No one do that here. Pine board is expencive material and no one let them rotten in rain. As I suppose that it is douple or triple expencive in Britain.
If board is on open air, so called blue mould taint it into few millimetres deep, and no one will accept it as construction material.
No one here use wood material imported from USA either.
WHAT YOU SAID :
"I have 49 y old langstroth pine hives. They are in good condition. What does 'Annual maintenance' mean?"
IN RESPONSE TO:
"I think, to some extent, you get what you pay for in beekeeping .. hives made from cedar will last a lifetime with little maintenance - pine hives will need annual maintenance if they are going to stand the test of time."
You did not qualify that PINE needs to be looked after... once again you have dug yourself into a hole - stop digging !
I may not have as much beekeeping experience as you but I know a bit about timber .....
Scots Pine is probably not what cheap hives are made from ...
Over here Scots Pine is known as “redwood” or “red deal”. It is easy to work with and is a reasonably strong timber with a light weight. When treated with preservatives it is durable outside. It's is a good timber for being in contact with water. So in the past it was used to make ships and ship's masts and even water wheels. The resin from the bark was used to make tar and turpentine.
It may be what your 49 year old hives were made from as it was a lot less expensive and generally better quality than is usually seen now.
But I suspect that cheap 'pine' hives are more likely what we would describe as 'whitewood' ie: Spruce and Fir .. often known over here as Deal. A much cheaper timber and very prone to rotting if not treated regularly with paint or preservative.
So stop teaching this duck to swim ...
