Can I burn painted wood in firepit

[stephen wood]

I have a new chiminea firepit on my patio. I also have lots of scrap wood, much of it primed/painted. Can I safely burn this in the firepit?

Thanks!

[Prashun Patel]

In a chimnea outside, I think's probably better than burning it inside, but I'd still try to plane off most of it. Just me.

[Trent Shirley]

Burning painted or finished wood can create toxic fumes that you may be inhaling even in an outdoor fire but it also releases those toxins into the air which is not good either.
As suggested above, try planing off most the finish before using it as firewood.

[phil harold]

Painted wood is bad for my plane or planer blades I would rather burn it than dull edges...

Burning painted or finished wood can create toxic fumes that you may be inhaling even in an outdoor fire but it also releases those toxins into the air which is not good either.
As suggested above, try planing off most the finish before using it as firewood.

[David Giles]

It will not hurt the fire pit in the least.

I used to take scraps and old cabinets to campouts. The camping purists claimed it changed the ambiance from "outdoor nature" to "house fire".

[Jim Rimmer]

This is one of those questions that if you need to ask, you probably shouldn't do it.

[Prashun Patel]

Oh yeah, I'm assuming (maybe badly) that the paint is relatively new (i.e., lead-free paint).

[Trent Shirley]

Perhaps it is but toxins in the air are bad for everyone not just the person doing the burning.


Painted wood is bad for my plane or planer blades I would rather burn it than dull edges...

[phil harold]

Perhaps it is but toxins in the air are bad for everyone not just the person doing the burning.

wood dust is a toxin and cancerous,
just burning wood buts toxins in the air
where do you draw the line?
lets just stop doing anything that is hazardous
dont drive your car
dont buy anything that is commercially processed
man is toxic to the planet...

[Trent Shirley]

Wow, what a philosophy. Other things do damage so we should just do what we want and forget the consequences.
Man is already toxic to the planet so we might as well continue.

To the OP, if you really want to burn the wood you should remove any potentially toxic finishes first and that is not limited to non-leaded paint. The chemicals in many finishes and paints are extremely hazardous when burned. You could run it across your table saw to skim off the outside layer. If it is too small to do that then you do not gain any real benefit from that small amount of wood you would be burning and certainly not enough benefit to risk your and others health let alone the pollution that settles into rivers lakes and oceans and comes back to us in the food chain.





wood dust is a toxin and cancerous,
just burning wood buts toxins in the air
where do you draw the line?
lets just stop doing anything that is hazardous
dont drive your car
dont buy anything that is commercially processed
man is toxic to the planet...

[russell lusthaus]

Not sure how bad it is for you, but I do it all the time - especially since I have to pay by the can for garbage pickup. I usually make sure I am not burning any lead paint - I also burn ply - which I am sure I am about to get a dressing down over -

I make sure I don't stand over the fire when that kind of stuff is burning.

[phil harold]

Wow, what a philosophy. Other things do damage so we should just do what we want and forget the consequences.
Man is already toxic to the planet so we might as well continue.



Wow is right!
I asked you where to draw the line and you did not see the best place...
The solution it to bury at a landfill, the environmentally correct answer


Why use more energy to to remove the paint to burn it, when burning wood that will give off more toxic fumes than a cigarette?

[John Coloccia]

I don't burn plywood or anything finished...anywhere. Why? Because I don't know everything that went into the finish/glue and I'm too lazy to look it up.

[Jason Roehl]

I don't have a problem with burning plywood or finished wood, but I wouldn't do it in a campfire-type setting or cook over it. The toxins released are pretty minimal. Most of it ends up as ash in the pile. I do prefer to get the fire good and hot first, then add anything with finish on it--more heat means more breakdown in the chemicals.

[glenn bradley]

This is one of those questions that if you need to ask, you probably shouldn't do it.

+1. Your common sense gene kicked in when you were guided to ask the question. The fire pit won't care. Other items and mammals in the area may have a different experience.

[Dan Hintz]

The fire pit will be fine, but I would suggest against it. If it's older pressure-treated wood, for example, the arsenic-based fumes will do some serious damage to your lungs (among other body parts). You don't know what type of paint was used, and even if you do, do you know what toxins are created when you burn it? Probably not...

[ray hampton]

when houses are torn -down WHO GET THE PRESSURE-TREATED WOOD ? how often do houses build with P T wood get destroy by fire and the neighbors inhale the smoke/fumes ? I not hijacking this thread but adding to it

[Dan Hintz]

when houses are torn -down WHO GET THE PRESSURE-TREATED WOOD ? how often do houses build with P T wood get destroy by fire and the neighbors inhale the smoke/fumes ? I not hijacking this thread but adding to it
I don't know about you, but if my neighbor's house is on fire, it's not my first thought to stay nearby and inhale the smoke. And I could be wrong on this one, but when it gets to the point that a firefighter would be inhaling a lot of smoke, they tend to put on oxygen masks before going into the burning building.

[Pat Barry]

Just burn it already. Its got to go somewhere - do you think its better in a landfill somewhere? What do you do with the shavings you take with a plane? The toxins are negligible unless you are standing directly in the smoke stream right by the fire. And lead based, latex, oil based, etc doesn't really matter. This planet has lots bigger problems to deal with.

[ray hampton]

Dan and Pat replies and true for the majority of people but some people will stand outside and watch the smoking fire and then complain

[Craig Michael]

This is one of those questions that if you need to ask, you probably shouldn't do it.

