I stained and sealed my pressure treated lumber before building, did I ruin it? What should I expect?

Question

We put up a pergola in the backyard. I thought it would be much easier to stain the lattice on sawhorses than up in the air over my head, so I stained it with Thompsons waterseal. I also stained the 2 x 6's before putting the lattice on top. I didn't allow the boards time to dry, which I now have read can be bad, but I can't find anything that says why. My pergola looks great, so will the boards warp or why should I have waited? What's going to happen now that I didn't wait?

Answer 1

Treated lumber is "treated' by forcing a chemical laced water solution into the lumber under force.  Generally when you carry the lumber home is is still wet internally.  If you note it is generally much heavier...that's water weight.

It is a bad idea to seal it before it dries and it is even worse to use Thompsons since it is parrafin based, not oil based, hence lesser protection.

Nothing you can do now

Answer 2

The big reason they ask you to wait is that if it's sticky during installation, it can pick up dirt or other items and make your install not look so good.

To the first Answerer, Paraffin is a distillate from the destructive distillation of crude petroleum.  Oil based is usually linseed oil which they usually dilute with a petrochem based oil anyway.

The pressure treated wood is impregg'd with a copper sulfate and nitrate based solution.  These are water soluble, but the wood is dry by the time it gets to the consumer.  It is often wet at the store because it was left outside in weather.

Applying Thompsons seal is no problem.

Answer 3

I sould not worry too much if your pergola looks good your other contributers were correct in what they wrote, however what is done is done youll just have to keep your fingers crossed things will be OK touch wood!

Answer 4

If you were able to nail or s***w the pre-stained pieces together, I see no problem at all. I have tried to build a fence when it was raining and it just doesn't work. You can't nail into wet wood, and I suppose if the wood was still wet when you installed it you may have had a little more problem . Otherwise, you're okay. What do others say?

Answer 5

I guess I have to ask,,,where did you read that???

   Certainly it would have been the practical thing to do, and you must have incurred some sticky in handling wet applications.

   I'm not at all a fan of Thompsons, and you will be doing this on a regular basis anyway, for the life of the construction. Hopefully you won't dismantle it each time.

  In your favor, NO THE Lumber will not warp. Sealers do not penetrate deep enough or remain WET long enough to have any serious, adverse effect. If they did, the effect could as easily happen with lumber already installed. Hopefully the PT lumber had time to dry though.

  I GET IT, the desire to not work overhead. What I don't get is the impatience to not allow dry time. I don't know where you are, but anywhere I've ever installed a deck, then sealed, (CABOT) being my choice, I've been able to walk on within a couple of hours.

Steven Wolf

AKA: The Deck Doc

Just my two "sense"