# Painting treated lumber for kitchen table?



## renovatio (Jul 4, 2011)

Happy new year all! I'm building a farm style kitchen table with stained solid oak top and painted pine aprons and legs. Lowes has a few different styles of treated 4x4x48 rail posts and I would like to use them for the legs. However, when I started looking online to see if I had to do anything special to paint them, I found sites advising scrubbing them then letting them dry anywhere from a few weeks to a few months before painting. Has anyone used treated stuff for an application like this and is that really necessary? I'm going for a weathered/primitive finish on the painted part so it doesn't have to be perfect, but I also don't want paint falling off it with use.


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## ryan50hrl (Jun 30, 2012)

I wouldn't be using treated for a kitchen table. You don't want to be eating near those chemicals.


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## HowardAcheson (Nov 25, 2011)

>>>> I wouldn't be using treated for a kitchen table. You don't want to be eating near those chemicals.

Indoor applications, particularly around food does, not seen like a use for for treated wood.


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

If you haven't already made the table I would select common pine rather than the treated. After it was painted the chemical content wouldn't matter. The paint would provide a barrier to the chemical content of the wood. The fact that it has been soaked in the chemicals, you will experience more wood movement and warpage than other woods would be my biggest concern. To answer your question though, depending on how fresh it is from the factory it may take two to three months this time of year before the wood is dry enough to paint. Then you would paint it like any other wood.


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## Black540i (Jan 4, 2013)

I wouldn't dare put treated lumber anywhere in my house. It's actually against a lot of building codes to have it indoors now too.


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## firemedic (Dec 26, 2010)

Black540i said:


> It's actually against a lot of building codes to have it indoors now too.


??? 

Please explain further.


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As to the question at hand, Steve's right. Treated is going to move and twist a lot as it dries. The moisture content of treated is considerably higher meaning building with wet wood. Granted wet softwoods warp and check less than wet hardwoods it still can be an issue - particularly with cheap grade framing materials.


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## EasyTide (Jan 3, 2014)

Pressure treated lumber is treated with copper chromate instead of the old arsenic "blends". It,s no less lethal, it just tends to not leach into surrounding soil as much. In an indoor setting, It can vaporise , even at an ever so slight rate, so it,s not safe in non-ventilated area,s. That being said, aside from the health hazards, the formula for treating the wood levates the moisture contend well above anything acceptible for "furniture" use. In essence,,,,good luck getting it to dry enough to be stable or ever hold a proper finish. As the above poster stated, use regular 4x4 pine or hem fir ...better yet, laminate a couple of kiln dried studs if you realy want the "massive" look. .....cheers


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## renovatio (Jul 4, 2011)

I'm not real worried about the safety aspect of it, as the food I eat rarely comes in contact with my table legs.  However you guys have swayed me regarding the moisture content, I guess I'll try something else. I never would have even considered treated but no one in my area has untreated 4xs. Maybe I'll just glue and clamp some 2xs. Anyways, thanks for the input everyone!


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## ryan50hrl (Jun 30, 2012)

It's not that it's going to come in contact with your food....but when you walk by the stack in lowes....and you smell it....your inhaling a small dose...


Try a lumber yard rather than a big box store. Although even the big box stores here have untreated 4x4


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## Quickstep (Apr 10, 2012)

I've read that the current formulation for treated lumber is intended to be safer to use for things like picnic tables unless you ingest the lumber, but there are lots of other reasons that treated lumber is a less than ideal option for furniture. The treatment is deliberately driven into the wood in a water solution that is designed to penetrate deeply. As a result the treated wood can take a long time to dry to equilibrium and can check and warp as it dries. It's like they reversed the kiln drying process. It's also often yellow pine which isn't that stable to begin with. 

My local lumber yard sells 4X4 posts (for porch posts) that are made of four pieces with a lock miter joint at each corner. They're cedar, they're straight, they don't have cracks and they paint beautifully.


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