Durability of wood and wood products

Background and Objective

Wood has been used as a building material for centuries. However, it is also known that wood as a renewable raw material can be degraded by wood-destroying organisms depending on the conditions of use (EN 335). In order to counteract this natural process and to guarantee the longest possible service life of the timber construction, various measures, which are often standardised (e.g. EN 350, EN 15228 or DIN 68800), are used to protect timber.
Within the framework of pre-normative research, we are therefore continuously concerned with their application for the purpose of determining characteristic data of wood and wood products. At the same time, these methods must be further developed, as modified woods are increasingly being offered on the market.
Our aim is to make a contribution to ensuring product quality during the service life of wood and wood-based materials while using as little wood preservative as possible.

Target Group

Approval bodies, standardization bodies, construction industry, consumers

Approach

Application of European standards for the determination of natural durability by means of laboratory and field tests and evaluation of practical cases

Preliminary Results

Results are/were published in journals as technical articles (Melcher E, Brandt K, Brischke C, Meyer L (2014) Untersuchungen zur Dauerhaftigkeit von Eiche. Holz Zentralbl 140(48):1187-1189 or Plaschkies K, Jacobs K, Scheiding W, Melcher E (2014) Investigations on natural durability of important European wood species against wood decay fungi : Part 1: Laboratory tests. Int Biodeterior Biodegrad 90:52-56) or directly in EN 350:2016.