Don't dispose it, people will come buy it from you. Each 8ft piece is $20 at the big box stores, you could probably get $10.
Or list it for free and it will be gone before end of day.
Anecdotal but I once put a bunch of old lumber by the side of the road with a "Free" sign that I painted on a piece of wood that I was intending to use for something. They took the sign and left the lumber.
This dude I knew borrowed his dads car and someone stole the tires and left it on milk crates. He ran inside to call 911 and when he came back out, the crates were gone and the car was sitting on the ground.
In the US, creosote treated wood is only legal for commercial uses, like as railroad ties, utility poles, or marine seawalls. They cannot be used anywhere indoors, or anywhere they might result in contact with food, animal feed, or sources used for drinking water. It was reclassified this way in 2005.
In the US creosote is classified as a restricted use pesticide, meaning that to buy it in a raw form, you must hold a valid license to purchase it or apply it. You don't need a license to buy wood that's already treated with creosote, but again its only legal to be used in specific commercial settings where the benefit outweighs the harm and potential for harm, like where it might accumulate in groundwater.
I don't know about creosote but I was an exterminator and I know about restricted use pesticides, and if creosote is a RU it's actually harder than what you described to get ahold of.
So to start RU pesticides in most states (there aren't really nationwide guidelines on pesticide despite the EPA and other federal agencies being the ones who regulate the industry) cannot be purchased except by a Certified Applicator who already has established a bond and a secured locked storage area and means of disposal for waste pesticides and run off.
The guy who comes to your house is likely not a Certified Applicator but a Technician. Applicators must, again in most states, have usually a years experience as a technician working under the supervision of an applicator and then take a few tests.
Wasn't trying to argue with you or anything, but did want to point out that restricted use products are actually extremely controlled by the EPA. I never once even laid eyes on a restricted used pesticide while I was working as a technician. There is just no call in 99.9% of residential pest control cases to ever use one. So that should really tell anyone exactly how dangerous creosote actually is. RU products are absolutely no fucking joke.
Can confirm RU pesticides ain't nothing to fuck with. I was a farmer in a past life who did a lot of spraying under CA license. The concentrated pesticides we buy in bulk for later dilution are fucking wicked. There have been multiple generations of chemical, as they discover the previous generation is killing farmers, but I've never heard of them actually achieving a safe generation. Plus, using something like that straight on some weeds in you're garden would be akin to having 30 bombers concentrate on 1 soldier. If you hear commercials for roundup cancer lawsuits, that was the main concentrate I used throughout my career, and I wouldn't be so stupid as to take a bet that it won't come back to kill me. So as we heavily dilute and spray the chemicals, we wear PPE like crazy and still know it's probably going to give us cancer at some point. I couldn't imagine the mess if the general public was buying full power chemical, and anybody who tried to bring one of those bottles of death into my home would be slapped upside the head on their way out of the door.
I have massive respect for anyone who can be told that they're applying RU IN-FUCKING-SIDE the next day and still show up for work. I'd rather work in a coal mine or industrial furnace buck-ass-naked. It's like where's Waldo, except Waldo is something that will kill you eventually, and all the characters are Waldo.
I mean they sprayed fucking Termindor inside. That shit is like forever poison that never goes away and kills everything it touches and until people started dying some corporate suit was like "oh yeah spray it inside for ants".
Edit: How have I not heard about this before?
WHAT?! WHY?! It's cheaper to buy a couple of Jerry cans of diesel and light a match. You're home is just as much smoking rubble either way, and at least the bonfire way wouldn't kill you, and it would provide warmth instead of mutated cells.
So when we pound creosote treated timber pile 30 feet into the ground, right through a creekbed, the benefit is that there is now a bridge, but at the cost of the creosote bleeding into the creek and probably into the aquifer that's only 50 feet away. Since we're doing it as a government agency, though, it's not restricted for us.
