B&Q timber worry

George_Bray

I’ve just realised I may be at risk from green pressure-treated timber which I bought from B&Q for use in fencing, decking, etc. Does anyone know if this stuff is/was treated with CCA (copper chromium arsenic)? It’s now been banned from use in kids playgrounds, etc, I hear. You’d think B&Q would stick a warning label on the timber, but no such luck. When cutting and handling the timber I took no special precautions. I even used the sawdust on a compost heat which ended up being used to grow vegetables.

One article I found says the ash from a single 12 foot 2 by 6 piece of Pressure Treated wood contains enough arsenic to kill 250 people.

Regards
George

newfunk

I wouldnt think for one minute that B&Q would risk selling this if it has been treated with CCA!! You can get a green wood preservative, which I believe is ok, obviously not to be used near animals or aquatic life, but they all say that anyway...

sweep9

Will ask my missus as she works for B&Qs timber supplier!

2 ticks

Update:

Ok, so she's going to speak to their tech support guy on Thursday / Friday. AFASK without confirmation, all the CCA timber was phased out 6 - 9 months ago and has been replaced by a safer alternative.

George_Bray

sweep9

B&Q gave me the name and phone number of that supplier today and I will call them tomorrow. If what you (provisionally) say is true, it could confirm my worst fear, because I bought most of my timber about a year ago and took no precautions at all when handling, cutting and sanding it. There were no warning notices, or anything.I previously, sub-consciously, took newfunk's view that anything you can buy must be reasonably safe.

Regards
George

George_Bray

I phoned one of B&Q's main timber suppliers and they were very helpful. The current pressure treatment is not CCA based and has not been so for up to five years, even though the EU law changed only a year ago. I still think B&Q should issue a brief guidance note clarifying safe applications and any precautions one should take, even with the slightly safer, current treatment.

Regards
George

thehairybuilder

George -
I don`t for a minute think B & Q will be selling CCA treated timber . Much more likely is that it is tanalith treated which is also green and is intended for safe home and garden use .
Details here ;
http://www.tanalith-e.com/alt_overview.php4

George_Bray

thb

Thank you for the tanalith-e link. This has gone some way towards putting my mind at rest, although I remain a bit concerned about wood I bought and used about 3-4 years ago, before the new rules came in, reducing the use of CCA.

Would CCA have been a different colour? All my wood was pale green. I wonder if this is always the distinctive tanalith colour, or do they just use green dye in everything?

Another good link is the consumer info document at:
http://www.tanalith-e.com/downloads/ConsumerInformation-TanE.pdf

The tanalith precautions seem wise, rather than scary, as they were for CCA.

Regards
George