Wood Preservation and Wood Products Treatment Training Manual G
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EM 8403 • Revised December 2015 Wood Preservation and Wood Products Treatment Training Manual G. Thomasson, J. Capizzi, F. Dost, J. Morrell, and D. Miller Contents Properties of wood ....................................................................................................................................... 2 Wood-damaging pests ................................................................................................................................ 2 Wood-inhabiting fungi .......................................................................................................................... 3 Chemical stains ......................................................................................................................................... 4 Insects .......................................................................................................................................................... 4 Marine borers ............................................................................................................................................ 6 Controlling pests ........................................................................................................................................... 6 Moisture control ....................................................................................................................................... 6 Using naturally resistant wood ........................................................................................................... 7 Chemical control ...................................................................................................................................... 7 Protecting humans ....................................................................................................................................... 8 Hazards to applicators ........................................................................................................................... 9 Protecting the applicator ....................................................................................................................10 Voluntary consumer awareness program .....................................................................................11 Protecting the environment ....................................................................................................................14 Groundwater pollution ........................................................................................................................15 Waste disposal ........................................................................................................................................15 Storage and disposal of containers .................................................................................................15 Spills ............................................................................................................................................................15 Glossary ..........................................................................................................................................................16 For more information .................................................................................................................................17 Table 1. Restricted-use pesticides .........................................................................................................19 First aid ........................................................................................................................................... back cover This publication was revised from a University of Georgia Cooperative Extension Service publication by Gary Thomasson, Extension entomologist, Washington State University, and the following from Oregon State University: Joseph Capizzi, Extension entomologist emeritus (deceased); Frank N. Dost, Extension toxicology and agricultural chemical specialist emeritus; Jeffrey J. Morrell, professor of wood science; and Donald J. Miller, professor of forest products emeritus. Wood Preservation and Wood Products Treatment Training Manual ederal and state regulations establish wood products will be used, the expected standards that you must meet before conditions of exposure to wood-destroying you legally can use certain pesticides. agents, and the cost per year of service life. FSince November 1986, federal regulations Crossties, poles, posts, and other wood administered by the Environmental products that contact the ground or are Protection Agency (EPA) have restricted exposed to the weather must be protected the sale and use of certain preservatives to with preservatives to ensure a reasonable ensure that only properly trained applicators, service life. Other wood products not in or people under their direct supervision, contact with the ground may be treated as a have access to them. Wood preservatives precautionary measure even though they are affected by these regulations are creosote, not exposed to moisture and weather. pentachlorophenol (penta), and inorganic Long-term tests and experience show the arsenicals. Nearly 20 years later, the industry levels of protection needed for various wood voluntarily withdrew registrations for the products and uses. These guidelines become use of inorganic arsenicals for wood used in industry-wide when they are accepted by the residential applications. following groups: This publication is intended to help • Groups that use the treated products those preparing for the wood preservative • Regulatory agencies pesticide licensing examinations administered by the state departments of • Wood-preserving standards-writing agriculture in the Pacific Northwest. organizations Wood pesticides (preservatives) extend Many standards and specifications exist the life of wood products by protecting to control the quality of treated wood and them from damage by insects, fungi, marine protect the purchaser. Federal and state borers, and weather (Figure 1). Preservatives specifications, requirements of the American are applied depending on how and where the Wood Preservers Association, and building codes are the most relevant regulations. 1 Figure 1. Wood products that are in contact with the ground or exposed to weather can be damaged by a variety of damaging insects (left), fungi (middle), and marine borers, as well as by the weather itself (right). Properties of wood all wood is a complex sugar (carbohydrate) called cellulose. This material serves as crosscut of most trees (Figure 2) the primary source of energy and nutrition shows a zone of lighter wood for many forms of life. People use this (sapwood) surrounding a core of same source of energy, not as food but as Adarker colored wood (heartwood). Fast- heat, when they stoke up the wood stove growing trees usually have deeper sapwood or fireplace. It also is responsible for the than slow-growing trees. remarkable strength of wood. Ninety percent of wood is made up of minute, hollow fibers oriented lengthwise along the tree stem. These fibers, 0.5 inch Wood-damaging pests long (5 mm), are 100 times longer than eople use wood for many wide. The tree transports water and nutrients applications. Under proper use vertically through these fibers, which also conditions, wood can give centuries serve as a means of support. Pof good service; under unfavorable The remaining 10 percent of the wood conditions, it can be damaged readily and is composed of short, hollow, brick-shaped destroyed by fungi, insects, and marine cells oriented from the bark toward the borers. These pests can attack in many center of the tree as ribbons or rays of ways, so wood must be protected to ensure unequal height and length. These rays maximum service life when used under distribute food, manufactured in the leaves conditions favorable to these pests. and transported down the inner bark, to the In general, the conditions for decay growing tissues between the bark and the include adequate oxygen, moisture wood (Figure 3). (normally greater than 30 percent moisture Wood is composed of a complex mixture content), temperature (41 to 104°F), and a of substances, but the main constituent of Figure 3. Ten percent of wood is composed of short, hollow, brick-shaped cells oriented from the bark toward the center of the tree as ribbons or rays of Figure 2. A crosscut of most trees shows that inside unequal height and length. These rays distribute food, the bark there is a zone of lighter wood (sapwood) manufactured in the leaves and transported down the surrounding a core of darker colored wood inner bark, to the growing tissues between the bark (heartwood). Fast-growing trees usually have deeper and the wood. 2 sapwood than slow-growing trees. food source (usually the wood). Limiting and a few other species is durable, lasting one or more of these factors is key to three to five times longer than nondurable limiting degradation. woods. Decay fungi may grow in the interior of Wood-inhabiting fungi the wood or appear on wood surfaces as fan- Wood decay, mold, and most sapwood shaped patches of fine, threadlike, cottony stains are caused by fungi. These organisms growths or as rootlike shapes. The color of feed on living or dead wood and produce these growths ranges from white through spores (microscopic seeds) that are light brown, bright yellow, or dark brown. distributed by wind, water, and insects. The The spore-producing bodies may be spores can colonize moist wood during mushrooms, shelflike brackets, or structures