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Originally Posted by idigtractors
Remember the old type of PT is for ground contact only. That does not include burying per my salesperson of the material. The new type which is now being sold and I can not remember off hand the proper name for it does not have the arsenic, but another chemical. One needs to use the proper nails and hangers etc with it or they corrode.
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Burying PT 4x4s was a bad idea before 1992's Hurricane Andrew hit new construction in Florida. Long lengths of entire PT fences went airborne, striking other structures—even knocking reinforced concrete sills off neighbors' houses.
The usual practice of contractors was to pour concrete around the buried posts; unfortunately, the wind broke off the posts at their most weakened point—
at ground level—and fence sections were carried elsewhere with the wind. (Although even chain-link fences were affected, as debris would pile onto them and they got driven—posts and all—flat to the ground.)
In short, I'd say "burying" depends on the stresses you expect to put on the PT-wood—or what one could expect under the worst scenario.
Near water, PT seems to stand up pretty well. Our dock is over 25 years old, and the PT parts are holding up just fine. For some reason, contractors didn't use PT on the most important structural parts.
Rotted timbers would break after Ice-Out, when lakeside contractors were busied with winter's bigge
$t dock problems, so I'd have to replace the rotted pieces myself.
Waterproofing treatments are a really good idea, but it doesn't do much good when Spring's over-full lake level covers the dock!
