“When you stand for nothing, you end up falling for everything.”
This decision may be controversial to some, but starting immediately, The Lumber Baron will no longer be carrying any pressure treated douglas fir lumber.
After learning this year from a customer (the state or local agencies gave us zero warning) that the local dumps are no longer accepting pressure treated lumber, and it has been deemed a class one hazardous waste by the state, the decision to no longer carry pressure treated fir was immediately instituted.
Ultimately our decision comes down to (what I, and hopefully a lot of you, believe is) doing the right thing, both for our customers and the environment. I am well aware not everyone will agree and we will lose both sales and longtime customers who prefer their way of doing things. However, I hope most of you can see where I’m coming from and will help support my “stand” of not putting any more pressure treated product out on the market.
As a certified green company, we feel this move falls right in line with our core beliefs. We are in the middle of going completely electric with our forklift and delivery fleet and have plans to go solar in the upcoming years.
Long before pressure treated material existed, redwood was a commonly used framing material. Yes, the upfront costs are more (we are recommending rough cut redwood and the next size up ie 2×8 instead of 2×6, 2×10 instead of 2×8 etc (actual sizes for permitted decks to be verified by your city’s building department)) but not when you factor in dumping fees. Fresno is the closest city dump that allows you to dispose of old pressure treated lumber and the dump fees are as high as the pressure treated lumber costs to purchase new!
Beautiful, renewable, sustainable, durable, chemical free, and biodegradable, heartwood redwood once again proves itself as an incredible building option. No matter what people try to come up with alternative wise (plastic decking, finger jointed siding, pressure treated lumber) there is no substitute for real thing.
