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The treated wood that we are referring to is PRESSURE treated for a higher penetration of solution into the wood - although the center core of the dimensional wood is not treated, & that is the "why" of treating any cuts into that penetrating preservative layer....without treating those, the wood is "open season" for the termites, esp. drywood that do not need the protective tunnels & wood nearby...any wood anywhere is on their menu...if it is palatable.
You can post-treat the wood (as opposed to PRE-treating), with varying success rates as to the penetration of the treatment into the wood, but this is not a true paint primer... just a treatment coating for da buggas... you would still need to prime & paint, or stain after treating the wood to a copper solution "facial"....
Also, you may want to be sure that the paint & primer or stain color will not be affected by the copper solution...
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If your copper solution is like the Jasco product sold as Terminate
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromated_copper_arsenate)
be very careful . Breathing protection a must and if under the house a haz mat like full suit.....
Common material in the classic wooden boat world - I use hudson sprayers to apply it and run like heck..... its nasty stuff - will take your breath away in an enclosed spaces
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Bullwinkle, Thankyou for the advice about the copper. Yes, anything good seems to be toxic, unfortunately, but maybe Carey is right about needing a penatrating oil. What about peppermint oil or something. Those all natural soaps have solvents and peppermint oil. I wonder if you could coat the wood with that stuff. MIght be safer, easier and cheaper. Just brainstorming for the attic and maybe other areas. House would at least smell good!
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redwood so absorbs lots and lots of what ever you put on it - have had little success on putting a finish on it myself...
have you looked into log oils - in one of my past lives we maintained wooden stadium seats - using log oil - in this climate I'd recommend the addition of a cobalt drying additive - yup oil base and toxic - but much safer to handle than oxide of copper (arsenic)
have had good results with a sikkens cetol DEK varnish - has nano tubes to wick away the moisture -pricey at 60-80 dollars a gallon at the glidden dealer ... havent used it on redwood however I would talk to them -
they may also carry log oil - a way cheaper alternative to "feed the lumber"
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Thanks for the advice. Have you tried "lindseed oil"? That's readily available and I think fairly cheap. Maybe I could dump some boric acid powder into it, prior to using it?
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I have found that mold thinks linseed oil is very tasty - had to remove same from my speaker cabinets
Teak oil works well for furniture btw
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Ok. I guess it's a balance. Possibly some boric acid in the oil will deter mold? I guess I'll have to be experimenting. Thanks
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Some of you boric acid/borate questions were handled in an earlier thread you had wanting information...
Anytime you look at mixing chemicals, it is best to research your chemical experiments... not that this one will do much more than make a mess & waste time & products... but solubility charts are available & the earlier thread did have the way to increase the penetration...so...
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If your house is an old pre-60's era home, it's unlikely that it was built with redwood. Most homes built in that era in Hawaii were made with old-growth close-grained doug fir. Redwood T+G became common during the 60's when Hick's Homes began using it to build houses.
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The aged old-growth doug fir is quite hard and heavy. Neither is true of redwood.
