I finally stopped using pressure treated wood for outdoor furniture after it warped on me twice

Built a bench last spring with PT lumber from Home Depot and by August it twisted so bad the legs wobbled. My neighbor Mark who builds decks for a living told me to only use cedar or redwood for stuff that sits flat. He said PT is fine for fences and posts but it moves too much for tables and benches. I wasted $60 on that first bench. Anyone else switch to cedar and see a big difference?

2 comments

2 Comments

mitchell.lee16d ago

oh man, my buddy Jake went through the exact same thing. He built this whole picnic table out of PT pine from Lowe's and within like 3 months the whole top was cupping and splitting real bad. He was so ticked off because he spent a whole weekend on it and sanded everything perfect. Then he ripped it apart and rebuilt it with cedar from a local lumber yard and he said it was like night and day difference. That cedar table has been sitting in his backyard for like 4 years now through rain and snow and still looks pretty good, just a little grayed out. He said the cedar was actually cheaper per board than the PT stuff too since he didn't have to buy so many replacement pieces later. I'm honestly thinking about doing the same thing for my next project after hearing his story.

joelt7016d ago

Honestly, did he try sealing the PT pine first or just let it rawdog the weather?