The old CCA treatment (tanalith to most people although thats a trade
name) was perfectly safe to use in a garden. The levels of arsenic in it
ar`nt high enough to cause any worry to little mammals. The only tricky
point is the FACT that it needed to be fixed before use (fixed means
that the carrier solution, water in CCA case, had to be no longer in
place). This usually meant a 14 day drying time between treating and
allowing for sale.

The new treatments are still water borne but have other formulations of
chemicals. The one we have access to at work is a green one (the green
is just a dye) which is still a copper based treatment with a new
generation of biocides which protects against fungi and termite. This is
called A.C.Q and is from a company called C.S.I who have been developing
the stuff for 2 decades.

I think the point here is that treated timber in the case of the new
stuff does not cover you for being water sealed. It is only suitable
against bio degredation. For keeping water away from timber then I`d go
for the bitumastic approach. We recommend the use of these products in
roof trusses when in a swimming room enviroment as the chemicals in the
air can actually attack the connector plates.

CCA is still available but mostly as a brown treatment rather than green.

I doubt if this has made anyone any the wiser as to what to use.

--
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