Global Wood & Furniture Marketplace Online

Phasing Out Pressure-Treated Lumber Likely to Boost Cost of Wood
¡¾2002.03.14¡¿

Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News
Phasing Out Pressure-Treated Lumber Likely to Boost Cost of Wood

Mar. 11 -- The cost of building a deck or a fence is going up, thanks to an agreement between the Environmental Protection Agency and the chemical and home improvement industries to phase out the use of treated lumber that has arsenic in it.

Pressure-treated wood has been used since the 1940s in the construction of decks, play structures, picnic tables, landscaping timbers, fencing, patios and walkways. Over the next two years, the use of the wood treated with chromated copper arsenate, or CCA, will be replaced with new, alternative wood preservatives.

"It will make the wood more expensive, maybe by 30 or 40 percent," said Don Akoe, owner of Moonlight Wood Fence & Deck in Martinsville.

Akoe said the change might end up improving sales of cedar, which naturally resists moisture, decay and insect damage.

"We expect the price of the new product, when it comes out, to be in the range of cedar," Akoe said. "I hope the price doesn't rise too much, because it might make people think twice about building."

Akoe said a 16-by 16-foot deck using treated lumber today costs from $2,000 to $2,500, depending on the configuration and style. When the new products come out, Akoe estimates the price to be in the $3,000 range for the same deck.

"Somebody decided this had to be done," said Akoe, who has been working with treated lumber for about 10 years. "I've been around treated lumber basically my whole life. You wash up afterward ... you don't eat it."

By January 2004, no CCA products will be allowed to be used in any residential application. The EPA decided that arsenic has been leaching out of the treated wood, contaminating soil, surface- and groundwater, exposing residents and schoolchildren to toxins.

According to the National Academy of Sciences, exposure to arsenic can cause lung, bladder and skin cancer in humans and is suspected as a cause of kidney, prostate and nasal passage cancer.

The phase-out will eliminate the sale of about 85 percent of arsenic treated wood, severely altering what has become a $4 billion industry.

The EPA action does not affect the nation's 130 million utility poles, which are treated with CCA and other toxic substances, such as penta and creosote.

The EPA does not believe there is any reason to remove or replace CCA treated structures -- including residential decks or playground equipment.

Under the agreement, wood treatment plants will begin immediately to convert to alternative wood preservatives that do not contain arsenic. This year, manufacturers expect a decline in production of CCA products of about 25 percent. During 2003, the companies expect the transition away from CCA to cause a 70 percent decline in its use. New labeling will be required on all CCA products, specifying that no use of CCA will be allowed by the wood treating industry for residential uses after Dec. 31, 2003.

"The treated wood issue has caused us a lot of consternation over the years," said Tom Black, president of Black Lumber Co., which has retail lumber operations in Bloomington, Bedford and Greencastle. "We decided about 15 years ago that our employees would not be allowed to cut treated lumber here. Some of our customers thought that was odd but really didn't complain.

I think the treated lumber industry mislead all of us for a long time."

Black said the replacement product will be far more costly.

"I'm sure availability of the new products will be an issue," he said.

"They'll use less harmful ingredients, and people will want that when it comes out."

Black said his company has been passing out literature explaining the proper use of and environmental issues regarding treated lumber for several years.

¡¡