| Pressure treated lumber is advertised as having a | | | | apparent, an inspector might, to be helpful to the |
| long life (some say 40 plus years) with direct earth | | | | client, say that grading soil back from the lumber, or |
| contact. The manufacturers soak the lumber in | | | | putting it up on a concrete pier, will make it last |
| chemicals that penetrate into the outside surface. | | | | longer. This advice may, or may not, make sense |
| The most vulnerable area is where the wood is cut. | | | | depending on the design elements of the structure, |
| Any such ends require localized treatment, if they are | | | | say a deck. |
| to be buried. My experience is that, usually, this | | | | Personally, as an inspector, here is what I do. If I see |
| lumber does last a long time. I have some fence | | | | pressure treated lumber in a crucial role, and it is in |
| posts, I put in 20 years ago, that I have since dug | | | | contact with soil, then I call out for grading or |
| up. All of these were still as good as the day I put | | | | removal of the soil. For example, I call it as a problem |
| them in the ground. On the other hand, a few times I | | | | when I find pressure treated lumber down in soil and |
| have found pressure treated wood under decks, | | | | it is used as a post under the house or on a deck of |
| even posts resting on piers, where the wood had | | | | any height. In that crucial role, you do not want to |
| decayed. As with all of life this goes to show that | | | | take chances on rot, the result of wood to earth |
| there is the design, the plan, the odds and | | | | contact and the moisture that brings to the wood. |
| sometimes something does not turn out as was | | | | On the other hand, if I am inspecting a house and |
| expected. It is out of the "norm". | | | | find a couple 4x4's, for support of a handrail, sunk |
| Pressure treated lumber, and how to deal with it, is | | | | into the earth, at each side of the steps from a |
| not well defined by the Washington state (where I | | | | modest porch or deck, I check the lumber at the |
| work) wood destroying organism laws. The wood is | | | | ground level and, if it is fine, then I do not say very |
| manufactured for ground contact, so having it touch | | | | much. No grading is applicable, with the post sunk, |
| the earth is not specifically a defect. At one point I | | | | and it seems to be holding up well. In my view, |
| asked the WSDA about this issue and was told this | | | | simple and non-critical outdoor uses, such as fence |
| -- Fact: Pressure treated wood in contact with the | | | | posts, are common and, down the road, the repair is |
| soil will last much longer if all soil contact is eliminated. | | | | easy to do and the area easy to access. The repair |
| An inspector should probe, if possible, all pressure | | | | can be done by a workman who is affordable and no |
| treated lumber which has soil contact and, if it is | | | | structural damage is likely to take place. |
| decayed, then call it out that way. If no decay is | | | | |