Pressure Treated Wood

chronojosh

I know this may sound like a strange question, but I can't seem to find a straight answer anywhere. Can pressure treated wood, be it boards or plywood, somehow errode or rot non-pt wood if it is in contact with it for extended periods of time? I know that it is done all the time in basements where the bottom plate on walls is pt but not the studs. Has any one ever heard of this or is this just a myth? Very interested to hear what some pros have to say....

cortell

It absolutely can. Lay a short piece of PT lumber in 1" of constant water and then fasten a non-PT piece on top of it, and let it sit like that for a year or two and see what you get :-)

A piece of wood can transfer moisture to another piece. In practice, though, bottom plates and mudsills resting on concrete do NOT get saturated (if they do, there are serious foundation problems in play). They might pick up some moisture, but any transfer to the stud is minimal and usually negligible.

joed

The pressure treating is not the problem. The contact wood rots because of the water, not because of the pressure treated wood. If both woods are dry then there should be no problem.

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woodworkbykirk

the last two posters are absolutely correct. the pt wood itself does not cause regular wood to rot.. the only thing that pt wood will cause to corrode is the incorrect type of fastener or other metal products that arent stainless steel... the chemicals in the wood slowly corrode non galvanized fasteners rated for use in ACQ lumber along with aluminum cladding.

if aluminum cladding is in direct contact with pt wood , the aluminum will turn to ash in a time frame of roughly 2-3 years.. its not pretty.