Abstract
Abstract Wood, as a building material, is nowadays more often used outdoors. From the point of view of environment care, wood constructions and use of renewable materials belongs between modern increasing trends in industry. Wooden facades, more often used without surface treatment, are the important part of this trend. In Central Europe, European larch (Larix decidua) and Siberian larch (Larix sibirica) are especially popular materials for wooden facade elements. The aim of this study is to characterize the surface degradation of untreated facade models from both European and Siberian larch wood. The wood species, orientation to the sides of the world and construction type of the facade were the evaluation factors, which were regularly examined during 24 months of outdoor exposure via measuring the changes of surface colour, gloss, wettability and visual appearance in the form of cracks and resin leaking. The influence of all evaluated factors on the measured properties was determined. The results of this work can help to proper use of untreated larch wood on facade elements in practice.
Highlights
Wood, as a building material, is well known for many advantages
In the study of Mohebby & Saei (2015) the influence of different cardinal points on weathering was confirmed – facades exposed to south side are more affected by intensive solar radiation and changes of relative humidity and temperature, the higher protection of facade is recommended for this side
An exception was recorded for facade models Siberian larch (SL)–B–S and European larch (EL)–B–S, which were characterized with the total colour change ΔE* = 9.9 and 11.2 respectively
Summary
As a building material, is well known for many advantages. There is a need to use it in a way to protect it against some specific factors, which negatively affect its service life, functionality and appearance. This process is called bio-degradation (Hrapková 2012). The use of wood as a building material can reduce this number (Goverse et al 2001; Bribiàn et al 2011). Already in the last century the trend of ecological construction became familiar and the modern wood constructions are the proof that wood still belongs between popular and abundantly used building materials (Ingo 2011; Kržišnik 2018)
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