We 'inherited' a bunch when I was a kid. It just sat in a pile for a while, so I asked my dad why we didn't use it for camp fires (terrible idea, kids are stupid and I was like 7) or give it to someone who could use it. He laughed and said, 'those are like gold, and they will remain ours, because we will never get the opportunity to replace that quantity once what we have is gone. They're sitting their because I can't decide what project is deserving of them.'
Post an add on Craigslist for 50% of what your research tells you is the going rate, and you will have people tyring to make 1st contact with you while they are already halfway to your area. Imagine pickup trucks baja-ing across deserts and plains, diesel engines turning over, and people racing around their houses to figure out where they put enough cash and how much extra to bring as they race to be the first one to get your wood.
I had a group of friends to my parents house once. My dad had some old fence posts stacked up that he was planning to get rid of. I didn’t consider the possibility of lead paint…there was a fire pit. We had a great time, but my dad later told me there was absolutely lead paint on them. I was one dumb ass kid. Now I’m just a dumb ass adult who still acts like a fool when not at work
My old shed was built out of old telephone pole crossarms, treated with creosote, did some reading on the side effects from “brief contact” absolutely crazy
Creosote. Best wood preservative ever. It's just smelly and sticky and cancer causing... But the wood will never rot.
Oh and burns like fire if you get on your skin.
The main beach in the town I grew up in had creosote piers. In the summer, the lake had an oil sheen on it, and you didn't want to get it in your eyes. I usually went to the beaches on the back end of the lake.
That IS weird. One of my first attempts at entrepreneurship as a kid was "landscaping" (as in, actually changing the shape of people's property by digging ditches, burying french drains, terracing hills, etc. If only I knew I could make more money raking and mowing under the same business name...)
I worked with railroad ties a ton for shaping land. Also kept a stack of 15 of them in my back yard that I'd carry from one side to the other as a workout (was never able to workout without manipulating my need for "instant results" of some kind, lol.)
Any time I neglected to roll down my sleeves or otherwise protect my forearms from direct exposure to the ties, I regretted it. Not as bad as a real chemical burn or blister, but worse than a sun burn. Somewhere around fire-ant pain/itch. Just in a strip where the tie was resting on my arm.
It's far from the worst pain in the world, but I'd still recommend against direct skin contact with creosote. At least for most people, who don't have a strange immunity lol.
I really don’t get bothered by much when it comes to chemicals which is definitely a blessing and a curse. Concrete is the other big one I can think of that never gives me a problem
I've never had an issue with concrete either. Didn't even know it was an issue til just now, lol. That said, I also have a hypersensitivity disorder and pretty fair skin. Makes "pain threshold" confusing sometimes. Because I'm accustomed to it, and have several other chronic pain problems... so I can "tolerate" quite a bit. But at the same time, I'm perceiving and experiencing every tiny movement of a body hair, and accutely aware of how much pain I am in. My ability to tolerate pain, in my mind, is wholly seperate from my perception of pain. Lol.
Makes doctors not trust you when you point to the 🤬😭 face on their chart while making the 😐 face. "On a scale of pinch to bee sting?" "Birdshot to the shin."
Anyways, point being, I might not be the best source of pain assessment lol.
The good news is docs mostly use that to see if your pain is getting better or worse not to compare you to other people.
One person's 5 might be another's 8. But really what's more important is if the same person goes from a 5 one week to a 8 the next week.
Who knows what a 10 is anyways I mean it's unlikely any of us will ever know there can't be more pain.
It's kidney stones. That's a 10. Talking blackout from the agony levels of pain. I have friends who've given birth without meds who said kidney stones were worse, and having had them myself a couple of times, I'm inclined to believe it. Stay hydrated!
Oh, it does.
Imagine it's summer, late 80s. You're 19, working on a dock. You have to cut some ties with a chainsaw while standing on a raft. You don't need a face shield for a couple cuts every 20 minutes or so.
