# how long to let pressure treated wood dry before painting?



## Guest

Safest thing to do is test it with a moisture meter.


----------



## AtlanticWBConst.

vendejp said:


> This is obviously an exterior application. Is there a rule of thumb, or just till you think the wood feels dried out?
> 
> Thanks in advance


It is dependant on the weather, the region, condition of the wood, opinion, etc..

Read up:

http://www.taunton.com/finehomebuilding/how-to/articles/new-pressure-treated-wood-decks.aspx:
_"Most water repellents can be applied immediately to the new pressure-treated wood, and some manufacturers offer a water-repellent treatment as an upgrade. But manufacturers still recommend an additional level of protection. The wood preservers group suggests waiting for the lumber to dry before applying an oil-based semitransparent stain to the new varieties of pressure-treated lumber. How long you should wait before applying the stain varies depending on where you live. In New Mexico, you probably should wait for six weeks; in New Orleans, six months would be a more preferable length of time."_

http://www.messmers.com/prod_up_faq.html:

_"Q: How long should I let my deck weather before applying UV Plus for Pressure Treated Wood? __A: New pressure treated lumber should weather six to eight weeks minimum before applying UV Plus for Pressure Treated Wood. The wood needs to weather sufficiently to allow the pores to open up to accept the stain. Failure to do so will cause premature failure and possible surface sheen problems."_

http://www.wikihow.com/Seal-and-Stain-Pressure-Treated-Wood-Decking:
_"On new decks, it is better to let the wood weather for about a year before applying a new finish. This lets some of the chemicals escape from the treated lumber and lets the grain open up, so the new finish penetrates better."_


----------



## slickshift

Although some pressure treated wood suppliers will tell you you can paint immediately, I have seen that lead to coating failure

I've never seen or heard of PT wood that's been "seasoned" for a season (3 months) or longer have a problem


----------



## Guest

Sikkens says 6 weeks but I don't trust that either. We usually recommend 6 months to be safe 3 at a minimum.


----------



## localtradesman

*Let dry and do this...*

Do a moisture test on the lumber. My brother has one the largest hardwood floor companies in the Greenbay Wi. area. He tests before finishing his floors. If it is dry it is dry.....ya think!!!!! If you live in the Amazon where it rains everyday....probably won't be able to ever seal it.....suggest you contact the manufacture direct if you really need the answer. I'm going with a couple of months at the most. You probably will be power washing it and sealing it again soon anyway. One coat every couple of years will really make it last. Would you put one coat of paint on your walls in your house and call it good. I never have call backs on anything. Very RARE..... Better safe than sorry. It's kinda like when the manufactures put out the siding that was suppose to last a life time. The old aluminum siding that looks pretty bad right now around the U.S.A. that everyone is painting or replaceing. MY MOTO........Build perfect!!!:furious:


----------



## RatFink

*Moisture*



poppameth said:


> Sikkens says 6 weeks but I don't trust that either. We usually recommend 6 months to be safe 3 at a minimum.


Amen, brother! I built a picket fence in my front yard. Halfway through, Southern Livig comes out and wants to do a photo shoot for the magazine. Cool! The problem is they wanted to do the shoot while thier photographer was in town and could I have it like, speedy done and painted in a week. Well, Hell YES!
Its a cool fence 1x1 sandwiched between 1x3 rails held up by 6x6 post all AQC. I was drentched cutting points on all the 100s of 1x1. Very wet stuff. A coal of Kills and high Gloss black for that wrought iron look. 
Photo shoot went off with out a hitch.
6 years later, I can not keep paint on the fence. Peels with in a season.
Blisters with in a few hours with fresh paint.
My only solution is to pressure wash the entire fence. Let it try to dry a summer season in The Deep South, and pray paint will stick.
I jusdt finished a surperb Privacy fence and came here looking for drying answers........I'm gonna wait 1.5 months to Black stain this one. Home Depot off the shelf wood!


----------



## Matthewt1970

Pressure treated wood should really be stained rather than painted. 3 Months is the bare minimum to wait.


----------



## RatFink

Matthewt1970 said:


> Pressure treated wood should really be stained rather than painted. 3 Months is the bare minimum to wait.


Absolutly stain! It soakes right in. Some times too much.LOL
It realy saves the wood grain look and easy to apply .Thinning is a breez. A standard wagner sprayer does a bang up job.
Still gonna let the fench dry 6 weeks b/4 the aplication. I'll post a few photos for fun since this is sort of a slow thread!


----------



## djtjak43

The Cabot Woodcare Co told me to wait 30 days, then to apply a very thin coat of oil based decking stain, only to use a brush & apply just one coat If you go to their website (cabotstain.com) you get some pretty good info.
Dennis


----------



## Matthewt1970

Unless your wood has the Kiln date on it, I highly suggest you let the wood dry for 3 months. Even if it has the date, keep in mind it was probably stacked somewhere without proper drying ventilation.


