Treated Lumber - Should it be painted?

[ts_hunter]

I have some green treated 4x4's and 2x4's from Mendards. I want to get the most years out of them. Should they be painted right away with an exterior latex paint, or should I wait a year or two? I have heard both. What do you think?

[Farmboy1]

The new green lumber is very wet when it is first treated. I would leave it for a year to let the moisture from the treating process before painting it.

I don't think you will get any more life out of them by painting them, and will give yourself more maintenence painting them every 3 years then to leave them alone. If it were me, I would leave them alone.

[Surface Tension]

What ever you decide to do it'll need to dry out first.

Then you can use a paint specially made for treated wood that claims you can paint it sooner. IMO its best to wait a year.

The wood isn't going to rot but it will become weathered, cupped, and split along the grain.

Without a doubt a "paint" is going to protect the wood.

I'd go for a penetrating stain treatment instead of a paint that sits on the surface. Reason being I'd rather clean and restain then contend with peeling paint. At any rate the wait will have faded the green a bit thus getting a truer color of stain but more importantly the wood will have dried for the stain to penetrate.

Now it depends on what your doing with the 4x4s.

A deck board will weather and go bad long before a vertical post. Treatment there is more for appearance or matching to a paint scheme.

[crothmeier]

Agree with surface tension. Find a stain, weather it be transparent, semi-transparent, or solid color. Zar makes a nice product "rain stain" and is available in colors. Like said above, no dealing with the peeling paint.

Also wait at least until fall before staining so that the wood has adequate time to dry out before staining otherwise the stain wont soak in properly, sit on the surface of the wood, dry, then chip off.

There are semi-transparent stains available formulated for treated wood, with pigments that will offset the green tint of the wood. i built a set of stairs and a fence this spring with treated, and will be putting a semi-transparent stain on this fall that will give it a varying dark brown color depending on the grain of the wood.

[nofishfisherman]

This is a timely thread for me as I am working on putting in a treated fence right now.

The posts are all very wet yet and I had planned on waiting before staining them.

I am using prefab wood panels that are also treated but those appear to be totally dry already.

I'll have to look into the stains that are designed to be used on treated wood becuase some of the fence panels are a pretty bright green with other parts being a very light natural wood color.

[lunge]

let the wood cure/dry out then look for sikkens woods stain, trust me you wont be disapointed. but if your project is painted, let it dry then paint Id give it most of the summer to dry. imo- sherwin williams is overpriced [PoorWordUsage], im a displaced contactor and the behr premium in the black cans is your best bang for the buck. id also stay away from mautz,dutchboy- well good luck

[11-87]

let it dry until it will take water in..

how to test if its dry enough???

Pour a cup of water on it.. soaks in... good to go..... sits there... wait... wait... and wait...

[walleyeseeker]

According to suppliers of treated wood, you should let it weather for about two years before you apply any finish. The treating process prohibits the finish from adhering properly.

[solbes]

I put up our treated fence last September. It dried out nicely over the winter and this dry spring we've had. Last night we applied our last gallon of semi-transparent stain in a chestnut brown color. Looks great. I think we got it stained at the right time, IMO. Water would no longer bead up on it, and the wood had yet to show any UV damage.

2 years and the wood will definitely get some UV damage and will be pretty grey. My deck structure is next on our list to stain (trex everywhere else). It has greyed somewhat after 1.5 years, but is structurally fine.

[nofishfisherman]

I'm thinking of staining my fence panels this summer yet as they appaer totally dry. I'll throw some water on them to see if it beads up first. The posts however I'll probably wait until next summer to do since they were soaking wet when I bought them. They are probabl weight half as much as they did when I bought them already after drying for 2-3 weeks.

[11-87]

REMEMBER,

Wood will weather, Check, and Split if not properly cared for. I would do mine as soon as it was able to soak water.. waiting 2 years and you won't be happy.