Fungal Growth on Coated Wood Exposed Outdoors: Influence of Coating Pigmentation, Cardinal Direction, and Inclination of Wood Surfaces

Four coating systems were exposed for one year outdoors at 45° south. They consisted of solventborne (alkyd based) and waterborne (acrylic based) systems in both clear and pigmented versions. Fungal growth visually assessed was compared to fungal enumeration, and the influence of exposure time on the main fungal species was studied. Results clearly showed that fungal growth was lower on the pigmented coating systems compared with their pigment-free versions. Although the clear solventborne coating included a higher amount of biocide, it was more susceptible to blue stain than the pigmented version. A new multifaceted exposure rig (MFER) also contributed to the study of fungal growth. It allowed samples to be exposed with nine different exposure directions and angles. Exposure using this MFER has shown that the worst cases (highest area and intensity of blue stain fungi) were for samples with the clear coating system exposed to north 45° and at the top of the MFER (horizontal surfaces). For any cardinal direction, all surfaces inclined at 45° displayed more blue stain fungi than vertical surfaces, due to a higher moisture content of the panels. Depending on the cardinal direction and the orientation, some surfaces were free of visible cracking, but colonized by fungi. It was concluded that the growth of blue stain fungi was not linked with cracking development