Hi Everyone,
Had another thought about protection of
wood posts. Has anybody every used reasonably dry treated lumber (6x6X12) and coated the bottom 4 feet with a few coats of coal tar epoxy before putting them in the ground? This
should protect the post from moisture, oxygen, and the preservative would make the post a non-viable food source for things trying to
feed on it. Seems like the coal tar epoxy would also encapsulate the preservative and not let it leach out into the environment. The epoxy would sequester the coal tar making it safer for the environment too. Seems like a win-win. Coal tar epoxy is used in some of the nastiest environments on metal and wood structures. From what I can tell the stuff is really inexpensive too. It goes on a little smelly but the odor goes away as the epoxy sets.
If you really wanted to be environmentally friendly you could use some acetylated lumber like this:
https://www.accoya.com/
Has anyone used this stuff yet? It's available for dimensional lumber but nothing bigger like posts. You would have to make a glulam or nail a few together for a bigger post.
Thoughts?