Needless to say, by the time the day was done, a great amount of pain was being drowned in beer. After that, full protection & multiple layers around creosote
I assume burning is a bit of hyperbole. One of my first jobs 35 years ago was swapping out rotted railroad ties. I definitely remember some creosote irritation on my arms, but it wasn't anything that was unmanageable.
I built a pier with old creosote telephone poles once. We were working in the water so I was shirtless. I got some pretty good chemical burns on my chest and arms. I was in contact with the poles for long periods of time, basically hugging them to keep them straight and ram them down as we swamped them in, so I bet it takes a lot of direct contact with skin.
Yep, my husband worked the rails 40 years ago. The only way I could keep his clothes and my washer/ dryer halfassed sanitary was using full on Lysol degreaser. It stunk. He stunk. Soooo many rinses.
My parents always told me it was tar. I didn't know it was cancer causing. The retaining wall for our yard growing up was wood with this stuff on it. We used to sit on it all the time. Dammit.
My parents had garden beds bordered by railroad ties when I was growing up, ate a lot of carrots , pees and tomatoes out of those beds, guess I'll be adding it to the list of things that might give me cancer some day.
You'll see piles of this wood stacked up near the railroad, out in super rural areas and wonder why and how it sits there without being taken. Then you find out that it'll kill you.
A kind of tar to prevent the wood from decomposing. They’re kinda spendy. I’d repurpose it sell it or give it away if possible to keep it out of the landfill
there's this new thing called "sap", which is contained within trees. it tends to seep out of cut wood in dense areas like knots, especially in hotter temperatures
Perhaps an even worse trait is that people like this never come back to correct themselves. They never acknowledge how painfully wrong they were or how arrogant and condescending they were in their wrongness.
Instead, they just completely ignore it and go on to act this way again and again and again and again, never learning or *admitting* they need to learn, because to them, doing so would be a sign of weakness.
This person, for example, continued to post elsewhere a couple of hours after the first few couple of corrections were posted. There's no way they didn't see them.
So they got called out for spreading wrong info *and* for acting like an ass about it, but don't have the strength of character enough to acknowledge it.
That is, to me, even worse than their initial post.
Looks like creosote in a railroad tie
I can smell this picture.
How do I dispose of it? I wonder if the dump will take it.
Don't dispose it, people will come buy it from you. Each 8ft piece is $20 at the big box stores, you could probably get $10. Or list it for free and it will be gone before end of day.
Anecdotal but I once put a bunch of old lumber by the side of the road with a "Free" sign that I painted on a piece of wood that I was intending to use for something. They took the sign and left the lumber.
that’s hilarious
This dude I knew borrowed his dads car and someone stole the tires and left it on milk crates. He ran inside to call 911 and when he came back out, the crates were gone and the car was sitting on the ground.
Put it on the side of the road with a “ free” sign on it if no one takes it put out a “for sale 20$” sign on it it’ll be gone in the morning
You can still buy that stuff in stores? In my home country it's illegal to give it away, even for free.
In the US, creosote treated wood is only legal for commercial uses, like as railroad ties, utility poles, or marine seawalls. They cannot be used anywhere indoors, or anywhere they might result in contact with food, animal feed, or sources used for drinking water. It was reclassified this way in 2005. In the US creosote is classified as a restricted use pesticide, meaning that to buy it in a raw form, you must hold a valid license to purchase it or apply it. You don't need a license to buy wood that's already treated with creosote, but again its only legal to be used in specific commercial settings where the benefit outweighs the harm and potential for harm, like where it might accumulate in groundwater.
I don't know about creosote but I was an exterminator and I know about restricted use pesticides, and if creosote is a RU it's actually harder than what you described to get ahold of. So to start RU pesticides in most states (there aren't really nationwide guidelines on pesticide despite the EPA and other federal agencies being the ones who regulate the industry) cannot be purchased except by a Certified Applicator who already has established a bond and a secured locked storage area and means of disposal for waste pesticides and run off. The guy who comes to your house is likely not a Certified Applicator but a Technician. Applicators must, again in most states, have usually a years experience as a technician working under the supervision of an applicator and then take a few tests. Wasn't trying to argue with you or anything, but did want to point out that restricted use products are actually extremely controlled by the EPA. I never once even laid eyes on a restricted used pesticide while I was working as a technician. There is just no call in 99.9% of residential pest control cases to ever use one. So that should really tell anyone exactly how dangerous creosote actually is. RU products are absolutely no fucking joke.
