Tanalised floorboards?

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Hi everyone

We're currently replacing the floor in our loft space. It's an old house and all the floorboards had previously had woodworm and were in a bad state.

We're looking at getting some tongue & groove floorboards but we're wondering whether to get tanalised wood or just normal wood?

I've tried googling whether there are any health risks with having tanalised wood in the loft area but am unable to find anything.

Can anyone help?
 
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Tanalised T&G is normally used for exterior structures such as garden sheds where there is a real possibility of rot (fungal action) because of a persistent wet-dry cycle, and where the rough appearance doesn't detract from the serviceability. However, if you have that amount of damp in your attic, then you really need to get your roof fixed!

Don't get me wrong, I've built enough studwork frames in damp or potentially damp environments (inside cellars, in cold spots, beneath shop windows, etc) but inside a properly maintained building this isn't really neccessary.

Older timber treatments could be seriously bad for your health as many were based on a chromated/copper/arsenate (or CCA) brew. They used to smell just like pizza dough - whilst they poisoned you! The modern ones are supposed to be a lot better, and Tanalith E (the widely-used green compound favoured by the fencing trades) is based on copper carbonate hydroxide (malachite), tebuconazole (listed as a potential carcenogen by the EPA in the USA) and propiconazole (used as a fungicide on food crops) - the HSE approval for Tanalith E can be seen on page 7 of this document if you are interested.

BTW, I personally wouldn't have treated timber floorboards in my house. It took 100 years for woodworm to damage my floors and even then we got away with installing only 3 or 4 boards
 

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