Yella Wood / Great Southern Wood Preserving
reviews and complaints

I am a former employee of Great Southern in Mansura La. I am looking to regain employment but feel as if i was lied to by the plant manager Timothy Belcher and witnesses involved Kevin Bollingham and Corey Lemoine. I was terminated wrongfully by false accusations and falsifying documents to show their illegal use of authority to let this happen. I worked for great southern faithfully for 5 years and worked my way up from the bottom to a position i was very proud of. I was told i can be rehired after 6 months after 5-17-22 the date of my termination. I have tried several times to gain employment but with no response whatsoever and after knowing dozens of individuals that previously worked there were hired back immediately regardless of their reason for not working there anymore. The company itself i feel has great structure but the mansura plant however is very corrupt. Brock Descant the General manager was my mentor and after my termination did absolutely nothing to resolve the issue and still to this day will not communicate with me. I did all i was asked to do and got it done no matter what only to have my life destroyed by people that could not do what i was capable of doing. I know given the chance this mistake can be washed over due to their negligence. I wish to regain my employment and be the leader Great Southern needs.

In 2011 we built 2 decks onto our home. 8X30 and 8X20. Both are over concrete patio 10 ft off the ground. We purchased Yellawood boards because we thought they would last 50+ yrs. After letting the decks get fully dry we coated them with quality deck stain. About 5 yrs ago they started to rot. We’ve been replacing boards each yr for 5 yrs but its now to the point where we have too many rotten boards and will just have to replace both decks. Was there any recalls or issues with the Yellawood boards from the 2011 time frame? Is there an avenue to get assistance with replacing the decks? They are unsafe for our grandkids to use now

We purchased our Yella Wood at Shaws building supply in Mt.OliveAl. in 2011 for our deck around our pool.

In 2021 the deck boards and support beams are rotting.

I have stepped on a deck board and went through it!

We have used a wood preservative on it .

Need Yella Wood for deck replaced.

Robert Stipes

[protected]

1133 Alma Ave.

Gardendale Al.35071

I purchased a 4 X 4 X 6 wood post at the Home Depot in Greensburg, PA on April 2022 to use for the inner post of a plastic mailbox that that slips over the 4 X 4 Post. 6 months later the 4 X 4 wood post became twisted, bowed with a lean towards the house. Maybe the wood was not completely kiln dry which resulted in a substandard poor quality 4 X 4. Who never have happened.

Micronized copper azole completely rotted in less than 4 years

ground contact 0.15 pcf bought at lowes in atlanta.

I called Great Southern in Abbeville, Al and they were evasive and even said they never sold to lowes but I have the receipts and end tags you losers.

They are all marketing and no help in resolving this issue which is going to cost me over $20,000 dollars in labor and materials.

CCA treated wood was the only real treated wood for I know better than most since I was a chemist in the treated wood industry for 15 years. All the new treatment chemicals are garbage and they won't pay the claims.

9 year old deck is starting to rot. Even stringer is going bad. I Used a high end stain to protect the deck.

I have similar problem with Yella wood at our lake house deck. I have patched every year as boards went bad. It has got to be a safety issue and have to inspect on a regular basis. I have heard other people talk about poor performance of Yella Wood treated lumber.

Our deck is rotting out. After one year we complained about the wood seeping sap but Scott Shepherd said that it was normal. We went ahead and stained the deck per instructions. Now two years later, the deck is rotten, split and warped. Scott came out again after several months of trying to get a response and agreed that the wood is bad and would take care of the deck. After months of delays and deflection, we are nowhere. We were told that he had contacted the contractor, but that was not true. We called the contractor and both Scott and a rep from F&S came to inspect the deck again. We are all in agreement that the wood is defective, but now there is no response from Scott either to us or F&S. It looks like the only thing we can do now is seek legal advice.

Lumber Purchase Date - Sept 23, 2013
Supplier: Home Depot store #374, Alexandria, Louisiana
Lumber Delivery Date (via Home Depot tractor-trailer) - 27 Sept, 2013
Purchased Items - $5, 000 worth of Micro Copper Azole Pressure Treated Lumber in following dimensions: 2x4's, 2x6's, 2x8's, 2x10's, 4x4's
Lumber used to construct an above ground pool deck atop an array of 3" diameter, 1/4" wall, steel tubing. Steel anchored in concrete pilings.
Treated finished deck with Flood oil-based deck stain in 2015 and again in 2018.
First indication of wood rot noted in 2020. rotted wood grew through 2021. Tried (unsuccessfully) to remedy situation as follows:
1. 10 Sept 2021 - Brought original order and sales receipt to H. Depot Store #374, store the original lumber purchase transaction. Talked with C.J. (store manager). I asked C.J. what remedy Home Depot had for this premature wood-rot. C.J. said he was unfamiliar with the problem. C.J. said I was the first, maybe the second person, to come in with this problem. He said I needed to contact the manufacturer, giving me a copy of Koppers Limited Lifetime Warranty. I told CJ I didn't buy the wood from Koppers, I bought it from Home Depot. He lifted his arms as if to say "that's all I've got to offer".
2. 10 Sept 2021 - Called Koppers consumer affairs (770.233.4200) and spoke with Jean. Jean transferred me to "customer service" where I spoke with Jennifer. Jennifer suggested I submit by issue by completing Koppers on-line application to "open a new ticket" for my problem. I submitted that ticket on 5 October 2021. I have yet to receive any response from Koppers indicating my ticket was received, let alone dispositioned.

