Protecting a Rustic Pine Arbor from Borers and Rot

Building an arbor from peeled pine logs? Protect your investment with a two-step treatment:

1. Borate treatment: Spray Bora-Care, Timbor, or similar borate-based insecticide onto peeled wood repeatedly over several days, allowing deep penetration.
2. Water seal: Once dry, apply Thompson's, Olympic, Cabot, or comparable water-seal product to prevent rain from leaching out the borate.

For ground-contact posts, use Strong-Tie post bases anchored to concrete piers—this prevents the rot that inevitably claims buried wood.