New Treated Wood Uses Nonmetallic Biocides

“It is a breakthrough,” said DeVenzio, “something that people have been looking to or thinking about for some years, at least as long as treated wood has been questioned by critics.” One of the oldest wood preservatives, creosote, is organic but oilborne, not waterborne, and is carcinogenic. Biocides like those in Wolmanized L3 have more recently been used as wood preservatives, particularly in New Zealand, but with key differences. Those formulations, often called light organic solvent preservatives (LOSPs), have been solventborne, causing use exposure concerns. They have also not been very durable and have been favored in applications such as millwork, where the wood is painted and benefits from the treatment’s dimensional stability (see

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