One additional issue - Information I've uncovered while putting together the information package required by Koppers has me concerned there was an error made in my original order. All the PT YellaWood lumber that the Home Depot sells today (at store #374) is 0.15% MCA PT lumber, rated for ground contact. I expect the the lumber I purchased in 2013 would also have been rated for ground contact. Note that the amount of wood purchased required a tractor pulling a 48' flatbed trailer to deliver it. What Home Depot delivered was all 0.06% MCA PT lumber, rated for above ground use. This 0.06% lumber has end tags stating such (on remaining spare pieces I have in my wood crib from the original purchase). I am concerned that I was sold one thing (0.15% MCA) and a less robust product was delivered (0.06% MCA). The end tags look identical, only the text is different. I screwed up by not pulling end tags and reading them when the lumber was delivered. Home Depot has the details of what each part number listed on my sales order means, and I have the details of what was delivered to me via the spare "new old stock" lumber still in my wood crib.
(Note: The deck that was built is 100% above ground).

Attached please find attachments that provide some detail:
- images of original H. Depot sales receipt and original H. Depot order/invoice (3 images total)
- image files of pictures submitted to Koppers as part of my ticket application that has gone unanswered.
Please advise if any additional information would be helpful (I have many more pic's and can shoot a video as required).
Also have pdf files that cannot be downloaded onto the Compliant Board complaint form, including:
- copy of Koppers limited lifetime warranty (currently pdf file, not compliant with acceptable download formats of the complaint board webpage)
- word document with screenshots of my Koppers webpage ticket application (currently pdf file, not compliant with acceptable download formats of the complaint board webpage)

I can be reached via phone as needed. Cell # is 318.413.4438

I built my fence with Yella Wood brand lumber 13 years ago and already it had rotted through and fallen over.
I used 4×6 posts for strength and longevity but bought a headache and sorrow instead.
I am currently replacing/ rebuilding the fence at a great cost of labor and money. At that time I paid about 1200 dollars for materials and 1200 for labor. My total cast was approximately 2, 400 dollars.
I'm saving the rotted timbers for chemical analysis and the YELLAWOOD tags I find hidden within the cement at the bottom of the posts.

my yella wood deck is rotting, gray. I steeped on 1 of the boards, and the board collapsed. A big hole more than 1 ft. I wasn't injured thank God. I am furious about the poor quality and costly price.it's a terrible deck.

My deckman told me he'd use the best wood for my new deck. The tag on the wood said "End use: Above Ground" and that's where it is. It has 39 boards on top and two years later, one (of the 39) warped at the most conspicuous place. I wasn't too concerned as I thought it was the best product on the market. I called their offices in Abbeville, Alabama, and got shuffled around. A lady finally came on told me there was no warranty for warping.

I am at a loss as to what the warranty does cover — disappearance! I did not expect them to send someone out to redo my deck, but you would think they could send me a coupon for one board. The lady was unconcerned.

Do not pay extra for this wood. We built a deck and asked our contractor to use YellaWood thinking it would be better than standard lumber. The supplier hand picked the boards. Not even a month later our wood was weeping sap, cupping and when you walked across it in bare feet it hurt. This deck was worse than the 20+ year old deck we removed. We had a small gap between boards that shrunk up to 1" apart. We had the building materials supplier come and check out our deck. Just so happened a YellaWood rep was coming down soon. The rep came out a took a board back to their lab. To make a long short YellaWood doesn't cover this in their warranty so we paid more for substandard wood. And, to top it off the YellaWood rep said he had seen worse. So if you still think that kiln dried wood is the way to go I don't recommend it as they do not stand behind their product and apparently don't care. If you'd like to see pictures PM me.

Approx 5 years ago I replaced and then extended my back yard decking. The extension used pressure treated wood from Yella Wood. Today I am replacing the rotted Yella Wood from the extension while the other pressure treated decking and joists are still like new. What should have been a one and done project was not and now needs to be done over due to inferior products. Their pressure treated pine lasted several years and then rotted. Older portions of my deck were built prior to this and using a different product. That portion is still like new or in very good condition. All decking was sealed and stained yearly so the the premature failure of the Yella Wood leads me to suspect the pressure treatment process was insufficient. In thirty plus years as a homeowner and deck builder this is the first time I have ever had this happen to a deck I built using pressure treated lumber.

Please do research if you are thinking about using yella wood. It is the most horrible lumber you can use…all advertisements are false and they do not stand behind their product. This wood bucks and twist and folds yes I said folds the sides pull up like they are trying to fold and this is lumber less than year and half old. Look for other lumber besides yella wood please dont make the 3000.00 mistake we did. We called a rep down and he looked and went back and approved us 16 boards that did not cover 1/6 of the boards that were bucked up..the new boards have already started bucking and splitting(less than two weeks old) and they were stained as soon as possible like the rep said so it is just sorry wood .now I am going to have to try to recover in small claims court and I should not have to have this headache they should do what they say they will do …..have you noticed the cowboys are gone on the advertisements, , , , , wonder why?