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Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff from how Stuff works dot com where
Speaker 1: smart happens. Hi, I'm Marshall Brain with today's question, how
Speaker 1: does pressure traded lumber work? Wood is a great building material.
Speaker 1: It's strong, lightweight, easily worked with tools, and relatively inexpensive.
Speaker 1: The only problem with wood is that many varieties of bacteria, fungi,
Speaker 1: and insects find it appetizing. When wood is in contact
Speaker 1: with the ground or moisture for any period of time,
Speaker 1: these organisms attack the wood. Untreated wood, like pine, will
Speaker 1: only last a year or two if it's touching hot ground.
Speaker 1: Pressure treated lumber is wood that's been immersed in a
Speaker 1: liquid preservative and placed in a pressure chamber. The chamber
Speaker 1: forces the chemical into the wood fibers. The pressurized approach
Speaker 1: makes sure that the chemical makes it to the core
Speaker 1: of each piece of wood. It's much more effective than
Speaker 1: simply soaking the wood in the chemical. The most common
Speaker 1: chemical used to treat lumber used to be chromated copper
Speaker 1: arsenate or c C A. In two thousand three, however,
Speaker 1: the Environmental Protection Agency restricted the use of c c
Speaker 1: A in residential settings due to health and environmental concerns
Speaker 1: about the arsenic leaching out of the wood. The most
Speaker 1: widely used alternative to c c A is alkalin copper
Speaker 1: quat or a CQ. Copper is toxic to most insects
Speaker 1: and fungi that might cause de k. A c Q
Speaker 1: binds the wood fibers very well, and it allows the
Speaker 1: wood to last decades even when it's in contact with
Speaker 1: the ground. The protection provided by the chemical depends on
Speaker 1: the amount of chemical that the wood absorbs. In the
Speaker 1: United States, the amount of chemical is measured in pounds
Speaker 1: of chemical per cubic foot of wood. For ground contact,
Speaker 1: point four pounds per cubic foot is needed. For above ground,
Speaker 1: point two pounds per cubic foot is the standard. The
Speaker 1: chemicals and treated wood are generally not very good for
Speaker 1: humans either. I mean, if it's gonna kill bugs, it's
Speaker 1: probably not good for us. This is why you see
Speaker 1: warnings advising you to wear gloves, avoid breathing the sawdust
Speaker 1: and refrain from burning treated wood. Keeping small children away
Speaker 1: from treated wood is also a great idea for moral
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