WPA PROVIDES CLARIFICATION ON CREOSOTE

 WPA PROVIDES CLARIFICATION ON CREOSOTE

Fencing News was recently contacted by a Belgian firm seeking clarification on the issue of creosote for timber treatment

Woodwide sawmill is based in Liege and is headed by Isabelle Huet and her business partner Johnny Touchard. Isabel has 25 years of experience in the wood industry and exports their wood internationally.

Isabel commented “Twenty years ago untreated wood had a longer life span but since then I’ve noticed a decline in the quality of wood following the bark beetle crisis. Our autoclave treated wood
is currently impregnated via one of two methods: creosote or a green or brown salt-based treatment such as Impralith or Tanalith.”

We decided to look into it with our friends at the Wood Protection Association coming up trumps with this response…

Creosote has been a popular and effective wood preservative for over 200 years. It remains the only preservative in the WPA Code of Practice for Industrial Wood Preservation, shown as suitable for a 60-year service life for ground contact timbers.

Creosote is not permitted for DIY use. It can still be bought and used by professionals in much
of the UK for specific industrial applications:

• Railway sleepers

• Fence panels/horizontals and posts for highway, equestrian and animal security fencing

• Overhead electricity poles; telecommunication poles; agricultural tree stakes/ supports

• Re-treatment of exposed surfaces (for above applications)

Wood treated with creosote in GB (England, Scotland and Wales) and imported creosote-treated wood, must be labelled with advice on handling and use.

The long-term future of creosote in GB remains difficult to predict. Many hope the HSE will extend the expiry date beyond the current 13 February 2025, in line with EU approval (includes N.

Ireland), which has been extended to 31 October 2029 for the treatment of sleepers and poles. However, the future of creosote treated agricultural fencing is unclear, as this was banned in the EU in 2023.

There are some emerging alternative treatments with a claimed service life of up to 40 years – typically copper-organic oil-based formulations – but none are yet commercially available for use in GB. Wood treated with such preservatives for exterior (use class 3) or ground contact (use class 4) use, may be imported.

 

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