Non-Toxic Wood Preservative
rossn1
| Posted in General Questions on
I am looking for recommendations for low toxicity brush-on wood preservative for indoor use. We are doing a radiant concrete overpour in our basement area, and the concrete pour will be above the height of the bottom plate. Our old slab can be very high humidity but never any evidence of bulk water.
Can anyone recommend a brush-on wood preservative to coat the bottom 6″ of the studs, and in particular looking for one that is on the less-toxic and indoor air quality friendly. Greenguard would be great, but not sure there is such a preservative.
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Replies
Have you looked at Boracare?
Hi - I have not. Looks reasonably friendly, and noting that its primary audience seems to be termites. I should clarify that my main concern is related to moisture reaching the lumber and rot. Do you know how effective it is for that?
borates also kill fungus
I cannot imagine a code approved concrete/wood connection without a barrier.
I cannot imagine wanting to do it anyway
Make sure the new pour is an inch away from the wood.
Sheetrock+baseboard=no gap
tack a sheet of foam to the studs and trim it off after pouring.
And brush on borates to futureproof
the new concrete pour is separated from the slab by insulation.... to technically, this is not ground contacting concrete. yes, the intent is to have some separation, but in discussion with the inspector we agreed both on some layer to separate (not sure why 1" would be needed) and applying a preservative to the studs. So, now the question is about finding a preservative with low toxicity.
So borates are the answer even though there is no increase in the possibility of rot
1" is not necessary, it is an exaggeration to make the point, you probably won't have any tube within a foot of the wall, so you don't even need to pour within a foot of the wall, but hiding that transition might be a problem