Can you paint over creosote?

[Seahorse]

My 'new' shed could do with a bit of TLC! When I got into it, I found a couple of bottles of creosote which should provide a quick fix but also lots of odds and ends of paint. I thought it would be nice to paint a few leaves and flowers on the sides but can you paint over creosote?

Sorry in advance, cos I know it's a numpty question

Claire

[nick the grief]

Hi SH,

No you can't. Creosote is sort of tarry and leaches thru the paint, it's quite nasty too so I would ditch the " creosote" (in the proper way) and go and get a couple of gallons of shed & fence stuff - out local GC sels it for about £6 for 5l a couple of coats of this will be good for the wood & if you want to grow anything up it.

[rustylady]

If you want to do the job properly you will have to sandpaper the original finish, repaint with ecofriendly stuff and then decorate with different colours of the same stuff.

[Seahorse]

Thanks Nick. I didn't know creosote was 'nasty'! I presume in a chemically way?

So, numpty question #2, can I paint over proper fence care stuff?

edit as posted at the same time as RL - there really isn't any original finish left (if it ever had one!). I'll check out whether I can get anything in various colours locally Thanks!

Claire

[Two_Sheds]

Get proper coloured fence care stuff !
Like what it says on the tin (can't remember the brand name). My blue shed is done in it, one big tin went all the way over.

[nick the grief]

So was mine ( and my arch)

[NOG]

I found a couple of bottles of creosote. I thought it would be nice to paint a few leaves and flowers on the sides but can you paint over creosote?
Claire

Creosote is now banned cos is causes cancer and kill water life. So you cant use it. It also never really drys and stinks.

Get a waterbased fence paint.

[Seahorse]

Creosote is now banned cos is causes cancer and kill water life.

Good grief! I had no idea! Thank heavens I asked here before slapping it about!

Claire

[Peter]

Creosote is now banned cos is causes cancer and kill water life. ......

It has been illegal to sell it for a number of years and I think this year it also became illegal to use it, with a few very specific exceptions.


The replacements are not as good at preserving wood mind.

[Snadger]

Good grief! I had no idea! Thank heavens I asked here before slapping it about!

Claire

If you'd 'slapped it about' you would have ended up with third degree burns!

Very, very caustic....kills all plant life, but did work really well as a preservative for wood! Railway sleepers were coated in it and it protected them forever!

We had a coal mine collapse in the field where I work. The shaft had to be capped but the JCB was pulling out old wooden supports over 100 years old, coated in creosote and as good as the day they were put there.

We used to mark football pitches with it years ago to burn in the lines.........until they realised that the Hydrated lime we whitened the lines with absorbed the creosote and poisoned the footballers if they fell on it!

Cripes knows what it did to us, as both creosote and Hydrated lime are both banned from football fields now!

[Seahorse]

It's a bit scary, isn't it!?

The main reason I never even thought to query the H&S aspect was that when I was growing up on the family farm, virtually every bit of wood in sight was treated to a liberal coating. I never saw any immediate ill effects like burns etc but it clearly can't have been very good for any of us

Claire

[Snadger]

It's a bit scary, isn't it!?

The main reason I never even thought to query the H&S aspect was that when I was growing up on the family farm, virtually every bit of wood in sight was treated to a liberal coating. I never saw any immediate ill effects like burns etc but it clearly can't have been very good for any of us

Claire

One of the first jobs I got on leaving school was to paint a shed with creosote. Just a young lad, I had cultivated a luvverly bit of 'bumfluff' on my top lip which I was ever so proud of. Whils't painting the shed I got a splash of creosote on it and burned a lump out of my 17 year old tash! I was gutted!

[wellie]

I'll send Trousers round to give you a quote......

[Keith Warren]

Keith Warren

One of the first jobs I got on leaving school was to paint a shed with creosote. Just a young lad, I had cultivated a luvverly bit of 'bumfluff' on my top lip which I was ever so proud of. Whils't painting the shed I got a splash of creosote on it and burned a lump out of my 17 year old tash! I was gutted!

Thank you all for your comments, I know all about the fact we no longer can use "proper" creosote and have been using the available substitute for a number of years, but would now like to paint my shed with a Cuprinol Shades