Treated Wood Usage

Treated Wood Usage

Preservative Treated Wood Usage and AWPA Standards

Preservative treated wood can be used in a variety of building applications including interior, exterior, above ground, ground contact, marine, and fire retardant. Voluntary wood preservation standards are developed by the American Wood Protection Association (AWPA), a non-profit organization founded in 1904. AWPA Standards are written to safely and effectively extend the service life of preservative treated wood and are universally specified for wood preservation in the United States. AWPA Standards are also recognized worldwide.

The AWPA Use Category System (UCS) provides a simple way of using AWPA Standards. All preservative treated wood products can be placed into one of five use categories, based upon biodeterioration hazard and expected product performance. Fire retardant treated wood products are placed in their own unique use category class. The advantage of this system is simplicity, assisting specifiers and other users in the selection of the appropriate preservative treated wood product for a particular project. 

Allweather Wood preservative treated wood products are manufactured to AWPA industry standards.

Treated Wood Waste (TWW) in California

On January 1, 2021 a California law, which allowed treated wood waste to be brought to a composite-lined portion of a solid waste landfill, expired. The only option at the time was to transport treated wood waste to hazardous waste landfills which are only located in remote areas of the state. This caused widespread confusion and concern about the use of treated wood. A temporary fix was created whereby a variance could be obtained from the California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) to store, transport, and dispose of treated wood waste at a solid waste landfill.

On August 31, 2021, Assembly Bill 332 was signed by Governor Newsom reinstating the ability of treated wood waste producers to bring this waste to a solid waste landfill, a permanent fix.  The bill takes effect immediately. It also reinstated regulations regarding the appropriate handling, storage, and transportation of treated wood waste that were in place prior to January 1, 2021 and found in the issued variances. All variances issued by DTSC are now inoperative as they have been replaced by this bill. There is no expiration for the language in the bill. 

Please visit the DTSC website for the most current information relative to treated wood waste in California. The language in AB 332, including how to handle, transport, and dispose of treated wood waste, can be found here: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB332

An informational flyer has also been created for vendors, customers, contractors, and other interested parties that manufacture, distribute, purchase, or use treated wood. 

Educational Webinar Series

Allweather Wood offers an educational webinar series to help dealers, distributors, specifiers, and other users of preservative treated wood understand how the products are manufactured and used. If you have any questions about the content of these webinars or other questions about our business or products, please Contact Us. Note: it is best to view the webinars below in full-screen mode.

Preserving Wood for the Future

In this webinar, we discuss why there is a need for preservative treated wood, and explain the manufacturing process.

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Preservative Treated Wood Use Categories and Best Management Practices

In this webinar, we explain how to specify treated wood products using the American Wood Protection Association's (AWPA) Use Category System and how to apply Best Management Practices (BMPs) for the use of preservative treated wood in aquatic and sensitive environments. 

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Treated Wood Preservatives

In this webinar, we explain waterborne and oil-type preservatives and the conditions in which the two preservative types are approved for use.

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Preservative Treated Wood and The International Building Codes

In this webinar, we discuss where preservative treated wood is required by The International Building Code (IBC) and approved as part of the AWPA U1, Use Category standards. We cover quality mark labels, end tags, selecting the right fastener, and the importance of field treating, inspection agencies and ICC-ESR reports.

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Fire Retardant Treated Wood

In some applications, building codes provide for the use of fire retardant treated wood (FRTW) products as an alternative to noncombustible materials. This webinar covers common interior and exterior applications of FRTW, testing standards, quality marks and how to specify FRTW using flame spread ratings and IBC requirements.

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Preservative Treated Wood Industry Resources

In this webinar, we share helpful industry resources and information regarding preservative treated wood. 

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