About Heat Treated Lumber
There are countless types of lumber products available from home improvement stores and lumber yards. Hardwoods, softwoods, treated, untreated and composite are just a few of the lumber products you have to choose from. In regards to treated lumber, your options include chemically treated and heat treated.
Characteristics
Heat treated lumber, or HT, is an environmentally friendly alternative to chemically treated lumber. It has the resistant properties that you look for in treated wood products without the use of chemicals.
- Moisture resistant
- Water repellant
- Resistant decay
- Resistant to pests
Heat treated lumber has some additional characteristics that chemically treated lumber products traditionally do not.
- Does not warp
- Does not shrink
- Rich, lasting color resulting from heating process
- Environmentally friendly
Production
Heat treated lumber is manufactured using a process that evenly heats the wood. To meet industry standards wood must be heated to an internal temperature of 56 degrees C for at least 30 minutes. Industrial thermometers, called thermocouples, are used to measure the temperature. The length of time lumber must be heated depends on several variables.
- Thickness of the individual boards
- Configuration of lumber stacks
- Heating temperature
- Wood species
- Moisture content of wood
- Wood temperature prior to heating process
Uses
- The largest use of heat treated lumber is for wooden pallets and wooden shipping containers and crates. Treating wooden shipping products eliminates the spread of wood pests and diseases between countries. It also eliminates human exposure to chemicals, as well as the release of chemicals into the atmosphere if the shipping containers are burned. The International Standards for Phytosanitary Measure, ISPM, sets standards for heat treatment of wood used in shipping.
- Heat treated lumber products are also used in saunas, decking, flooring and a wide variety of indoor and outdoor applications. In short, heat treated lumber can be used wherever chemically treated wood products are used.