What is better? CCA or LOSP?
Why Low odour LOSP timber is the still the best solution for your outdoor structural needs.
Builders and handy people around the country are often confused when it comes to outdoor treatment for timber. For decades, CCA was the preferred treatment type and easily recognizable by its karki green colour (like the old round logs for retaining walls). In Australia CCA has been banned for certain applications, such as children’s playgrounds. Similar bans have also taken place in the EU and United States. This lead timber companies to look for alternative solutions for outdoor timber treatment.
Today, Timberlink in partnership with our preservative partner Lonza has developed the next generation of outdoor timber treatment, Timberlink Green. A low odour LOSP based solution penetrates the timber, which is then guaranteed for 25 years for use in the above-ground outdoors.
When treated with LOSP, your timber will remain more straight and stable in the harsh Australian outdoors. Timberlink Green has a superior appearance to others in the market as it is both machine graded for structural integrity and visually graded for good looks.
Being manufactured to meet Australian standards, Timberlink Green is the original and the best low odour solution. Incredibly Timberlink Green has up to 30 times less odour than traditional LOSP formulations, and with a patent pending on this formulation it is unique compared to other solutions claiming low odour.
What is LOSP?
LOSP is a treatment that is usually a white spirit based solvent that contains copper naphthenates and synthetic pyrethroids as well as other chemicals to provide protection from insects and decay.
How Does It Work?
The timber is placed in a pressurised chamber with the LOSP solvent. The solvent then penetrates the timber, rather than just sitting on the outside (envelope treatment). This penetration allows the solvent to protect the timber from moisture, termites and decay in the outdoors for 25 years.
A green pigment is added to the solution so that it is easy to identify on site for its outdoor usage. Every stick is also inkjet labelled with its hazard class – H3 for above ground outdoor.
We worked hard with our preservative partner Lonza to ensure that our LOSP solvent has up to 30 times less odour that regular LOSP.
Tips for use
When working with LOSP timber it’s recommended that you spray cut ends with a suitable sealant and make sure that there is no uneven uptake of moisture into the timber.
H3 outdoor structural is commonly available in two grades in the Australian market. Timberlink supplies both of these grades. Both grades have their place in the market and our F-rated is machine graded, as is our MGP10. However, F7 has higher requirements for bending and tension (parallel to grain) strength than does MGP10, so where F7 is specified by a building designer, MGP10 cannot generally be substituted. This scenario is particularly likely to occur in outdoor structures; traditionally, many building designers assume a grade of F7 for treated pine.
However, Timberlink Australia branded structural MGP10 is produced under a system complaint with AS1748.1:2011 that ensures that the structural properties all exceed the requirements of both MGP10 and F7 grades as specified in AS1720.1:2010.
Where a design compliant with AS1720.1:2010 specifies use of F7 grade material, Timberlink MGP10 can be substituted. This includes all Timberlink Australia branded products including Timberlink Blue and Timberlink Green.
