[Greenbuilding] Alternatives to Pressure Treated Wood

[dantonioli at earthlink.net]

The roof deck is sloped from three directions down to a corner drain. The
difference in elevation is approximately a foot, spanning a distance of
twenty feet. You need a sturdy frame of joists to support an elevated deck,
but as I mentioned in many areas the clearance is minimal and, thus, the
need for sleepers. 

I've yet to see plastic lumber that can be ripped from, say, zero to
three-and-a-half inches and hold its structural integrity, let alone be
attached to a frame to create a rigid platform. But maybe there's a product
that someone on the list has actually used in this capacity. Always checking
the possibilities.

Dan

 

-----Original Message-----
From: greenbuilding-bounces at listserv.repp.org
[mailto:greenbuilding-bounces at listserv.repp.org] On Behalf Of Speireag Alden
Sent: Monday, October 08, 2007 9:00 AM
To: greenbuilding at listserv.repp.org
Subject: Re: [Greenbuilding] Alternatives to Pressure Treated Wood

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)

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