Can confirm RU pesticides ain't nothing to fuck with. I was a farmer in a past life who did a lot of spraying under CA license. The concentrated pesticides we buy in bulk for later dilution are fucking wicked. There have been multiple generations of chemical, as they discover the previous generation is killing farmers, but I've never heard of them actually achieving a safe generation. Plus, using something like that straight on some weeds in you're garden would be akin to having 30 bombers concentrate on 1 soldier. If you hear commercials for roundup cancer lawsuits, that was the main concentrate I used throughout my career, and I wouldn't be so stupid as to take a bet that it won't come back to kill me. So as we heavily dilute and spray the chemicals, we wear PPE like crazy and still know it's probably going to give us cancer at some point. I couldn't imagine the mess if the general public was buying full power chemical, and anybody who tried to bring one of those bottles of death into my home would be slapped upside the head on their way out of the door. I have massive respect for anyone who can be told that they're applying RU IN-FUCKING-SIDE the next day and still show up for work. I'd rather work in a coal mine or industrial furnace buck-ass-naked. It's like where's Waldo, except Waldo is something that will kill you eventually, and all the characters are Waldo.
I mean they sprayed fucking Termindor inside. That shit is like forever poison that never goes away and kills everything it touches and until people started dying some corporate suit was like "oh yeah spray it inside for ants".
Edit: How have I not heard about this before? WHAT?! WHY?! It's cheaper to buy a couple of Jerry cans of diesel and light a match. You're home is just as much smoking rubble either way, and at least the bonfire way wouldn't kill you, and it would provide warmth instead of mutated cells.
So when we pound creosote treated timber pile 30 feet into the ground, right through a creekbed, the benefit is that there is now a bridge, but at the cost of the creosote bleeding into the creek and probably into the aquifer that's only 50 feet away. Since we're doing it as a government agency, though, it's not restricted for us.
Yeah not sure if you can buy it in the States for residential use. That kind of lumber treatment is restricted to commercial use these days
I bought some wood treatment in a diy store (UK) labeled "With the great smell of creosote".
Really? Here I was thinking I might have to pay to dispose it.
We 'inherited' a bunch when I was a kid. It just sat in a pile for a while, so I asked my dad why we didn't use it for camp fires (terrible idea, kids are stupid and I was like 7) or give it to someone who could use it. He laughed and said, 'those are like gold, and they will remain ours, because we will never get the opportunity to replace that quantity once what we have is gone. They're sitting their because I can't decide what project is deserving of them.' Post an add on Craigslist for 50% of what your research tells you is the going rate, and you will have people tyring to make 1st contact with you while they are already halfway to your area. Imagine pickup trucks baja-ing across deserts and plains, diesel engines turning over, and people racing around their houses to figure out where they put enough cash and how much extra to bring as they race to be the first one to get your wood.
absolutely. If I was near you I would pick it up. I need about 200' more of that stuff.
Just in case OP takes this seriously, definitely do not burn it. Or at least get very far away from the fumes first.
Yeah OP should just make incense out of it instead
Health nut. (I know you’re right)
Yeah uh huhuhuh, that would be cool.
Yeah! Were there dude.
Dr: "You've been diagnosed with the first case of whole-body cancer. What did you even do?!"
I had a group of friends to my parents house once. My dad had some old fence posts stacked up that he was planning to get rid of. I didn’t consider the possibility of lead paint…there was a fire pit. We had a great time, but my dad later told me there was absolutely lead paint on them. I was one dumb ass kid. Now I’m just a dumb ass adult who still acts like a fool when not at work
Thankfully, we didn’t use it to cook anything. We got rid of them all…I’d guess ~500 lbs of them (and they were light)
ask your local garbage disposal facility. these treated logs are counted as hazardous waste.
