Your deck is a Weapon of Mass Destruction!

[OldSoldier]

Or so says one of the sites I read about pressure-treated lumber.

In preparation for my New Pressure Treated Lumber class, I've been reading up on the subject. On one of the sites (http://www.origen.net/arsenic.html), it claimed that arsenical pressure-treated lumber (the kind your deck is made from) plus zinc (from the galvanized fasteners it's held together with) plus acid (from acid rain, natch) will form the nerve gas Arsine. They do make the disclaimer that "the amount of arsine produced will be very small."

So just think: You're sitting on your deck in a few months and a spring shower begins. Because Mr. Bush has rolled back all of the environmental regulations President Clinton installed, the rain has a pH lower than seven. As you go inside to get out of the rain, the arsenic in your deck combines with the zinc in the deck screws to form a Deadly Nerve Agent. The cloud of Deadly Nerve Agent wafts down the street to the elementary school, where it enters the cafeteria during lunchtime and takes out the entire student body.

Someone hand me that crowbar over there. I need to pry my tongue out of my cheek again.

I am so glad that Spartanburg Forest Products has converted to the ACQ process and I've run out of CCA lumber; when Bushcroft figures out pressure-treated lumber can be used to make Deadly Weapons of Mass Destruction, I can stand up before the DHS goons who raid my store and tell them in a clear and steady voice, "Move along, folks, nothing to see here."

[wtmusic]

1. good one, OS

:-)