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Re: GBlist: Dangers of CCA Pressure Treated Wood
There have been several comments on wood-plastic composites as alternatives
to CCA-treated wood. I wanted to add a note about AERT's ChoiceDek product,
which is distributed in some parts of North America by Weyerhaeuser. It is
a 50-50 composite of recycled polyethylene (a carefully engineered mix of
LDPE and HDPE) and waste wood fiber. The wood is aromatic red cedar left
over from perfume manufacturing in Texas. They have years of supply in a
400-acre mountain of the chips that have accumulated for the past 50 years.
The 5/4 x 6 decking is currugated on the underside to reduce weight without
loss of strength. We did some testing of moisture absorption at the
Environmental Building News office and found almost no absorption. Seems
like a great product--and smells great (from the toxic cedar oils--right
Terry?).
We carried a review of the product in the June 1997 issue of EBN. I'll see
if we can put that review up on our Web site so non-subscribers can take a
look at it. Like Trex, however, this product costs a lot more than
CCA-treated wood. It is comparable to cedar or redwood in price.
Alex Wilson
Environmental Building News
www.ebuild.com
>>Trex has been mentioned. It is a product which has a solid cross-section
>>just
>>like a board. In the latest Journal of light Construction, I see an ad for a
>>product called TimberTech which has a T&G profile and a much reduced
>>cross-section - its section has a top and three vertical pieces which hang
>>down. If it has reasonable span capabilites, it would be worth checking
>>out -
>>much less material. Web site (I haven't been there) www.TimberTech.com.
>>
>>Marc Rosenbaum
>
>We have a sample here. Seems interesting. Trouble is, it's made from
>virgin plastic!
>
>And someone made this comment about Trex:
>>2 - There's probably no way to ever get rid of the stuff.
>
>Mobil used to claim that they would take back any extra or waste product
>and re-extrude it into new Trex. I don't know if Trex LLC still makes
>that claim, or who would pay the shipping costs.
>
>Nadav
>
>
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