Plateau Forest Products LLC
320 S.W. Upper Terrace Drive, Suite 104, Bend, OR 97702
Tollfree (800) 733-8801 * Fax (541) 385-7679
Re: Purchase of product that has been treated with chemical wood preservatives
Occasionally, wood products sold by Plateau Forest Products LLC (PFP) may include products
that have been treated with chemicals. In addition, wood products that are sold by PFP require
notification of recommended handling and safety precautions to be taken in the event of exposure
to wood dust.
Attached are the Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS sheets) covering the most common consumer
wood preservatives used in the market today that explain the chemicals used and identifies the
hazards involved with certain treated products that PFP could be selling to your company. The
attached also includes MSDS sheets that explain the hazards of wood dust. Please maintain these
sheets for future reference.
Any treated product that you may purchase from PFP will be labeled advising the chemical
treatment applied. If you should find that the labels on the product received are not in accordance
with the information included on any of the attached MSDS sheets or not in accordance with the
product you have ordered please advise before using or selling this product. Also, if you have
purchased treated product from PFP that is not included in the attached MSDS sheets please notify
PFP immediately.
As a service to our customers, PFP intends to provide you with these MSDS sheets annually or at
the time of your first purchase from PFP. Thank you for your business and please call us with any
questions.
IMPORTANT:
The information and data herein are believed to be accurate and have been compiled from sources
believed reliable. Although reasonable care has been taken in preparation of this information,
American International Forest Products makes no warranty of any kind, expressed or implied,
concerning the accuracy or completeness of this information or data, and assumes no responsibility
for its application to purchaser’s intended purposes. Also, if the purchaser alters the product in any
manner to create wood dust, then this is the purchaser’s responsibility. Normally recommended
industrial hygiene, engineering practices and safe handling procedures should be employed at all
times.
About Treated Wood
When you want to use wood that is not naturally decay resistant in a wet application (outdoors, for example)
or where it may be at risk for insect attack, you need to specify preservative-treated wood. This is lumber
that has been chemically treated to make it unattractive to fungi and other pests. In the same way that you
would specify galvanized steel where it would be at risk of rusting, you specify treated wood where it will be
used in a setting conducive to decay. Also like galvanized steel, treated wood has a shell of protected
material surrounding an unprotected core. So long as this shell stays intact, the core will be protected.
Wood does not deteriorate just because it gets wet. When wood breaks down, it is because an organism is
eating it as food. Preservatives work by making the food source inedible to these organisms.
Properly preservative-treated wood can have 5 to 10 times the service life of untreated wood. This
extension of life saves the equivalent of 12.5% of Canada's annual log harvest.
Preserved wood is used most often for railroad ties, utility poles, marine piles, decks, fences and other
outdoor applications. Various treatment methods and types of chemicals are available, depending on the
attributes required in the particular application and the level of protection needed.
Treating Methods
There are two basic methods of treating: with and without pressure. Non-pressure methods are the
application of preservative by brushing, spraying or dipping the piece to be treated. These are superficial
treatments that do not result in deep penetration or large absorption of preservative. Their use is best
restricted to field treatment during construction (for example, when a pressure-treated piece of lumber
must be field cut), to cases where only part of a piece is to be treated, or to remedial treatment of wood in
place. For example, mixtures of borate and glycols are used to treat sound wood left in place during repair
of decay problems. The glycol helps the borate to penetrate dry wood, arresting the activity of any fungus
which contacts it. The penetration of the preservative is still limited, and the most important function is to
prevent undetected fungus left in place from spreading to sound wood.
Deeper, more thorough penetration is achieved by driving the preservative into the wood cells with
pressure. Various combinations of pressure and vacuum are used to force adequate levels of chemical into
the wood. Pressure-treating preservatives consist of chemicals carried in a solvent. The solvent, or carrier,
is either water or oil. Waterborne preservatives have become increasingly popular over the last 20 years,
due to the absence of odor, the cleaner wood surface and the ability to paint or stain the wood product.
When a wood product will be used in an application known to present a risk, for example outdoors,
pressure-treatment is recommended.
