Untreated 6 x 6 Posts for a House

Treated Wood Concerns

• During processing, treated lumber is injected with chemicals such as arsenic to improve its resistance to rot and insects.The concerns over treated wood include your family's exposure to the treatment chemicals and these chemicals seeping into the soil and water supplies. Exposed to the elements, treated wood will typically last twice as long as untreated wood, but the environmental problems with treated wood sway concerned builders to opt for untreated wood.

Untreated Wood Options

• When choosing untreated 6 x 6 posts for your project, you'll want lumber that has a high resistance to rot and insect infestation. The tough inner wood known as heartwood is much more resistant to rot and insects than outer wood known as softwood. If your posts will come in contact with the ground, such as when building a porch, ask the lumberyard specifically for heartwood.

Resistant Species

• Some species of trees produce lumber that is more resistant to rot than others. When shopping for your posts, look for wood from cedars, cherry trees, chestnut, walnut, yew or redwood. Avoid using pine, hemlock, spruce, poplar, aspen and ash lumber since these woods have a low resistance to rot and insect infestation.

Wood Alternatives

• Made of recycled plastic materials and sawdust, composite lumber is another option for environmentally concerned builders. However, 6 x 6 composite wood posts should not be used in load-bearing structures due to compression and possible warping. The posts, however, can be used decoratively.

Treated Lumber Uses

• If you live in an area where termites are a continual problem, using treated lumber is a better option than untreated lumber. Termites will eventually chew through even the toughest untreated woods leaving you with expensive and dangerous structural damage. The chemicals in treated wood will kill termites.