+2 You are probably asking because you think that it's not a good idea and you want someone to ok it for you. Am I certain one way or another? No. But just commonsense tells me that there are plenty of toxins that will be released into the air when it's burned. I'll burn any unfinished scrap but never anything painted/stained/finished or any plywood or OSB. I don't buy any of the global warming hype, climate has changed throughout time (ice ages, dinosaurs in North Dakota, etc). But would you burn plastic?

The stuff about "don't drive your car" "don't buy anything produced", that is straw man argument. You drive to get somewhere and for a reason. You need to drive to live your life in this society. You do not need to burn painted wood, that is a choice you would make. If you want to have a camp fire or fire pit, just get some firewood or burn unfinished scrap.

[Jim Rimmer]

Stephen:

Bet you didn't think you would get this big of a discussion going. :D

[Jacob Reverb]

1. Put on a Tyvek suit, full-face respirator, and three layers of gloves (nitrile, kevlar and free-range cowhide).

2. Plane off the paint. Scoop up the paint chips and triple bag them in plastic bags (minimum 6 mil thick polyethylene and be sure to do this while an exhaust fan with HEPA filter is running to prevent contaminating The Environment).

3. Take the triple-bagged paint chips to your nearest HAZMAT collection facility, along with your Tyvek suit and full face respirator. These are all now HAZMATs and must be properly disposed of.

To be continued...

(Jiminy Christmas, judging from some of the replies, one would think the guy was handling Ebola zaire or powdered plutonium, rather than – GASP! – painted wood...)

[David Keller NC]

Stephen - I can speak with some authority here because I have a chemistry background and a fairly deep knowledge of the ingredients in paints, finishes and the combustion process.

Would I guarantee that you or anyone else cannot get a minimal exposure by inhaling smoke from such a fire - Nope. Neither can I guarantee that someone won't get horribly burned by stoking a fire. The risk is roughly equivalent, provided that:

1) The paint was newer than about 1985 or so. Most really nasty pigment compounds were taken out of paint and the existing, grandfathered stock exhausted by then. That includes lead used in virtually all paint, arsenic compounds included in red pigments, cadmium and chromium in several different whites, yellows and greens.

2) The wood isn't pressure-treated. PT wood before about 2005 contains a fair amount of arsenic and chromium that will be released and vaporized when burned.

3) You don't cook over it. That includes not cleaning out the ash and then lighting another fire with non-painted wood or charcoal and cooking over that fire.

It is true that you will release a small amount of Volatile Organic Hydrocarbons (VOCs) into the atmosphere over and above that released from an ordinary wood or charcoal fire, but the amounts will be extremely small, and will be considerably less than what goes into the atmosphere when you use a solvent-based paint or finish on a wood product or deck.

[Matt Meiser]

I burn anything with finish, ply, PT scraps (newer) and everything under about 10" in my burn pile at home. Don't hang out around it and other than some 2-headed toads and the fact the grass grows a funny color I haven't noted any problems :).Now all my unfinished hardwood scrap gets cut into 10" lengths and we take it camping. Makes for great campfires and great coals for grilling.

[Jason Roehl]

Thank you, Mr. Keller, for injecting some knowledge into this discussion. I wasn't 100% positive, but I suspected what you said was the case.

[David Prince]

While you're at it, throw a car tire in the firepit also. It will give you a nice warm fire for the evening! :D

[Peter Quinn]

If I caught a neighbor burning lead painted wood in their fire pit next door to the house where I raise my children they would find out exactly how hard a piece of unfinished maple feels when it hits their head. That would have to be among the less considerate things I can think of to do to those around you. I wouldn't want to use a finished piece in case I later decided to light it on fire and shove it elsewhere. So if the source of this wood is potentially older than 1985, skip it.

So you have painted wood, you want to burn it? Where I live that is not just considered stupid, it is actually not legal. You can't cut weight from a construction dumpster by burning in a barrel, even if you aren't planning on huffing the smoke. You just can't send that crap out for all your neighbors to inhale. Latex is basically plastic. If I decide to start burning old diaper, gloves, shopping bags, milk cartons, in a residential setting just to get rid of them is that ok? Maybe the paint isn't latex. Still has some form of resin, binders, maybe a few voc's. A house fire is a tragedy to try and avoid, not a lifestyle choice to emulate. I have burned plywood, painted wood, prefinished ply, mdf and other junk in small quantities from my shop in the past, mixed it into an otherwise clean fire to get rid of it. But it stinks, in a toxic way that can't be good, in a way that sends any one in the vicinity running from fumes. Just nasty, I regret having done it, I have stopped.

[Pat Barry]

Nevermind my most recent comment - live and let live

[Chris Fournier]

On the one hand we humans are plague monkies and prone to defecating where we eat - so burn away it ain't that bad. On the other hand burning finished wood and plywood is likely a chemical cocktail that is not good for you - so don't burn the pieces.

I separate my scraps, plywood and finished scraps get 86'd and all other scraps are offered to friends for cheery blazes.

Truth is wood smoke is carcinogenic I hear. It was around the firepit that civilization was cultivated and nurtured; enjoy your scraps as you see fit for you and yours.



But then there's this gal in BC Canada who is trying to stop people from smoking salmon because of all the... smoke!

[Don Alexander]

so to summarize , on this thread there are a whole lot of opinions on all sides of the question , but i only saw 1 reply with any actual chemical expertise involved put on the scales with conjecture on 1 side and technical knowledge on the other each person has to make their own decision on which carries more weight

as for me i know which side of the scale carries more weight for me

[Paul Symchych]

Appropriate to the subject matter of this thread.... more heat than light.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

I locked this thread. It may be removed after discussion in the Moderators Forum. There is little information, a lot opinion and a lot of less than civil comments that are not allowed at SMC. The amount of true factual information far out weighs the negativity of the thread. It could well be removed.