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Old 04-17-2011, 10:01 PM
K44 K44 is offline
 
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Default How Long Does Treated Lumber Last

I'm looking at building a cabin and putting it on 6x6 treated piles how long will they last?
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Old 04-17-2011, 10:07 PM
deanmc deanmc is offline
 
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Pressure treated should outlast you depending on your age of course. 50 years at least.
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Old 04-17-2011, 10:14 PM
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id use 3 PT 2x6's laminated together. if strait and square is important then this will be better than twisty 6x6;s
the pressure treatment only penetrates maybe 1"-1 1/4" whereas almost the entire 2x6 would have been preserved. use copious amounts of endcut preserver as well.

there is(or at least, was) a product called Elsroe520, a water based membrane that rolled on wood basements with a paint roller.
keep applying it until its all used or sealed 100%,
consider applying that as a waterproofing.
id be running screw piles with a skid steer if ihad to do it again
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Old 04-17-2011, 10:34 PM
densa44 densa44 is offline
 
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Smile Piles?

If you can use concrete do so! The other stuff treated or not is still lumber. The stuff the Romans built is still there the wooden structures, all gone.
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Old 04-17-2011, 10:34 PM
Lonnie Lonnie is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by K44 View Post
I'm looking at building a cabin and putting it on 6x6 treated piles how long will they last?
all depends; is there lots of water around, are you going to add some kind of sealer to them, are they sitting on the ground, are they on concrete if on concrete did you put plastic between concrete and the treated wood. it all depends on the conditions but definitly lasts longer than non treated wood.
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Old 04-17-2011, 10:54 PM
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Grizzly Adams Grizzly Adams is offline
 
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Interesting guarantee. 60 years, material only. So, if the basement of your house fails during that time, they'll give you a truckload of treated lumber to replace it. I set my barn on treated wood piles and have no regrets. Two types of material out there. AWW, for appearance, no meat tenderizer slots and the preservative doesn't penetrate very far. Not for below grade installation. PWF is for below grade applications. Order the pile material long enough, so you can get two, from each. Factory treated end goes in the ground. Field treating isn't with the same compound or as good.

Grizz
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Old 04-17-2011, 11:03 PM
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Another option is concrete piles poured in a sonotube, with a galvanized "saddle" that has a very heavy hunk of rebar welded to a U-shaped piece of plate steel that will hold the 4x4 or 6x6 you sit in it. The heavy rebar portion is set down into the wet concrete and adjusted for elevation. This way there is no wood below ground, and the metal piece is hot-dip galvanized so it will last. A recent product I discovered is fibre reinforcement for concrete, and I think it would be excellent for keeping piles from splitting. I found it at Northland Construction Supplies and it's only $8 a bag, which is enough for a cubic yard.
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Old 04-17-2011, 11:15 PM
avb3 avb3 is offline
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I built a cabin on a foundation of treated wood. (I used pressure treated posts)

My son was 2 when I put it down. Today he is 33; you do the math.

The cabin is as solid and level as the day I put in the floor.
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Old 04-18-2011, 07:27 AM
K44 K44 is offline
 
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Thanks guy that puts my mind at ease now with all the advise all I need is some help any takers??????
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Old 04-18-2011, 08:01 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CaberTosser View Post
Another option is concrete piles poured in a sonotube, with a galvanized "saddle" that has a very heavy hunk of rebar welded to a U-shaped piece of plate steel that will hold the 4x4 or 6x6 you sit in it. The heavy rebar portion is set down into the wet concrete and adjusted for elevation. This way there is no wood below ground, and the metal piece is hot-dip galvanized so it will last. A recent product I discovered is fibre reinforcement for concrete, and I think it would be excellent for keeping piles from splitting. I found it at Northland Construction Supplies and it's only $8 a bag, which is enough for a cubic yard.
That would be my first choice for a building I was going to live in, but sometimes circumstances dictate you can't do it that way. Definitely no question about material life here.
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Old 04-18-2011, 08:04 AM
4thredneck 4thredneck is offline
 
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where, when and how much beer you buyin'?
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Old 04-18-2011, 08:13 AM
K44 K44 is offline
 
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I'm building on an Island around Terrace B.C on the Skeena river hopefully in July all the beer you can drink and fishing after the cabins built. Well maybe fish and beer every day after a little work
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Old 04-18-2011, 08:20 AM
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I used pressure treated 6X6 for years on the coast to build engineered retaining walls. It probably only lasts at least 50=60 years. Fence posts that I put in are 26 years olf and still good.

I could supervise the building and the beer drinking if you need me. I could even cook.
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Old 04-18-2011, 11:02 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by roger View Post
id use 3 PT 2x6's laminated together. if strait and square is important then this will be better than twisty 6x6;s
the pressure treatment only penetrates maybe 1"-1 1/4" whereas almost the entire 2x6 would have been preserved. use copious amounts of endcut preserver as well.
Great idea.

