Can one paint pressure-treated wood?
Don’t even think about painting fresh pressure-treated wood! The moisture in it “stacks the deck” against good paint adhesion. Seal your project with a pressure-treated wood preservative immediately. Follow the preservative’s instructions regarding future painting, making special note of the amount of time the preservative should weather before painting. Sources: http://www.naturalhandyman.com/iip/infxtra/infpre.
Yes it can, but everyone in the business will recommend quite awhile before you do, primarily because it is usually water-saturated, and the pressure-treatment chemical needs to dry all the way into the wood, which is a long-term proposition. The additional challenge is that often on decks or patios it is impossible to paint/stain all sides, so moisture will reabsorb with rain from the unpainted side and lift the paint from the weather side. For most homeowners it is a yearly redo job, as p.t. Woods are really not condusive to paint. I read an article about this question on William Stewart blog, his comment is here, check it out!