Are you a busy business owner? Maybe, you’re looking for ways to enhance your business property this summer. If you can relate to this scenario, consider upgrading the front door of your business establishment. The front door is one of the first things customers will notice when they visit your business. Giving the interior of your business property a fresh coat of paint is also a wonderful idea. If the parking lot in front of your business’s building has seen better days, consider having it repaved. You want to provide your customers with easy and safe access to your place of business. On this blog, I hope you will discover the importance of keeping your business property beautiful and inviting. Enjoy!
Treated lumber from somewhere like Forest Hill Lumber and Hardware helps protect structures from rot and pest intrusion for several years, but it often arrives "wet." This moisture is part of the treatment, and the wood will dry out over time. However, it will also shrink as it dries and the wood no longer has that moisture making it swell up. Because the moisture can be rather prominent (as in, sopping wet), letting the wood dry seems like a good idea. However, it may not be.
Warping
One of the biggest problems you could face if you let the wood dry -- other than the fact that letting it dry can take a long time -- is that the wood can warp. This doesn't always happen, but if it does, then the wood becomes impossible to use. It won't sit correctly in its intended spot, and the warping could overpower any attempt you make to straighten it out. It could pull out nails that you try to use on it, for example. Or, the wood could end up breaking.
Splintering and Fracturing
That potential for breaking is not a minor issue. Dried treated wood is stiff and prone to fracturing, depending on what you're trying to get it to do. The potential for bad splinters can't be understated.
When the wood is wet, it's more flexible and a lot easier to work with. Sure, wet wood can split, too, but not nearly as badly. And really, if wet wood suddenly breaks like that, chances are the piece of lumber was in bad shape to begin with.
Accurate Spacing and Unwanted Gapping
The only time when drying might be best is if you're dealing with a structure where unwanted gapping would create problems. For example, let's say you create a deck with the wood, and you construct this when the wood is still wet. As the wood shrinks, adjacent pieces will shrink away from each other, creating a gap between the pieces. In a normal deck, a small gap is OK because that gives the pieces some breathing room in case humidity makes them swell a bit again -- they won't crash into each other's sides. But if the deck you've built needs to avoid gaps, then that shrinkage is not good.
Overall, work with wet wood when you can. For the vast majority of projects, that moisture will make the work a lot easier. While there will be the occasional project where drier wood may be better, the moisture from the treatment process has its place.