Trä som fasadmaterial – behandling och beständighet

Since prehistoric time man has used wood to build their environment. The material’s availability combined with its good mechanical properties has often made it the material of choice. Like all materials exposed to natures degradative processes the properties of wood decreases over time. Rot, UV radiation and attacks by insects and pests damage wood if not protected. Since we want what we build to consist, optimizing our building materials durability is of great interest. Techniques and methods for increasing the endurance of wood have been developed in several different places and for a long time. Three reinvented methods to modify wood and its properties are heat treatment, acetylation and furfurylation. This work examines the durability problems that occur to wood used as façade material, and methods for increasing the durability are identified. By conducting a literature review three, in Sweden only small-scale established, methods of modifying wood are being examined. Most of the treatment methods increase the biological resistance in exchange for weakened mechanical properties. Modified wood often has similar characteristics as conventional pressure-treated wood, why a transition from environmentally hazardous pressure-treatment to wood modification would be an environmental benefit. In connection with the work the design of a single family home was made. By applying the results encountered in the work of wood treatments, we found that the most appropriate choice of façade material for the single family home is furfurylated wood. There is currently no large-scale commercial production of modified wood in Sweden. Since we have a good access to forests in Sweden, there is a strong tradition of timber construction and there are environmental benefits in reducing the use of pressure-treated wood, we see great potential in developing a Swedish production of modified wood