No more Creosote......eh?

[Towpack]

Thought I’d give the shed another coat of Creosote today. Had a bit left in a 5 litre can we bought donkey’s years ago so decided to buy another can only to find that proper Coal Tar Creosote has been banned for sale to and use by the general public since 2003 due to another EU directive! Apparently it contains carcinogens and concerns were raised about it’s use on woodwork which regularly comes into contact with people. Now here’s the daft part. It can be bought and used by “professionals”, ie, builders, farmers etc for use on barns and out buildings, horse boxes, workshops etc etc but must not be resold to the householder. Proper Coal Tar Creosote is still widely ackowledged as the best wood preserver there is. It’s also become very expensive. DIY’s are now supposed to use “Creosote Substitute” or Creocote as it’s now known. Bring on Brexit and bring back the Creosote!

 

[StarCruiser]

It goes much further and takes on a near black appearance if mixed with 80 series Diesel engine oil. My neighbor was most pleased when I donated him some.

 

[Shayne]

Why would you want to preserve a wood shed when you can build a new one every 3 years - its good for the planet dontcha know

 

[chapel gate]

Yep, the substitute is crap. Can't beat the smell of the real stuff.
As rich points out, old engine oil does a pretty good job.
Basically, the more hazardous to health a product is the better it will perform..

 

[Towpack]

It goes much further and takes on a near black appearance if mixed with 80 series Diesel engine oil. My neighbor was most pleased when I donated him some.

I’ve heard that before about using old engine oil as a wood treatment. Our shed was scratch built by a joiner friend of my Dad’s in 1980 and is (was) a really solid unit but some of the lower panels and the floor are past their best. Also had a leak in the roof felt last year which did it no favours. I’ve looked at some ready built sheds available locally and they’re rubbish. The wood is so thin its like something you buy bananas in. I’ve decided I’m going to to rebuild it myself with decent timber. It has power laid on, fed underground via SWA cable and a small consumer unit inside so I want a decent unit that’s going to last.

 

[Towpack]

Yep, the substitute is crap. Can't beat the smell of the real stuff.
As rich points out, old engine oil does a pretty good job.
Basically, the more hazardous to health a product is the better it will perform..

Apparently it’s still used on railway sleepers and was also used on telephone poles for years but not sure if it still is.

 

[MarkW]

Railways stopped being able to use creosote on sleepers when the ban came in. They also stopped using wooden sleepers in favour of concrete when I was working on West Coast Mainline Upgrades

 

[yogi]

Apparently it’s still used on railway sleepers and was also used on telephone poles for years but not sure if it still is.

We have the same nonsense here with round up etc. All you need to do is walk into any agricultural suppliers and just open an account..............

Im not a 'lisenced sprayer' but they will sell me any amount of chemicals

 

[Chas]

Railways stopped being able to use creosote on sleepers when the ban came in. They also stopped using wooden sleepers in favour of concrete when I was working on West Coast Mainline Upgrades

I live slap bang opposite Morden tube (end of the Northern line) and we hear the trains pulling in to the station, . When we first moved in the tracks were on wooden sleepers and you could never hear the trains but now they are concrete it is very noisy, thank god it's a terminus and not a through line.

 

[karl webster]

We have the same nonsense here with round up etc. All you need to do is walk into any agricultural suppliers and just open an account..............

Im not a 'lisenced sprayer' but they will sell me any amount of chemicals

Yep. Another money sprinner. Your ok if you have paid for a license . JOKE

 

[Pat]

You are dead right about creosote.It’s the best my father in law made wooden farm gats for many years and he made a bath out of 44 gallon drums and would soak the timber ,then let it drip dry over a few days and make and sell his gates all over the Bay Of Plenty in NZ.We also mill our own timber and make our own gates mostly 12 footers with 5 bars.

 

[frank rabbets]

We have an old telegraph pole in our garden. I'm beginning to panic.

 

[flint]

We've got half a dozen BT poles here. A couple of months ago a BT van turned up because they'd noticed some noise on our line. He tracked the fault down to a box at the top of one of the poles (the first one where the line comes up from underground) but couldn't fix it because all the poles had been condemned about 5 years ago and he wasn't allowed to go up it. I offered to go up (the pole showed no sign of rot or looseness in the ground), but was told that was not allowed. The next day 2 vans arrived, same story, so they cut the line at the base and ran a wire across the ground to the house. A week later another van arrived, the engineer checked all the poles and condemned the lot of them again. I asked him when they'd replace them, he advised me not to hold my breath as, being pitch treated, they'd probably last another 30 plus years or so and it was to do with "liabilities". I was left a bit confused..... and a bit more careful with the strimmer.