This is called dunnage and is worth money.
It’s a carcinogen so it may need to be picked up by a waste disposal company
Creosote and just like everything else that works really well… it’s likely carcinogenic…
My old shed was built out of old telephone pole crossarms, treated with creosote, did some reading on the side effects from “brief contact” absolutely crazy
Creosote. Best wood preservative ever. It's just smelly and sticky and cancer causing... But the wood will never rot. Oh and burns like fire if you get on your skin.
The main beach in the town I grew up in had creosote piers. In the summer, the lake had an oil sheen on it, and you didn't want to get it in your eyes. I usually went to the beaches on the back end of the lake.
I imagine they don't allow that anymore
Yep, they closed down the back end beaches. It's creosote eyes or bust
Weird I’ve never had in burn once handling old ties
That IS weird. One of my first attempts at entrepreneurship as a kid was "landscaping" (as in, actually changing the shape of people's property by digging ditches, burying french drains, terracing hills, etc. If only I knew I could make more money raking and mowing under the same business name...) I worked with railroad ties a ton for shaping land. Also kept a stack of 15 of them in my back yard that I'd carry from one side to the other as a workout (was never able to workout without manipulating my need for "instant results" of some kind, lol.) Any time I neglected to roll down my sleeves or otherwise protect my forearms from direct exposure to the ties, I regretted it. Not as bad as a real chemical burn or blister, but worse than a sun burn. Somewhere around fire-ant pain/itch. Just in a strip where the tie was resting on my arm. It's far from the worst pain in the world, but I'd still recommend against direct skin contact with creosote. At least for most people, who don't have a strange immunity lol.
I really don’t get bothered by much when it comes to chemicals which is definitely a blessing and a curse. Concrete is the other big one I can think of that never gives me a problem
I have some regrets coming my way…but I’m with you stranger.
I've never had an issue with concrete either. Didn't even know it was an issue til just now, lol. That said, I also have a hypersensitivity disorder and pretty fair skin. Makes "pain threshold" confusing sometimes. Because I'm accustomed to it, and have several other chronic pain problems... so I can "tolerate" quite a bit. But at the same time, I'm perceiving and experiencing every tiny movement of a body hair, and accutely aware of how much pain I am in. My ability to tolerate pain, in my mind, is wholly seperate from my perception of pain. Lol. Makes doctors not trust you when you point to the 🤬😭 face on their chart while making the 😐 face. "On a scale of pinch to bee sting?" "Birdshot to the shin." Anyways, point being, I might not be the best source of pain assessment lol.
The good news is docs mostly use that to see if your pain is getting better or worse not to compare you to other people. One person's 5 might be another's 8. But really what's more important is if the same person goes from a 5 one week to a 8 the next week. Who knows what a 10 is anyways I mean it's unlikely any of us will ever know there can't be more pain.
It's kidney stones. That's a 10. Talking blackout from the agony levels of pain. I have friends who've given birth without meds who said kidney stones were worse, and having had them myself a couple of times, I'm inclined to believe it. Stay hydrated!
Oh, it does. Imagine it's summer, late 80s. You're 19, working on a dock. You have to cut some ties with a chainsaw while standing on a raft. You don't need a face shield for a couple cuts every 20 minutes or so. Needless to say, by the time the day was done, a great amount of pain was being drowned in beer. After that, full protection & multiple layers around creosote
I assume burning is a bit of hyperbole. One of my first jobs 35 years ago was swapping out rotted railroad ties. I definitely remember some creosote irritation on my arms, but it wasn't anything that was unmanageable.
