Wood decking test, - what is sustainable wood?
Consumers and public environments all need a sustainable wood with long lasting performance, but also wood that stays beautiful for many years. Malmö's City Environment Department took on the task of testing different types of wood in the vulnerable but harsh environment of Öresund. The study was conducted in consultation with the SP Technical Research Institute. 2013 they simply took, two jetties out of ten in Sibbarp and replaced the existing, worn out wooden boards, with a variety of wood and different wood treatments to compare the durability and appearance changes with time. All woods are marked with info cards. This is an independent test where SP and Malmö's City Environment Department have agreed to test as many different materials as possible.
Torbjörn Anderson, head of the City Environment Department in Malmö and the Sibbarps test is very pleased with OrganoWood®s results in the SP test carried out on the jetties. "We have seen that after four years OrganoWood® wood stands strong against weather and has received an attractive grey shade" says Torbjörn Anderson.
Execution of the test
Systematic inspections of the jetties are carried out for some years to study the following characteristics:
• Attacks by microorganisms (stain fungi, algae, rot)
• Color sustainability
• Cracking
• Deformation
• Other observations that affect the material's function or appearance
Inspections have previously been conducted 2013-05-06, 2013-10-25 and 2014-06-10. This report reviews the materials after about 41 months of exposure during an inspection on September 21st 2016.
OrganoWood® is in the test classified as modified wood, which is defined in the report as "things that are not treated with a biocide products. These include ThermoWood®, Kebony, Accoya and OrganoWood®". A statement of all materials tested are shown in the table below/attached.
Results
OrganoWood® and 3 other wooden materials, out of 14 tested wood materials, passes the test without additional remarks. A summing comment was: "All materials except the recycled plastics and composites have in varying degrees had some growth of blue stain fungi and algae." The graying process of OrganoWood® is due to a variety of factors, such as when sunlight break down the lignin and hemicellulose in the outer wood, bleaching the wood. Other factors such as dirt particles, surface fouling and dead wood particles allows the wood to turn gray. The combination of the bleaching and the graying create the beautiful silver-gray shade that covers the wood. OrganoWood® withstands harsh conditions, and has an anti-fouling protection which instead of killing the rot fungi can transform the wood fibers with silicon, so that the rot fungi do not recognize the wood as food and therefore will not "eat up" the timber. A sustainable, long-lasting, non-toxic technology that gives a beautiful silver-gray wood - simple and brilliant!
Examples of additional remarks some other materials were given in the report:
• Eroded surface
• Increasing number of cracks, with the risk of injury to bare feet
• The surface fan's up
• Presence of damages caused by material brittleness
• Heartpine: does not consist of 100% heartwood but also sapwood.
• Decay discovered in screw holes
• Poor dimensional stability
• Uneven graying
• Cracks in the sides
Sustainable and environmentally friendly alternatives
The different materials tested were alternated with the reference material impregnated wooden NTR class A, the traditional green wood that is impregnated with copper salts. The test shows that OrganoWood® has developed equivalently with pressure-treated wood during the trial period but with that said, OrganoWood® is completely non-toxic and environmentally approved by both the Sunda Hus and Byggvarubedömningen. We call that great performance!
- "We are very pleased that the test results show that OrganoWood® is sustainable in tough environments over time." says Jens Hamlin, CEO OrganoWood.
OrganoWood® is today as popular among consumers as professionals. Consumers build decking, cladding, jetties, cultivation boxes etc. of OrganoWood® timber. They are attracted by the beautiful light silver gray shade that the wood receives over time and of course that it is non-toxic for humans, animals and nature. Professionals; carpenters, architects, municipalities and other institutions often fall for the many functional attributes OrganoWood® wood provides. Some of the valuable properties are that the wood has a documented anti-fouling protection, is has an improved flame protection, which is important in the construction of cladding and the roof decking, and it's eco-friendly impregnation is off course a very important aspect when building schools and kindergartens, etc.
Keywords: Deck tests, wood test, decking test, decking testing, field testing, impregnated wood, modified wood, naturally durable wood, WPC, recycled plastic, outdoor exposure, OrganoWood, Accoya, ThermoWood, Kebony, composite decking, NTR, pressure-treated, decking, best in the test, decking, wood, deck, Sioo.
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For more information, please contact:
Jens Hamlin, VD OrganoWood, Telefon: +46 72 250 21 79, Email: jens.hamlin@organowood.com
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About OrganoWood
OrganoWood was founded in 2010 as a joint-venture between OrganoClick AB (publ) and Kvigos AB and is based on scientific breakthroughs in modification of biofibers. OrganoWood’s chemical products are produced by OrganoClick in Täby, and by the company’s industrial partner Bergs Timber in Nybro that modifies the wood. OrganoClick is listed at Nasdaq First North and was appointed by the World wildlife fund – the WWF to a ”Climate Solver” ( www.climatesolver.org ) in 2010, as one of Sweden’s 20 most innovative companies by the Swedish Institute in 2011 and has been on the business magazines NyTekniks and Affärsvärldens ”33-list” over “Sweden’s hottest young technology companies” in 2012 and 2013.
Attached is a table of the materials and surface treatments that have been tested in the report.
