Wood Sealant vs. ACQ (Alkaline Copper Quaternary)
We make decisions every day. Decisions on how we spend our life. The term “spend” usually refers to time and money. You’ve decided to spend part of your time relaxing in your private space, possibly on a back yard “deck”. You have decided to “reward” yourself from the time you spend “earning a living”.
You have decided to build with wood. I have gathered some information that you may want to use to help you decide whether you will use pre-treated, or “pressure treated” wood, or will you use “SPF” (spruce-pine-fir) wood. I hope this information will help you keep more of what you have earned in your pocket.
Taking information from a local lumber retailer, you will pay about 90% more for treated wood than SPF. Of course if you choose SPF you will want to protect and preserve your investment by applying Seal-It Wood Sealant. After adding the cost of Seal-It Wood Sealant, you will still pay about 37% more for pre-treated, or pressure treated, wood for the same size deck.
Based on information from the same lumber outlet, if you choose ACQ pressure treated lumber, you will need to spend about 7% more for the screws required to hold your lumber together! Apparently if you do not use the special fasteners, regular fasteners (screws) will rust! Yet we are told that ACQ is a safe product! Do you want a product/substance on your property, in reach of your family and pets that hastens the corrosion and weakening of metal? This may be a subject for a future discussion, but for now, I hope I have helped in your decision.