{"id":2565,"date":"2019-10-04T00:01:33","date_gmt":"2019-10-04T07:01:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/pal\/pal-question-197\/"},"modified":"2023-08-08T10:50:09","modified_gmt":"2023-08-08T17:50:09","slug":"using-treated-wood-and-other-alternatives","status":"publish","type":"pal","link":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/pal\/using-treated-wood-and-other-alternatives\/","title":{"rendered":"using treated wood and other alternatives"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>We are thinking about putting in a retaining wall and a fence on our property, which is near a lake. Should we avoid using pressure treated wood? If so, what are some alternatives?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>There are many reasons not to use treated wood for your fences and\/or retaining walls. The chemicals most used to preserve wood&#8212;creosote (on railroad ties, among other things) and penta&#8212;were banned by the EPA in 1986 for indoor use and for many outdoor uses. The chemical used to pre-treat wood (CCA, a mixture of copper, chromium, and arsenic called chromated copper arsenate) has been shown to leach into the soil and to transfer to human skin through contact.<\/p>\n<p>There are safe paints and preservatives for coating wood; there are safe types of pre-treated wood; some people use stone, cement blocks, or other materials instead of wood.<\/p>\n<p>Below is lots of info about treated wood and alternatives.<\/p>\n<p>Start with the page on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.epa.gov\/ingredients-used-pesticide-products\/overview-wood-preservative-chemicals-0\">EPA site<\/a>, which is full of information on treated wood. It includes a section on alternatives and some questions and answers about studies.<\/p>\n<p>If you find this too technical, try the next two links below.<br \/>\nThe <a href=\"https:\/\/www.naturalhandyman.com\/iip\/infxtra\/infptforraisedgardens.html\">Natural Handyman<\/a> website has good information.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/toxicfreefuture.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/paints.pdf\">Toxic-Free Future<\/a> (formerly known as Washington Toxics Coalition) has a fact sheet about safe and unsafe paints and wood preservatives. Lots of background information on the toxicity of treated wood is included as well.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We are thinking about putting in a retaining wall and a fence on our property, which is near a lake. Should we avoid using pressure treated wood? If so, what are some alternatives? There are many reasons not to use treated wood for your fences and\/or retaining walls. The chemicals most used to preserve wood&#8212;creosote (on railroad ties, among other things) and penta&#8212;were banned by the EPA in 1986 for indoor use and for many outdoor uses. The chemical used&#8230;<\/p>\n<div><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/pal\/using-treated-wood-and-other-alternatives\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">using treated wood and other alternatives<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","keyword":[513,511,512],"class_list":["post-2565","pal","type-pal","status-publish","hentry","keyword-pesticides-and-the-environment","keyword-soil-contamination","keyword-wood-preservatives"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pal\/2565"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pal"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/pal"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"keyword","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/keyword?post=2565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}