Do ties need to be treated differently in different areas of the US?
The American Wood Protection Association publishes the map below to show how deterioration of untreated wood is affected by geography. Some ties used in decay zones marked as high or severe historically have exhibited some reduction in service life due to biological deterioration. The introduction of borate technology as part of a dual treatment system, however, changed this paradigm. Now even hard-to-treat species should provide service life rivaling easy-to-treat species in these areas.