Types of Preservatives
The most commonly used wood preservative in North America for decades has been chromated copper
arsenate (CCA), although this may change since CCA began phasing out of most residential applications in
January 2004. Replacing it are amine copper quat (ACQ) and copper Azole (CA). These preservatives are
all applied with pressure. They all have a green tone, which fades over time.
Borates are another class of waterborne preservative gaining in popularity. Borates are colorless, non-toxic
to humans, and can be applied to wood with or without pressure. Their use is currently limited to
applications which are protected from rain and other persistent sources of water. These include framing in
termite areas and repair of decayed framing in leaky buildings where the main moisture source has been
eliminated.
Creosote is the well-known black oily wood preservative, the oldest type of preservative still in modern use.
It's now used in Canada almost exclusively for railroad ties, where its resistance to moisture movement is a
key advantage.
Pentachlorophenol in oil is mainly used for utility poles where the surface softening characteristics of the
oil are useful in pole climbing.
Copper naphthenate and zinc naphthenate are two common preservatives used for treating field cuts.
Environmental Concerns
With the exception of borates, wood preservatives become "fixed" in the wood after the treatment process.
This means the chemical is virtually insoluble. In addition, the chemical is altered in the fixation process,
such that treated wood is not considered hazardous to your health.
All wood preservatives used in the U.S. and Canada are registered and regularly re-examined for safety by
the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Health Canada's Pest Management and Regulatory Agency,
respectively. Health and environmental impacts of CCA are currently being re-investigated.
Wood preservation is not an exact science, due to the biological - and therefore variable and unpredictable nature of both wood and the organisms that destroy it. Wood scientists are trying to understand more about
how wood decays to ensure that durability is achieved through smart design and construction choices
where possible, so that as a society we can be selective in our use of preservatives.
Wood Products and Other
30
UF Bonded Wood Products
Particleboard, Plywood Paneling, Panelboard Paneling, MDF,
Hardwood Plywood, Interior Lauan, Meranti Plywood, Beaded
Birch Plywood
31
Wood & Wood Products
Softwood Plywood, Pine Plywood, Hardboard, MDO, Wood I
Beam™, Plywood Sheathing, CDX, OSB, Sound Deadening
Board
33Q ACQ Pressure Treated Wood & Lumber
Pressure Treated Wood and Lumber
Gypsum Products
Industrial Plasters/Joint Compounds
42A Plasters (Industrial Plaster)
Denscal®, Densite®, Stucco, Plaster of Paris
43I
Firm-Fill True-Screed
Firm-Fill® True-Screed® (Industrial Plaster)
69A READY MIX™ All Purpose/Topping Compounds
DensArmor™ Cote All Purpose Ready-Mix™, ToughRock® All
Purpose Ready-Mix, ToughRock Ready Mix
70B GP Ceiling Texture (Vermiculite) - Medium &
Coarse
GP Ceiling Texture (Vermiculite) - Medium & Coarse
104 Sandable 20, 45, 90 Setting Compound
Sandable 20, 45, 90 Setting Compound
Gypsum Boards
71A Paper-Faced Gypsum Boards
ToughRock® Regular Gypsum Board, ToughRock Veneer
Plaster Board, ToughRock Moisture-Guard Gypsum Board,
ToughRock Treated Core Sheathing, ToughRock Non-treated
Core Sheathing
71B Fireguard® Gypsum Boards
Fireguard® Moisture-Guard, Fireguard Treated Core Sheathing,
Fireguard Gypsum Board, Fireguard Veneer Plaster Board,
Fireguard Backer, Fireguard Soffit Board, Fireguard Non-treated
Core Sheathing, Fireguard Abuse Resistant Wallboard, Fireguard
C (Type 5), Fireguard C (Veneer Base, Type C), Fireguard C
(Backer, Type C), Fireguard C (Type C), Fireguard C (Nontreated Core Sheating, Type C)
72
DensArmor™ Plus, Dens-Core, DensDeck®, DensDeck
DuraGuard™, DensGlass Gold® DensGlass Silver™,
DensGlass® Ultra Shaft Liner, DensMarine™, DensShield®
Glass Mat-Faced Gypsum Boards