Triton Barns recommends pressure-treated wood be used on the bottom perimeter of each horse stall.

What is pressure treatment?

Pressure treatment is a process that injects chemical preservatives into the wood. Wood is set inside a cylinder, then vacuum and pressure are applied to force the preservatives into the wood. The preservatives help protect the wood from infection by termites, intruders, and fungal decay.

Chemical preservatives can be classified into three broad categories: Water-borne preservatives, Oil-borne preservatives, and Light Organic Solvent Preservatives (LOSPs). These are discussed in more detail below.

Water-borne preservatives

Water is the most common solvent carrier in preservative formulations due to its availability and low cost. Water-borne systems do however have the drawback that they swell timber, leading to increased twisting, splitting and checking than alternatives.

Oil-borne preservatives

These include pentachlorophenol and creosote. They are toxic, have an unpleasant odor and are generally not used in consumer products.

Natural preservatives - Naturally rot-resistant woods

These species are resistant to decay in their natural state, due to high levels of organic chemicals called "extractives", mainly polyphenols.

What types of wood can be pressure treated and what are the differences in corrosion rates?

Tree logs from commercial wood is cut have many layers. The two primary layers are called heartwood and sapwood. The Hartwood layer provides most of the "structural" strength to the tree while the sapwood transports the sap from the base of the tree..

Wood preservatives are absorbed into sapwood easier than heartwood. As a result, different types of wood such as Southern Pine, which have a high percentage of sapwood, are predominately used in pressure treating.

Trees like the Douglas Fir have more heartwood so modifications to the preservative are typically required to achieve adequate penetration and retention levels. The modification that is usually made is to change the "carrier" used in the preservatives. Often this carrier uses an ammonia base, which speeds the penetration but also tends to increase the corrosion of the preservative. (Sapwood species usually have an amine base.) This increase in corrosion may be short term or long term. Hybrid carriers, a combination of amine and ammonia bases, may also be used to treat heartwood.

Perforating the wood with small slits may also be utilized to increase the penetration of the additives in the wood

What types of pressure treatments are used?

The three areas of preservatives normally used when pressure treating wood are: Waterborne, Creosote, and Oil-borne.

Wood treated with preservatives is typically used in residential, commercial and industrial buildings. Creosote is normally used for treating railroad ties, guardrail posts, and timbers used in marine structures. Oil-borne is used for preserving cross arms and utility poles

Several typical waterborne preservatives used in building applications include: Chromated Copper Arsenate (CCA-C), Alkaline Copper Quat (ACQ-C, ACQ-D, ACQ-D Carbonate), Micronized Copper Quat (MCQ), Copper Azole (CBA-A & CA-B) and Sodium Borates (SBX/DOT).

These preservatives are known by trade names such as: MicroPro%u2122, Wolmanized Natural Select%u2122 (Copper Azole), Smart Sense%u2122, Preserve and NatureWood® (ACQ), (MCQ), and Advance Guard® (Borate). Each preservative comes in different varieties so care should be exercised when specifying treated wood.

Some different oil-borne preservatives that are used are Pentachlorpheno, Chlorpyrifos IBPC and Copper Naphthenate. One advantage of these treatments is that they do not create swelling in the wood, but there is generally an added cost over the safer water born as well as availability in some regions.

Why is this so important?

When wood is pressure-treated, additives is injected inside the wood,, to help it better withstand even the harshest elements. These preservatives also helps fend off vermin, insects and fungus, which can add more than 20 years to the life of the wood. The amount of protection on each piece depends on how much chemical the wood absorbs.

Note: Be sure to wear gloves when working with pressure treated wood, to include a dust mask and eye protection to avoid irritation of your eyes, nose and skin

Triton horse stalls and horse barns are Hot Dip Galvanized after fabrication which allows the parts to be galvanized on the outside where you see it and on the inside where the rusting process starts in painted and pre-galvanized horse stalls and panels.