Wet wood from Home Depot...

[Dogfish]

I would leave the pressure treated lumber as-is. No paint. Painting will actually hasten rot with pressure treated lumber. It likes to breathe. Staining is fine.

The wood is wet because after the wood is sawn and planed, the wood is then either soaked, or soaked and injected (ground contact lumber) with preservative. Wet pressure treated lumber is very normal, and is to be expected. It is normal, very normal. Nothing to get upset with at the Home Depot guys about.

Either paint your coop prior to placing on the legs, or tape the legs and paint the coop in place. If you still want to paint the legs, by all means do, but wait a while

 

[maclady]

When we did our fence with Pressure treated hubby had us wait 30 days before staining it so that it could dry out really well. Stain works best for pressure treated lumber at least from what we have done. Hope this helps. Oh ours was damp too when we bought it.

 

[Whispering Winds]

I needed a board for my cockatiels nest boxes and went to RP Lumber, guy had to look thru 10 before he found one that wasn't split
all the way thru in the middle. . .disturbing the quality of wood. Makes me wonder just how good the homes are that are being built with this kind of quality.

 

[berkeleysprings]

always water the pt wood decks and fences threw the hot weathern so to miniumise the cracking ,,, pt wood is wet all the way threw so wile it is drying water it some that way it wont dry to quick and crack on the outside

 

[crazyhen]

You'll find that the wet wood is much easier to put a screw or nail into than the dry wood. Also if you dry it lying down it will bend or twist out of shape badly. I find it best to use it and let it dry where I want it.. You do have to let it dry to paint or stain though. Enjoy your building. gloria Jean

 

[Colie <3]

Thanks for all the excellent advice everyone I'm going to go ahead with using the wood as legs and then tape it off and stain it next week when I'm sure it's dry.

 

[blaine012]

One little last bit of advice...The ACQ treated lumber has a high level of copper and is corrosive to aluminum fasteners and metal nails and screws. You may want to either use stainless steel, hot-dipped galvanized (must be a "G-185" designation) or just something that is marked "for use on ACQ treated stock." Since it's just the legs your doing... it shouldn't cost much...

 

[wayneh]

Colie <3 :

I'm kind of annoyed that it's damp really, I asked the guy at Home Depot about it and he acted like it was a normal thing. I'm thinking how do contractors and the like use wood that is damp? Are they laying it out on tarps and drying it like I am? Seems like a waste of time!

If its pressure treated wood don't worry. if you are going to use them for legs and they will be tuching the ground, you need pressure treated. If its not pressure treated, take it back and swap it for pressure treated. pressure treated wood will not rot like untreated wood. you need good legs for your coop. actually it is normal for pressure treated wood to be wet if it is fresh from the plant. also if your wood is not treated and is wet, when you dry it it will warp like, well it will not be nice. hope this helps.​

 

[Chris09]

Colie <3 :

I'm kind of annoyed that it's damp really, I asked the guy at Home Depot about it and he acted like it was a normal thing. I'm thinking how do contractors and the like use wood that is damp? Are they laying it out on tarps and drying it like I am? Seems like a waste of time!

It is normal treated lumber to be damp, (at least around here) .

Chris​

 

[farmer_lew]

Colie <3 :

I bought some 2 x 4 's from Home Depot yesterday and they are damp, what gives? lol
I have them sitting in the sun on a tarp but I was wondering if this is a normal thing when you buy wood?
How long will it take for these to dry out so I can put some waterproof sealer on them? They are the legs for my coop that is being shipped to me.

Edit for typo

When you buy wood from Home Depot, if the sign has "GDF" on it, it will be wet. The "GDF" srands for Green Douglas Fir. It has not been through the kiln drying process so it still has sap in it. As it dries, it will shrink in size a little. The wood I like to use is Kiln Dried ("KD") because there is no, or very minimal, sap left in it.​