Pressure treated or not?

[Leo]

The 6x12 beams  used in  16x28 foot post and beam foundations shoulld these be pessure treated?They will be a foot or more offthe ground and if not should any treatment or paint be used?

[peg_688]

 Rule of thumb , # 1 if it touches the ground or concrete , P/T .   #2 if it's outside deck post / beams / joist P/T .                                                                         So your beams in a crawl space do not need to be P/T , the post that touch the concrete need to be P/T    OR   you could put a asphalt shingle under the post , I'd do P/T post ,,,  regular beam . HTBH  ;)PEG

[Leo]

Thanks peg ,I will probably raise the beams to18" above grade and use southern hard pine which is a bargain locally

[Amanda_931]

This afternoon I was at a laundromat, built on a large concrete slab.  An interior door frame--six or eight feet from the outside of the building--was seriously eaten up by termites, it looked like.

I kept thinking, Huh?

any ideas?

(of course, considering the place, the frame could have been salvaged from another building where it was, contrary to specifications, used as an external door)

[peg_688]

When the mites want to eat they eat    They will eat most anything , I had railroad ties , old ones beside the driveway , the ones with Creasoate (sp) old ties , just the outer shell was left , full of termites , how thoses guys lived I do not know !! But they did and grew as a group till I bured then in fire .     So this new treated wood won't stop the termites I am sure . I was surprised here in Wa. state I'd see that many termites in that type of wood   But did .

  Why didn't the railroad tie creasote kill them  This was your typical 8x8 railroad second use tie , spike  holes to boot .

 Termites and roaches might be all that will live on  .  HTBH  ;)PEG

[Amanda_931]

I think most of those things leach out eventually.  

But there was a marked reduction in the deforestation of this country after creosote-treated railroad ties came into being in, what, the early part of the last century I think

Carpenter bees hit PT wood after some years.