Wood preservative, a trustworthy brand?

[epsilonGreedy]

I need to slap a coat of wood preservative on my roofing rafters and in another thread @SimonDsuggested a preservative with boric acid.

 

 

Further reading on the subject indicates that wood preservatives fall into three categories of protection and only the top category, usually with boric acid, protects against wood boring insects.

 

I hope to felt and slate within in month so the current period of dry weather would be a good time to peel off the temporary tarpaulins and apply some preservative particularly to the rafter ends that were not 100% protected from moisture.

Edited July 20, 2021 by epsilonGreedy

[nod]

I use Barretine Premier 

Protects against wet rot  and most boring insects 

Good for spraying and clear also 

Around a tenner per liter 

[epsilonGreedy]

4 hours ago, nod said:

I use Barretine Premier 

 

 

I gave the Barretine technical department a call, what a decent company with a nice west country twang.

 

However I then thought it best to confirm with a roof felt manufacturer if fitting a modern membrane over newly coated wood was approved. I was not the first to ask and the clear answer was they have not tested therefore the answer is no. Barretine do a water based preservative but this is rare in the retail channel. I suppose the membrane manufacturer is concerned that a solvent based wood preservative might react when in longterm contact a little their product.

Edited July 20, 2021 by epsilonGreedy

[James Newport]

There's the unbranded option
https://www.boron.org.uk/Boron_shop.htm

They do explicitly state that there's no problem combined with breather membranes. Of course, you have to navigate the world's most user unfriendly website if you want to buy anything. 

[SimonD]

I last used Wykabor 10.1 to treat approx. 40 meters of glulam ring beams and a load of untreated CLS. Here's the data sheet

 

Interestingly it does say:

 

Quote

Please note: This is a timber treatment product and as such is only to be used on timbers. No liability will be accepted in relation to other materials being coated with this product. All other materials should be isolated so the product cannot come into contact with this treatment. This includes central heating pipes, electric cables, roofing membranes and all other associated materials. Any persons not doing so do this entirely at their own risk

 

However I do suspect this only applies to wet application, not once the product has dried after application.

 

Possibly worth a call to their technical department.

 

HTH.

[epsilonGreedy]

20 minutes ago, James Newport said:

There's the unbranded option
https://www.boron.org.uk/Boron_shop.htm

They do explicitly state that there's no problem combined with breather membranes. Of course, you have to navigate the world's most user unfriendly website if you want to buy anything. 

 

I just looked Boron up in the Periodic Table, it sits next to carbon in a middling position so nice and nonreactive and covalent next to my roofing membrane. I wonder how something chemically next door to carbon can be so poisonous? There are days I miss @Jeremy Harris 

[Onoff]

Isn't boron only any good for interior timber that won't get wet?

[SimonD]

27 minutes ago, epsilonGreedy said:

 

I just looked Boron up in the Periodic Table, it sits next to carbon in a middling position so nice and nonreactive and covalent next to my roofing membrane. I wonder how something chemically next door to carbon can be so poisonous? There are days I miss @Jeremy Harris 

 

As I understand it, the Boron impedes the digestive system of the insects so they can't digest their food - the wood. It's only mildy toxic for humans. Mildly irritant to skin and eys, but in high concentrations is dangerous in pregnancy apparently. How and why it's also works as a fungicide I'm not entirely sure.

[epsilonGreedy]

28 minutes ago, Onoff said:

Isn't boron only any good for interior timber that won't get wet?

 

 

I hope my roof timbers will not get wet once the slates are fitted.

 

The temporary tarpaulin cover has exceeded expectations, despite someone here saying it would last 24 hours. 7 months later is it still holding up. The proper roofing membrane should keep the roof carpentry dry for a month or two before the slates are fitted.

[Temp]

While on this subject...  I had been using "Ronseal general purpose wood preserver" which was a spirit/oil based preserver. It behaved like a dye soaking into the wood. Looked great.

 

However that seems to be no longer available so I tried a Ronseal Shed and Fence preserver. Problem is this behaves more like a pigment. It partly soaks in and leaves blotchy patches of light brown pigment on the surface. Looked horrible when I tried it.

 

So does anyone know of an alternative? Is their "Total Wood Preserver" more like a pigment or dye? 

 

Otherwise I think I'm looking at creosote substitute which is still a dye like product.

[SimonD]

1 hour ago, Temp said:

While on this subject...  I had been using "Ronseal general purpose wood preserver" which was a spirit/oil based preserver. It behaved like a dye soaking into the wood. Looked great.

 

However that seems to be no longer available so I tried a Ronseal Shed and Fence preserver. Problem is this behaves more like a pigment. It partly soaks in and leaves blotchy patches of light brown pigment on the surface. Looked horrible when I tried it.

 

So does anyone know of an alternative? Is their "Total Wood Preserver" more like a pigment or dye? 

 

Otherwise I think I'm looking at creosote substitute which is still a dye like product.

 

Try Cuprinol 5 Star treatment - it's pretty toxic, water based and simply soaks into the wood with a clear finish. I've used it a lot to soak ends of joists going into walls. However, I have to say that I much prefer using the Wykabor I referenced above, but when needs must.

[TonyT]

+1 for the last post.  I use the green coloured version so it’s easy to identify cuts that have and have not been treated.

[Onoff]

2 hours ago, SimonD said:

 

Try Cuprinol 5 Star treatment - it's pretty toxic, water based and simply soaks into the wood with a clear finish. I've used it a lot to soak ends of joists going into walls. However, I have to say that I much prefer using the Wykabor I referenced above, but when needs must.

 

Yep, I've always rated it. A reassuringly noxious whiff to it. Just think if I don't want to be in the room sniffing it then the nasties won't either! 

[SimonD]

22 minutes ago, Onoff said:

 

A reassuringly noxious whiff to it.

 Does it half!