Need advice on replacing a few boards on my trailer , oak or pine

[deepNdirt]

I redone a trailer for a customer with what he chose, ( Oak ) true 2" thick x 8" wide , the trailer was originally decked in PT 2x6 and fit snuggly under the front and side channel iron, I wound up having to notch the ends of the oak to only 1 1/2 and rip out a notch along the 2 side edges as well,
No doubt the Oak added 3 times the weight to the trailers than the PT would have, and likely cost 3 times as well for Oak from the timber mill,
for my personal use I use NO# 2 grade hand selected PT with No or very limited small knots, Being sure they're semi dried before fitting,
I don't worry much about treating them with anything special, When I water-proof our house deck with Thompson water sealer I'll be sure to do the same with the trailer,

 

[BigE_]

i'd go with PT and forget the environment poisoning diesel/hazardous waste oil treatment and instead put asphalt based fence paint on them.

I know you're a smart guy and also been helpful to me in the past, so please don't take this wrong.

Asphalt is made from crude oil. Motor oil is made from crude oil, but is just more refined and actually much cleaner.

Asphalt paint is nothing more than asphalt plus mineral spirits.

I fail to see how a cleaner, more refined product like motor oil is worse than asphalt paint, which is one step beyond crude oil. Diesel is also more refined.

The diesel + oil and the asphalt paint are both thinned out petroleum products. What am I missing? How can dirty crude oil be better for the environment?

You can PM if you want to take this offline. I don't want to start an argument, but just try to understand your line of reasoning.

 

[Egon]

Heavy metal additions.

 

[JESSE1]

I've always used pressure treated pine for trailer floors. I get into some rot but mainly the boards will start to warp and the flooring screws corrode and break. It's been this way for several years since they changed how the lumber is being treated. Used to get wolmanized lumber that was light green in color, never had any problems with it but evidently it was banned.

If you want a really long lasting floor, get apitong flooring lumber that's used in commercial trailers. If I ever get another trailer built I'll order apitong for the floor and never have to worry about it again.

 

[Soundguy]

cured asphalt is classified as essentially environmentally inert. I can send you the MSDS for liquid bituminous mix we use. thus it is safe for ground and water runnoff contact / leaching contact. ( which is why you can pave a road... or paint your fence and the epa does not show up and make you remov ethe road or rip out the fence )

Diesel, if spilled on the ground, requires mitigation. Ever see a truck accident and a clean up crew digging up the contaminated soil?

It's illegal to appply diesel to the ground. I know contractors that got 10-25 ys in club fed for spraying a fence line with diesel to clear plants. Why is it illegal to spray it? because it leaches with water contact.

DOT classifies used motor oil as a hazardous waste. Wood dipped in used motor oil, then left out in the weather will also leach. ( heavy metals and other goodies you don't want in your drinking water.. )

That's why dust control oil is not used motor oil. I don't care if we did it back years ago. it was bad then, it is bad now. we figured it out and stopped doing it. We used to drown and burn witches too.

There are simply TOO MANY 'better' ways to treat wood, that will have LESS of an environmental impact than the ideas stated. some of which.. could be expressly illegal.

water systems desgins ( waste and potable ) was a large focus of mine when i was in engineering school.

soundguy

I know you're a smart guy and also been helpful to me in the past, so please don't take this wrong.

Asphalt is made from crude oil. Motor oil is made from crude oil, but is just more refined and actually much cleaner.

Asphalt paint is nothing more than asphalt plus mineral spirits.

I fail to see how a cleaner, more refined product like motor oil is worse than asphalt paint, which is one step beyond crude oil. Diesel is also more refined.

The diesel + oil and the asphalt paint are both thinned out petroleum products. What am I missing? How can dirty crude oil be better for the environment?

You can PM if you want to take this offline. I don't want to start an argument, but just try to understand your line of reasoning.

 

[wawajake]

I looked around for a cheap coating for the boards on my new trailer (that I used for gravel numerous times this summer (unloaded with my bucket scrapping) so I found the cheapest thing was a gallon of driveway sealer, $12.00 ..one gallon spread with a roller covered my 14 foot landscape trailer . I will let you know how it lasts the winter. It looked like the original boards were spruce that was spray painted black but maybe they were PT.

 

[BigE_]

Thanks for the reply, Soundguy. Makes a bit of sense, I guess. The thicker material doesn't leach as much. Used motor oil vs. new? Is that where the heavy metals are added? (Sorry for the thread hijack).

 

[aczlan]

Thanks for the reply, Soundguy. Makes a bit of sense, I guess. The thicker material doesn't leach as much.

Correct.

Used motor oil vs. new? Is that where the heavy metals are added? (Sorry for the thread hijack).

Yes.

Aaron Z

 

[bandaidmd]

There selling a product that looks a lot like bedliner to rehab old decks, that would prob work well on trailer boards.

 

[deepNdirt]

There selling a product that looks a lot like bedliner to rehab old decks, that would prob work well on trailer boards.

I've heard of this stuff, i think it's sold under the Rustoleum name called ( Restore ) I'm still awaiting to find an actual person who has used this stuff, I have people lining up wanting to do this to their decks, But I don't want to be the one who applies it and then it only last 1-2 years, I think it's rather costly,
Not sure how flexible it would be under the weight load driving of tractors driving over it, if the boards might flex and the stuff cracks,