Quote:
A recent product I discovered is fibre reinforcement for concrete, and I think it would be excellent for keeping piles from splitting.
Pushing rebar down the sonotube is the tried and true method.
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Old 04-18-2011, 11:32 AM
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The plastic lumber used for the decks up at Marmot Basin looks quite nice.

Probably has a nice price also.
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Old 04-18-2011, 12:22 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CaberTosser View Post
Another option is concrete piles poured in a sonotube, with a galvanized "saddle" that has a very heavy hunk of rebar welded to a U-shaped piece of plate steel that will hold the 4x4 or 6x6 you sit in it. .................A recent product I discovered is fibre reinforcement for concrete, and I think it would be excellent for keeping piles from splitting..
concrete and saddles are perfect!

the wood and concrete will never stay complete. the frost will always expand the wood and break the concrete. unless the concrete is below frost line.
metal and concrete have very similar coef of expansion.
the fiberglass additive is cool stuff
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Old 04-18-2011, 06:20 PM
sirmike68 sirmike68 is offline
 
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I used 6x6 treated beams for my shack. 16x24, I doubled them up and lag bolted them together with an impact gun. Only 1 year old so I guess I will find out how they work. [/IMG]
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Old 04-18-2011, 08:00 PM
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gfr concrete (glass fibre reinforced concrete) is generally not for piles unless it is an engineer request. it runs about double, triple price even and good luck anybody where you building will have it. This may sound crazy and i questinoned it before i saw it done, use the pwf post, but instead of concrete only set them in concrete in the hole (say 1' concrete if the hole is 4') and fill the rest with gravel, compact it with a sledge or something long and heavy, sounds hard but not. Gravel sheds the water away from the post, where as the concrete, once a little warn on top or your wood shrinks will allow moisture to penetrate between post and concrete, eventually frost will bust that concrete apart or your post will rot. our engineers have started to design all pwf structures this way, good luck looks like a good start has already been made.
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Old 04-19-2011, 09:55 AM
nsmitchell nsmitchell is offline
 
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Default Try Screw Pilings

I built my cabin and used screw pilings. Were installed in 3 hours and within mm of level ( No shims at all). Best thing was the time savings and no need to dig. Cabin has been rock steady for 3 years of freeze thaw. Piles get screwed down below frost line. Size of pile depends on loading.
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Old 04-19-2011, 12:58 PM
K44 K44 is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nsmitchell View Post
I built my cabin and used screw pilings. Were installed in 3 hours and within mm of level ( No shims at all). Best thing was the time savings and no need to dig. Cabin has been rock steady for 3 years of freeze thaw. Piles get screwed down below frost line. Size of pile depends on loading.
Screw piles is what I wanted to use but there is no one that does it there and there is to much rock. Concrete would be great but access is not good enough to bring a concrete truck in
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Old 04-19-2011, 01:41 PM
caver77 caver77 is offline
 
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Depends on what kind of soil, what the water table is like ,and what kind of water you have. I used to install miles of pt 4*6 timber as perimeter border between grass and rock gardens as a landscaper and where the water would sit they didn't last too long. I saw pt border very degraded in as little as two years when subjected to over irrigating, at drier location it could last 10-15 years. Depending on the soil, and water sometimes it's better to concrete them in, and sometimes I've seen screened rock work much better. I would tend to recommend using concrete rebar renforced piles formed up with sonotube and add a little fiber if you want (but is should be unnecessary). What do they generally use in the area?
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Old 04-19-2011, 02:05 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by K44 View Post
Screw piles is what I wanted to use but there is no one that does it there and there is to much rock. Concrete would be great but access is not good enough to bring a concrete truck in
If there is too much rock for screwpiles [I'm thinking river bed here], you'll have a bugger of a time digging holes for your piles, as well. In that situation, I'm thinking you could get by with a surface footing. Only reason to use piles would be to get through frost penetration and counter heave. Don't think you're going to have enough of a problem there to worry about.

Grizz
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Old 04-19-2011, 02:45 PM
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you would be surprised at how little effort it takes to heave a footing due to frost, plus that method is only as good as the ground on which it rests. If at all possible drill piles, size to be negotiated with your building and imposed loads. If your just using treated 6x6 they should be fine for years, try to slope the surrounding ground away from the building although, unless of course your using an internal sump (i doubt because its a cabin), personally i wouldnt laminate treated 2x6 together they will hold together untill the bond between them either rots away (nails) or seperate due to expansion /contraction which is ineveitable especially in high humidy areas like that. You can purchase the treating compound and always give the 6x6 another coat or 2, especially on the ends, and dont be afraid to reapply it whenever you want .
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