Painting treated wood

[Mike Holbrook]

Someone at Lowe's said they make a special paint\stain for treated wood?

I am in the process of replacing railings on porches at my home. The old railings were apparently cedar. I am in "HOT" lanta so wood tends to rot quickly in all the heat and moisture. I decided to use treated wood this time as it seems to be the only thing that survives for long around here. The painter was just going to paint the treated wood like the rest of the house.

I decided to save some money by replacing the railings myself. I also wanted better, nicer, sturdier railings. Not sure whether to: just let the painter paint them when he comes back, buy a better paint for them, paint them myself.

[Curt Harms]

AFAIK, you need to let pressure treated wood dry for some time before painting. How long depends on a few things - was it dried after treating? How are drying conditions? If you drive a nail or screw and water comes out it'll need to dry for a while.

[Phil Mueller]

+1 what Curt says. We replaced a bunch of railing at our city park and were advised to wait at least 6 months before painting.

[Mike Holbrook]

Good advise,
I am in "Hot" lanta so things tend to dry fast, but then it is frequently humid too. These porch railings will be in the sun so I am hoping they will dry fast, unless we get another wet spring! As is often the case with wood from the local home stores much depends on where in the stack of wood the chosen pieces were, how long the bands around the wood were off....

Trying to get the house on the market so I am pressed for time.

[Mike Null]

Sherwin Williams told me a six week period is adequate drying time. I have been using a deck stain rather than paint and have been very pleased with the look and wear on my pressure treated deck.

[John McClanahan]

I have had better results with deck stain, too.

John

[Sean Tracey]

They make KDAT pressure treated wood which stands for Kiln Dried After Treatment. Since it is dried after treating it is more dimensionally stable which would be important when making a railing. Depending on the particular treatment and drying, it can be painted right away, but you must check the specific type you use to make sure.

It is more expensive.

If you use regular pressure treated, you may want to store it for awhile. I once bought a 4x4 and left it in the back of my truck, the sun dried it on one side enough to bow it severly.

I can imagine a railing bowing all over the place as the sun dries it on one side.

[Von Bickley]

Sprinkle some water on the wood. If the water beads up, it's not ready. If the wood accepts the water, it's ready to paint or finish.