We now use creocote. Nowhere near as good as creosote. Such a shame that the commercial amature market couldn't be trusted to wear the necessary protective clothing to ensure there was no skin contact and hence from 2013 it was only approved for use in the UK by professionals as part of their work.
I actually like the smell of cresote too and wouldn't get my knickers in a knot if I had a neighbour that did a shed with it.
The largest health effect of creosote is deaths caused by residential chimney fires due to chimney tar (creosote) build-up. This is entirely unconnected with its industrial production or use.
Advice on application of this type of product. Do wash all the green slime off the post and fences. I find brushing is best and least wasteful and you don't want to spray your neighbors. For posts I always paint the bases with Bitumen, up to 2 inches above where they appear above the ground, the air exposure area boundary is where they get attacked and fail. This one trick adds years to the post's life.
It is getting increasingly difficult to get products that work as well as they formerly did due to health and safety and environmental issues. Not long ago I purchased pressure treated fence posts and the vendor warned me that due to a change in regulation the treatment would not behave as well as it had previously. He was right they are currently sporting a fine Honey Fungus growth. Now nobody wants Arsenic floating around in a dangerous way but how many people ever suffered from Arsenic poisoning apart from avid fence post chewers? Anyway I thought Creosote would work but that too, as we see in the posting, has been reduced in its abilities. How dangerous was it? Well it was used in medicine and dentistry but decide for yourself.
The IARC has determined that coal tar creosote is probably carcinogenic to humans. The animal testing relied the continuous application of creosote to the shaved skin of rats. After weeks of exposure, the animals developed cancerous skin lesions and in one test, lesions of the lung.
A 2005 mortality study of creosote workers found no evidence supporting an increased risk of cancer death, as a result of exposure to creosote. Based on the findings of the largest mortality study to date of workers employed in creosote wood treating plants, there is no evidence that employment at creosote wood-treating plants or exposure to creosote-based preservatives was associated with any significant mortality increase from either site-specific cancers or non-malignant diseases. The study consisted of 2,179 employees.
So I would recommend not chewing the posts or fences. But these changes mean one has to use multiple other products over shorter time periods, replace posts and panels more often and all these need to be treated. I think a short sighted environmentalism takes place because it is someone's job to find a problem, then this has to be regulated, not taking into account the bigger picture. I wouldn't recommend using old oil as a home made remedy just from a fire hazard point of view - it will eventually be consumed by bacteria but the original formulas seem to have worked for the last 100 years without massive problems. Perhaps the new products have some novel allergic reactions due to their new chemistry or being lighter evaporate more quickly causing the initial post in this thread.
So Arthur - it would appear that you have a bee in your bonnet about creosote - perhaps it's your preservative of choice for your particular hobbyhorse - why else would you trawl up two very old threads - this one dates from 2014 - in order to give us the benefit of your opinion?
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Posts
We now use creocote. Nowhere near as good as creosote. Such a shame that the commercial amature market couldn't be trusted to wear the necessary protective clothing to ensure there was no skin contact and hence from 2013 it was only approved for use in the UK by professionals as part of their work.
I actually like the smell of cresote too and wouldn't get my knickers in a knot if I had a neighbour that did a shed with it.
Dove, you're clearly a survivor too
- I'll bet you have sticking up purple hair as well.
Mine was called Dominic Dove & Joe. I got him in about 1966. Still have him somewhere.
The largest health effect of creosote is deaths caused by residential chimney fires due to chimney tar (creosote) build-up. This is entirely unconnected with its industrial production or use.
Advice on application of this type of product. Do wash all the green slime off the post and fences. I find brushing is best and least wasteful and you don't want to spray your neighbors. For posts I always paint the bases with Bitumen, up to 2 inches above where they appear above the ground, the air exposure area boundary is where they get attacked and fail. This one trick adds years to the post's life.
It is getting increasingly difficult to get products that work as well as they formerly did due to health and safety and environmental issues. Not long ago I purchased pressure treated fence posts and the vendor warned me that due to a change in regulation the treatment would not behave as well as it had previously. He was right they are currently sporting a fine Honey Fungus growth. Now nobody wants Arsenic floating around in a dangerous way but how many people ever suffered from Arsenic poisoning apart from avid fence post chewers? Anyway I thought Creosote would work but that too, as we see in the posting, has been reduced in its abilities. How dangerous was it? Well it was used in medicine and dentistry but decide for yourself.
The IARC has determined that coal tar creosote is probably carcinogenic to humans. The animal testing relied the continuous application of creosote to the shaved skin of rats. After weeks of exposure, the animals developed cancerous skin lesions and in one test, lesions of the lung.
A 2005 mortality study of creosote workers found no evidence supporting an increased risk of cancer death, as a result of exposure to creosote. Based on the findings of the largest mortality study to date of workers employed in creosote wood treating plants, there is no evidence that employment at creosote wood-treating plants or exposure to creosote-based preservatives was associated with any significant mortality increase from either site-specific cancers or non-malignant diseases. The study consisted of 2,179 employees.
So I would recommend not chewing the posts or fences. But these changes mean one has to use multiple other products over shorter time periods, replace posts and panels more often and all these need to be treated. I think a short sighted environmentalism takes place because it is someone's job to find a problem, then this has to be regulated, not taking into account the bigger picture. I wouldn't recommend using old oil as a home made remedy just from a fire hazard point of view - it will eventually be consumed by bacteria but the original formulas seem to have worked for the last 100 years without massive problems. Perhaps the new products have some novel allergic reactions due to their new chemistry or being lighter evaporate more quickly causing the initial post in this thread.
So Arthur - it would appear that you have a bee in your bonnet about creosote - perhaps it's your preservative of choice for your particular hobbyhorse
- why else would you trawl up two very old threads - this one dates from 2014 - in order to give us the benefit of your opinion?
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.