Cedar fence pickets vs. pressure treated, I switched after one season in Ohio rain

Last spring I had to rebuild about 80 feet of fence line behind my shop in Akron. I went back and forth between cedar and pressure treated pine because the price difference was only like 60 cents a board, but the cedar looked so much better from the street. I grabbed the cedar, and honestly it looked great for about four months. Then the Ohio humidity and constant rain started curling the pickets something fierce, and two sections bowed so bad the gate wouldn't even latch by November. My buddy who does fences for a living told me he never uses cedar within 50 miles of Lake Erie unless it's kiln dried, which I didn't check. I ended up pulling all the cedar out and putting in pressure treated with a nice stain, and it's been solid through two winters now. Has anyone else had cedar warp that fast in a wet climate, or did I just get a bad batch from the lumber yard?

2 comments

2 Comments

campbell.robin23h ago

Honestly, this is the same trap I see everywhere, not just with lumber. People pick the thing that looks better right now and ignore what the weather is going to do to it over time. It's like buying a cheap patio table that looks nice but can't handle one Ohio winter without rusting out. The cedar might have been fine in Arizona, but here it's just fighting the constant wet and humidity. You got the hard lesson, but now you know to check the treatment and drying specs before you even look at the grain. And honestly, that stain job on the pressure treated probably looks just as good from the street after a year, so you didn't lose much in the looks department.

tara_palmer23h ago

Man, that patio table analogy is way too accurate for my own good. So how do you actually check the drying specs without looking like a total rookie at the lumber yard, just ask straight up or is there some code on the tag?