----------



## RatFink

*Cabots and Lowes*

I've used the stain on cedar and with wonderful sucess.
If I may toot my horn. If anyone wants to go look in the Lowes Creative Ideas Magazine for May, there is a Tiki Bar that I built. The stain is on the cedar planks and realy turned out to be a nice work project. Took about 2 months and $12K, not the two weeks and $7K they wrote!
Thanks for the tip. I'm going for the 2 months, but raining every day about down here in Birmingham. 





djtjak43 said:


> The Cabot Woodcare Co told me to wait 30 days, then to apply a very thin coat of oil based decking stain, only to use a brush & apply just one coat If you go to their website (cabotstain.com) you get some pretty good info.
> Dennis


----------



## RatFink

fast1 said:


> wow 12k... isn't that expensive?


I take it you haven't seen the article.
Plumbing from hell had to tie it below the deck and through the two story footings. Electrical and hot and cold water supply wasn't just free. Its never as simple as it looks.

Rained 10 days the last two weeks on my new fence. I juess its drying. The sun comes out bright and you can see the steam raisin g off the top.


----------



## huffanpuff

most people go get it to put up now & i'll bet lows/home or who ever test the treated wood the moisture will be high & no - way ready to use. lumber companys push it. let it dry & in my home town it's over 100 for months & I'll waite 6 months & then it looks 50 years old


----------



## RatFink

*New Mexico!!!*

Now thats Hot and low humidity. I've been in the habit of replacing our deck on Dauphin Island, Alabama every7 years. Brother you know HOT.Pressure treated wood dries out with in a week in these conditions.
I've seen stain poured into week old wood like water into a sponge, not to mention wasting water seal. We just budget it in to rip out the deck system every 7 years if mother nature doesn't pick it up and remove it for us.
Lowes/HD is no exception. I've ordered bulk loads of green wood direct from the lumber yard and had it right out of the kilm and still soaking. At least the big box yards have the time in shipment to get a few weeks of drying. I've come to the realisation that stain is the only way to go. Its cheap compared to the over all cost of material and labor to build a quality fence, or what ever outside.Just gonna keep soaking in the stain and aviod paint all together.



uote=huffanpuff;279794]most people go get it to put up now & i'll bet lows/home or who ever test the treated wood the moisture will be high & no - way ready to use. lumber companys push it. let it dry & in my home town it's over 100 for months & I'll waite 6 months & then it looks 50 years old[/quote]


----------



## Justabottle

Let it season until October, then I would definitely put something on before fall sets in.


----------



## RatFink

Justabottle said:


> Let it season until October, then I would definitely put something on before fall sets in.


 
God I wish I could wait till Oct, but its for my back yard neighbor and its looking at me like one big unfinished job. Its been dreadfuly hot down here in the Deep South with Birmingham being especialy stagnant. Why people started living here in the first place amazes me. The Fall will be, oh so nice till Christmas.
I'll be giving it a coat of stain with in the week. My neighbor wants the entire thing black stained so its go time.
I've spent the last month pressure washing old gloss black paint off my Southern Living fence and taken about a week to repaint.
The thing I have found is that the wood was wet still wet under the gate paint. Thats 5 years of trapped wood. I sanded down and let dry in the Southern sun about 2 weeks and looks real dried out. The 3P of painting are comming real soon. The areas of stain black fence still look great and could use a recoat for the fun of it. I'll do that when I hit the neighbors fence.
What I've learned, Stain is a no wait kinda aplication, Paint is a total different beast. A fellow contractor told me to use non pressureized wood if you need to paint. The key is to Prepare, prime and paint all 6 sides of each board befor I install it. No way on that! This is much like your outside door/window casings.


----------



## KatHelms

Wow, great info here guys. Thanks!


----------



## TGMcCallie

RatFink said:


> Absolutly stain! It soakes right in. Some times too much.LOL
> It realy saves the wood grain look and easy to apply .Thinning is a breez. A standard wagner sprayer does a bang up job.
> Still gonna let the fench dry 6 weeks b/4 the aplication. I'll post a few photos for fun since this is sort of a slow thread!


I suggest that stain be brushed on expecially if the wood is rough and not really smooth like most fence boards are rough. This will brush in the stain where spraying will only put it on the surface. The only other thing is spray it and then backbrush it really good.

Another tip: Keep the stain stirred really really good especially if it has a lot of pigment or you will get light and dark spots, mostly light ones. This is very important if you decide to spray because pigment settles and the spray t tube picks up from the bottom of the 5 gallon bucket.

I know, I made that mistake and allowed the men to spray it and had to do the fence 3 times.


----------

