[Greenbuilding] Alternatives to Pressure Treated Wood

[Speireag Alden]

Sgrìobh <dantonioli at earthlink.net>:

>I'm considering a roofdeck project where I'll have to use a lot of pressure
>treated wood as "sleepers." The surface is uneven and there's only a few
>inches of clearance between the bottom of the deck boards and the
>roofdeck....which means a lot of long rips through pressure treated wood,
>and a lot of copper green over all of the exposed untreated surfaces. The
>last time I built a deck this way I told myself that I wouldn't do it again
>because working with PT this way is unhealthy--there's a ton of pt dust, too
>much copper green, and I can feel the physical effects and it sucks. I'm
>most likely going to turn the job down but thought I'd look into options.
>
>The question is: is there a rot resitant, structurally sound material that
>can be cut and tapered? FSC wood? Exciting new composition lumber?

     There are structural plastic lumbers out there.  You should be 
able to find them via Google.

     However, I'm confused about why you need them.  If the clearance 
is that small, I'm picturing a flat roof.  Why not use decking as 
sleepers, with shims to even things out?  Then you wouldn't have to 
cut anything at all, except for length.

     What am I missing?

-Speireag.

-- 
Anger, if not restrained, is frequently more hurtful to us than the 
injury that provokes it.
--Lucius Annaeus Seneca, philosopher (BCE 3-65 CE)