HELP! I did not use treated wood. Any solutions?

Smith305

I am finishing my basement and forgot to use treated wood on the floor and walls where it touched the concrete. Is there anyway to fix this problem other than totally replacing all the boards? The inspector said there is a product you can use to paint on the wood to make it treated. I can not find it anywhere. Has anyone heard of this?

md2lgyk

The only lumber required to be pressure treated is the bottom plate. None of the studs should be touching the concrete wall.

I have seen surface-treated lumber sold in stores out West but not the stuff to do it yourself. Even if you found some you'd still have to take down the wall to treat the underside of the bottom plate.

slickgt1

Don't take chances. Take it out, and do it right. You don't want to come home one day and find your floor bubbled up 3 feet. I know a guy that did this. PLed and nailed it to the concrete too. Put hardwood flooring over that, nailed and glued. When the floor started bubbling up, nothing was stopping it. He also put the flooring and plywood wall to wall, no gap between walls.

AndrewF

As others said, do it right.

Take the walls back down and used treated lumber for the bottom plate. You can also cut pieces of tar paper and put between the cement and the treated lumber.

Good to hear you got a permit to do this.

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kwikfishron

I don’t see any other solution than to replace the plate. I don’t know about tearing the walls down you could probably sawzall it out of there. If your lucky the plate you put down is running a little thick and maybe you can pick out the new plate a little thin. 1 7/16” instead of 1 9/16”.

Even if you painted on the treatment you’ll only be able to hit three sides and missing the bottom were it needs it anyway.

I’m surprised the inspector even suggested it.

slickgt1

Im surprised the inspector did that too. Must be easy going to allow/suggest that.

bjbatlanta

You can sawzall the studs at the height of a double bottom plate to ease removal of the non-treated plate and avoid cutting nails (fewer blades). Pressure treated bottom plate and regular for the second plate. No problem finding something to nail your baseboard to when the time comes. If any studs are a bit shy of the plate, shim them to snug them up before nailing. All they're doing is holding up the drywall, I'm assuming (not load bearing)...

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CrpntrFrk

There is a paint on product by the name of Jasco. It is very runny, gets everywhere, and it stinks. But as everyone has suggested it is best to do it right ... take it out and replace with green plate.

Jay123