressure treated lumber safe to use to make a bench?

I know that pressure treated lumber now has the arsenic removed and special hardware should be used to assemble one, due to it’s corrosive effect, but I’m still leery of using it to build a work bench. I have found really nice looking 4×4 and 4×6 that would be excellent in th building of a strong sturdy bench, but still shy away from because of the possible health factor.

Has anyone used pressure treated lumber for any indoor project? .

Topic

[Phil_H]

#2027688

I hate to be a doom and gloom merchant but I wouldn’t personally use treated lumber for an indoor project. I simply don’t trust the chemical soup that the timber is soaked in. Unless I could get a written guarantee of safety from the manufacturers owners signed by all of them, their parents, grandparents, great grandparents, the tooth fairy and Santa Claus then……..nah

1 user thanked author for this post.

James Wright

[James Wright]

#2027692

I don’t even use pressure treated outside. There are lot better options. Why would you want to use pressure treated in the first place?

[Phil_H]

#2027695

Vince, just as an extra bit of information you might need……….

I know how inviting some bits of lumber can be :-) Take for instance railway sleepers (I believe you gentlemen “across the pond” refer to these as railway ties). Great slabs of wood, well seasoned and preserved for the outdoors and just begging to be turned into garden benches/projects, well dont!

Take it from the guy who made some raised flower beds with them. Looked lovely until the summer came and they got hot and then they started to leach creosote and tar. You tend not to notice the penny sized wet patches when you are gardening and standing on them but guess what happens when you track creosote and tar into the house………yep, move over dog I’m bunking with you tonight :-)

[Mike in TN]

#2027722

Hi Vince,

Pressure treated lumber is most certainly not my first choice. It is generally very wet and moves and splits a lot as it dries. I would think that the chemical content would be hard on the tools, in working it and because of corrosion from contact. The only way I would consider it is if it was of the new treatment process, had set up long enough to have dried very well, was being used on parts well away from any tool contact,  maybe for the legs in damp locations but there are still better ways to deal with that. Just say no.

[betsyjolas]

#2079627

Knowledge is power and in the fast-paced world we live in, staying informed can be quite a challenge as the wordle game is also a challenge for you.</span>

[Author]

Replies