| Creosote is a wood preservative that is generally | | | | Another note of interest in terms of creosote |
| used in industrial applications such as railroad cross | | | | treated timbers is their recycling after they have |
| ties, telephone poles and piling. It is not used for | | | | completed their useful service such as old railroad |
| commercial purposes in which the final product is to | | | | ties. Some people have purchased old railroad ties to |
| be used for and around people. From a distance it | | | | use in construction such as in a log home of sorts. |
| has a sweet smell, but as you get close to the | | | | The inside of the home is finished in a conventional |
| treated item the smell is overpowering and can be | | | | manner and the outside may be finished with rough |
| harmful. If an item treated with creosote comes in | | | | sawn lumber. Thus the core of the home is built of |
| contact with skin it can cause a problem such as a | | | | old railroad ties. Bad idea! I knew of one couple who |
| rash. This is one of the oldest commercially used | | | | lived in such a home and then they noticed that their |
| preservatives. It is a brownish/black oil that is distilled | | | | cats were dying of cancer. The doctors advice was |
| from coal tar. It has been highly successful in | | | | to move out of the home and have it demolished. |
| prolonging the life of wood in contact with the soil or | | | | I have seen people scrambling along the railroad |
| in wet conditions which are conducive to the | | | | tracks picking up old ties that were broken into |
| promotion and longevity of fungi. The preservative is | | | | manageable chunks during their removal from the rail |
| forced into the wood using a special pressure | | | | bed. The people were gathering these pieces to use |
| treating vat. | | | | as firewood. The end result of this practice can only |
| Once the creosote is in the wood it will not leach out | | | | be health problems. Creosote cannot be painted so |
| of the wood with water. It also has a high toxicity | | | | the black surface is something that one will have to |
| and thus fungi are deterred from attacking the wood | | | | content with. Even with old creosote timbers used |
| for decades. It penetrates the wood easily under a | | | | for posts, a good painting will last for a short period |
| pressure treating system and is cost effective. | | | | of time as the wood preservative bleeds out through |
| Creosote is not available to home owners for use | | | | the paint. |
| around house or farm. In fact it should never be used | | | | If one would be able to obtain a bucket of creosote |
| where farm animals or humans come in contact with | | | | and paint it one the wood before using it as a fence |
| it. In the South a problem surfaced many decades | | | | post or other ground contact purpose, it is a waste |
| ago where pileated woodpeckers were attracted to | | | | of time as it will do little to deter rot in anything but |
| the smell of creosote and pecked nesting holes into | | | | the short term. This also goes for straight tar. If you |
| telephone and light poles. They would proceed to lay | | | | want to prevent rot in any high rot susceptible uses |
| their eggs which never hatched due to the toxicity | | | | it is advised to obtain pressure treated materials |
| of the creosote. The eventual solution was to mail a | | | | from a lumber yard. What they sell to the public will |
| wire mesh around the pole at the height that these | | | | be considered safe for its end use and will save time |
| woodpeckers normally built their nest holes. If this | | | | and money in the long run. If you try to be a home |
| was not done the population of these large | | | | grown wood technologist you are doomed to fail in |
| woodpeckers could have been seriously decreased. | | | | your endeavor. |