Not sure if this belongs in IMHO or GQ, but I’m looking for factual suggestions and hoping for logical explanations about the relative merits of whatever our options are.
My husband just took out our old bathroom sink, which was freakin’ huge with a cabinet base, and installed a much smaller one with a pedestal base. He got it from the Habitat for Humanity ReStore store. This needed to be a quick and cheap installation, and it was. (With all the extra room, we can now reach the tub to bathe our fast-growing toddler in it instead of the kitchen sink.) He used pieces of pressure-treated wood in certain key spots: first, between the sink and the wall, which is mostly ceramic tile in terrible shape but that we can’t do anything about right now. There is a small piece of old wood there that the old sink was attached to, flush in among the chewed-up tiles, attached to something solid in the wall. Husband attached larger piece of PT wood to that, and sink to that. Second, the plumbing wouldn’t all line up properly unless he put a substantial shim under the pedestal - another piece of PT wood there.
Everything is nice and stable and properly pitched and he even routed the wood edges nicely before he bolted stuff together – but it is still naked PT wood, with no sealant or anything. I’d like to do whatever we’re going to do ASAP, before there gets to be toothpaste spit splatters on the top piece and pee splashes on the pedestal base piece (it is next to the toilet, of course).
What should we use to finish and detail the wood? My first thought is “spar varnish” but I have not had good results with that stuff in the past, even applied exactly per directions. And shouldn’t we do something like caulk the gaps where wood meets tile?
Aesthetically, I think a clear finish would be nice – PT wood is a shade of green that happens to go well with the color scheme in there. It maybe looks weird to have wood in those spots, but the wall tile, and incidentally the late 60s linoleum floor, already disqualify us from *House Beautiful *showcases. Eclectic Yankee Decor Ideas, though – we’re a shoe-in.
Most pressure treated wood contains high levels of arsenic and is not suitable for indoor use, especially with a toddler in the house. The only safe option is to re-do everything and use something besides PT wood.
For protecting interior wood that will be subjected to the off splash I would recommend tung oil. Ideally you need to give it a good few coats, letting each one dry for a day or so. Water will then just bead off it.
Perhaps I am misinformed, but I believe that at least for outdoor applications fresh pressure treated needs to be allowed to dry for months before applying a finish. I think there is some pricey PT out there that is kiln-dried again after treating where this isn’t applicable.
I agree with Bag of Mostly Water. Remove the pressure treated and replace it with something else. If you seal it well, there is no reason why it needs to be pressure treated.
OP’s question, I’d prime your wood with a high quality primer. Then paint with enamel paint. Benjamin Moore has a primer called Fresh Start that is very good. I like their enamel paints too.
I’m a bit surprised this isn’t more common knowledge, that arsenic-treated wood has been off the market for a while now. My husband was overjoyed when this was new news, as he has had a lot of arsenicky splinters from landscaping work over the years. They were NASTY mofos.
Baracus’s point is a good one, though – I know the wood isn’t just off the lot, but I’m not sure how long it’s been “garage dried”. Probably at least six months, maybe a year and a half or more. Husband might remember.
Leaffan, probably tacky, check. However, as noted previously, it fits the overarching decor theme perfectly.
For a clear finish, I guess I’d go with polyurethane. You can either paint it on, or spray it. I’m no handy(wo)man, though, so I defer to anyone with more experience (read: any experience.)
I’m not sure if knots in pressure treated pine will bleed through paint or not. To be safe, I’d use a shellac based primer. I’ve used it before to seal old knotty pine paneling. I never saw any knots bleed through my paint job.
you’ll need to sand lightly with medium grade paper before painting. For bathrooms semi-gloss enamel is very water resistant and easily cleanable. Get a good brand like Sherwin Williams or Benjamin Moore.
Did you specifically use PT wood because of its location in a wet/damp environment, or because it was handy? Just curious.
Either way, if it were my bathroom I’d just trim it out with something non-PT, and prime/paint that with basic interior enamel. Or a few coats of a nice poly finish. Either one will protect the trim and PT from moisture and/or water damage, up to a point.
I’ve never actually heard of using PT in a bathroom; usually it is used in an interior application such as a baseplate for a stud wall in the basement, since it will be against a porous cement surface.
PT wood is generally pretty rough since it’s mainly for decks and framing in wet areas.
But with some vigorous sanding PT will paint up nicely. One trick, Sherwin Williams sells thin sanding sponges with medium or fine paper glued to one side. Do yourself a favor and pick up a few. They are less than a buck each. A painter gave me this tip one time when he saw me massaging a cramp out of my hand. I always cramp up bad using plain sandpaper. Those sponges give you some to grip and they are very flexible. Great for edges, and irregular surfaces.
Don’t get those thick, stiff sponge sanding blocks Home Depot sells. They are useless. IMHO they are so darn stiff. Sherwin Williams is the only supplier I know that still sells those thin, brown sponge pads.
I don’t know for sure – my guess is it was handy and close to the right size, with water resistance considered a plus. We own a venerable woodshop shed (previous house owners outfitted it and left it intact) and I’m never sure what all in there has been there since Watergate and what’s leftovers from a recent project. I do know this was ACQ, though, and not the old arsenic crap, because one scrap still had the lumberyard tag stapled on the end. If I had to bet a shiny nickle, I’d say these particular bits of wood are most likely left over from the Great Flowerbed Project of May '11 (which, incidentally, never got any flowers put in it, but did spontaneously generate a fine crop of cherry tomatoes and gigantic butternut squash, volunteered by undercooked kitchen compost).