 

[StarCruiser]

We've got half a dozen BT poles here. A couple of months ago a BT van turned up because they'd noticed some noise on our line. He tracked the fault down to a box at the top of one of the poles (the first one where the line comes up from underground) but couldn't fix it because all the poles had been condemned about 5 years ago and he wasn't allowed to go up it. I offered to go up (the pole showed no sign of rot or looseness in the ground), but was told that was not allowed. The next day 2 vans arrived, same story, so they cut the line at the base and ran a wire across the ground to the house. A week later another van arrived, the engineer checked all the poles and condemned the lot of them again. I asked him when they'd replace them, he advised me not to hold my breath as, being pitch treated, they'd probably last another 30 plus years or so and it was to do with "liabilities". I was left a bit confused..... and a bit more careful with the strimmer.

World gone mad! They don’t shin up lamp posts to change bulbs. Perhaps you could suggest they use a cherry picker like everyone else. I bet they have another stupid answer for that one.

 

[Towpack]

Ive been climbing poles for over 40 years and never had any issues with Creosote. In the past some newly treated poles could weep sticky tar so sacking would be wrapped round the base to a height of around 2 metres and secured with wooden lats to prevent anyone getting it on their clothing. Nowadays new poles appear much cleaner so may well be cured by some other process.
Poles can be ‘condemned’ to prevent climbing for numerous reasons, not just rot. Depth in the ground, proximity to spiked railings or other climbing hazards, existing wires below a minimum height and being past a set test date. They all have a test date and a system exists for retesting when due along with a set of rigourously enforced pre- climb checks to be performed by anyone going up one. Usually a cherry picker is called on if the pole fails any checks and is accessible by a vehicle mounted picker.

 

[Higgy]

when i lived in Denmark Our old timber framed house and all the out buildings from the word go were painted in Cows Blood.. It was built in the 1700s and the cows blood was still visible on the Barns and stables and the Timber frames were good as New.... So if there are any Dairy Farmers in the area.?... You can ask.. Pretty sure its Legal.......If not Messy.. Probably cheaper than Creosote

 

[BobMurphy]

A few years ago BT came to put a new pole into my garden - the line from the pole in the field was sagging and needed a second supporting pole.

They had a lorry with a power auger to bore the hole - which they did - straight through my water main (I wasn't at home at the time or I'd have told them not to dig there).

Two guys then started digging up the pipe in hard stony ground with shovels; I said "I have a couple of pick-axes' if you want to use them" . .

Not allowed to use Picks under "Health and Safety" rules .

Another time a BT Engineer was wanting to attach a cable to my house - about 40ft up - from the sloping driveway. He was worried about the stability of his ladder.

I said "I have a Ford Transit 'Tower Wagon' over there, you can use that, it will be safer than a ladder; I'll operate it for you".

Not allowed to use someone else's machinery, or a Tower Wagon without an Operator's Certificate.

Its an Ex-BT Tower Wagon (Cherry-Picker) .

You try to be helpful (not getting at the guys, they can be extremely helpful and good at what they do - its the 'Rules' they have to operate under that bug me).

Bob.

 

[StarCruiser]

Just some examples of the nails in the coffin of British industry.

 

[Towpack]

It’s all down to the ever tightening.health and safety regs. If a new reg or restriction is passed then everyone must conform. Safety has always been high profile at work but even more so now. A full range of PPE is (has to be) readily available and must be used for whatever task you’re undertaking. If you have an accident and found to be not using the appropriate PPE or adhering to set procedures then the company as well as yourself can be held liable. Not forgetting of course that it’s literally your own neck on the line if you have a fall or other serious accident.

 

[frank rabbets]

The working mans world is safer now than in the 60's when I left school and was a farm labourer. We had to think on our feet (if we were still standing). The most dangerous was the unprotected PTO's on the tractors. With a static hand throttle if you got dragged off the tractor you'd had it. We had the most dangerous hedge cutter ever invented. It was mounted on the tractor with me driving. It comprised a horizontal 20 ft boom mounted at it's centre just in front of me on a pivot. The engine was at one end of the boom and counterbalanced by the huge cutter at the other end where the cutter operator was. The cutter was operated by a 40 ft long v belt which ran just in front of me. Luckily it never broke.