Pressure Treated Lumber.

I have a recent post about home improvement where I mentioned pressure treated wood and how you really should was your hands after handling it. There is one other thing about pressure treated that you should be aware of - paints and stains. For the most part these are things that you won't be able to apply to your wood until it gets 'seasoned' and dries out a bit. If you apply paint or stain too soon to PT it will not create a tight, cohesive bond to the wood. This is due to the chemicals that make the wood 'pressured'. A general rule of thumb would be to install your improvement at the beginning of the season and dress the wood at the end of the season. This may not apply to all situations as individual environments will differ. The amount of chemical absorbed by the wood will vary based on the size of the lumber as you can see by the above picture.