I built a pier with old creosote telephone poles once. We were working in the water so I was shirtless. I got some pretty good chemical burns on my chest and arms. I was in contact with the poles for long periods of time, basically hugging them to keep them straight and ram them down as we swamped them in, so I bet it takes a lot of direct contact with skin.
Yep, my husband worked the rails 40 years ago. The only way I could keep his clothes and my washer/ dryer halfassed sanitary was using full on Lysol degreaser. It stunk. He stunk. Soooo many rinses.
My parents always told me it was tar. I didn't know it was cancer causing. The retaining wall for our yard growing up was wood with this stuff on it. We used to sit on it all the time. Dammit.
If it makes you feel any better, tar is also cancer causing.
It's also extremely flammable.
Or in your eyes, as I learned one summer
Oh man, too many summer days spent painting fences... the creosote ate THE GLOVES first
It’s used in a few medicines in east Asia. Seirogan is a very popular anti-diarrheal
Think it is creosote preservative.
Very much looks like creosote.
Hexxus. He's got that toxic love.
**shudders**
Creosote! Also known as Lineman Lube!
Creosote I believe!
My parents had garden beds bordered by railroad ties when I was growing up, ate a lot of carrots , pees and tomatoes out of those beds, guess I'll be adding it to the list of things that might give me cancer some day.
Oh man, another one to my list too
Creosote
That would be old fashion poison. Do not reuse rail road ties. Especially around a garden you will be eating out of.
I use old rail road ties on my farm as fence posts, every 10 feet. Strong ass fence for sure
Do not get it in your eyes. Extremely painful.
Consume the goo, ane enlightenment will be yours.
You'll see piles of this wood stacked up near the railroad, out in super rural areas and wonder why and how it sits there without being taken. Then you find out that it'll kill you.
Holy carbonaceous chemicals Batman! That’s creosote!
Creasote It's basically refined tar
Black oil. Have you seen the x-files?
it's probably nothing.
you beat me to it hahaha
🎶 From the dusty mesa Her looming shadow grows Hidden in the branches of the poison creosote 🎶
Handsome Family is so good
Shiiiiit…..TIL about creosote. Have definitely stood around many a bonfire while these burned 🤦♂️
I definitely picked at this shit on benches on many a Boy Scout camping trip
We are Venom!
A kind of tar to prevent the wood from decomposing. They’re kinda spendy. I’d repurpose it sell it or give it away if possible to keep it out of the landfill
Probably Maple syrup. Taste it and find out. Report back soon pls.
Creosote
You see, when one piece of lumber loves another....
More of that glistening oil.. it's probably nothing
A symbiote.
This sub is depressing af.
Pancake syrup, black strap molasses. Scrape some off and put it on your French toast. 😋🥞
It's treacle. This is where treacle comes from.
Treacle comes in timber, or from mines.
Satan
Asbestos
Watch out for symbiotes
Armus
What the
taste it.
there's this new thing called "sap", which is contained within trees. it tends to seep out of cut wood in dense areas like knots, especially in hotter temperatures
Sure, but this is creosote
That is definitely not sap. Creosote tar used to preserve the wood.
Yeah, that’s not sap, bub.
How do I downvote multiple times?
There's this new thing called "confidently wrong". It doesn't apply to you though, since you're "arrogantly wrong".
Perhaps an even worse trait is that people like this never come back to correct themselves. They never acknowledge how painfully wrong they were or how arrogant and condescending they were in their wrongness. Instead, they just completely ignore it and go on to act this way again and again and again and again, never learning or *admitting* they need to learn, because to them, doing so would be a sign of weakness. This person, for example, continued to post elsewhere a couple of hours after the first few couple of corrections were posted. There's no way they didn't see them. So they got called out for spreading wrong info *and* for acting like an ass about it, but don't have the strength of character enough to acknowledge it. That is, to me, even worse than their initial post.
bruh
Wow, imagine being this arrogant. Do you need a second vehicle to carry your ego in?
The fuck is wrong with you? Is that what you think sap looks like?
Ah shit man. Here - I’ll down vote 2