Moisture Performance of Façade Elements Made of Thermally Modified Norway Spruce Wood

Miha Humar,Davor Kržišnik,Boštjan Lesar

doi:10.3390/f11030348

Abstract

Wooden façades are gaining in importance. Thermally modified wood is becoming one of the preferred materials for claddings. In spite of the fact that façades made of thermally modified wood have been in use for more than two decades, reports about long-term monitoring have been sparse. The results of three-year monitoring of a façade made of thermally modified wood in Ljubljana are reported. Moisture content measurements of thermally modified façades were taken at 22 locations and compared to the moisture content of untreated Norway spruce wood. Temperature and relative humidity were recorded in parallel. The moisture content of the wood was compared to the average relative humidity before the measurements. The results confirm the lower moisture content of thermally modified wood in comparison to reference Norway spruce. The moisture content of the wooden façade could be best correlated with the average relative humidity and temperature 48 h before the wood moisture content measurement was taken.

Highlights

The construction sector consumes 40% of materials, 17% of freshwater and is responsible for40%–50% of global greenhouse gas emissions [1]
One of the attempts to improve the environmental performance of this sector is to use more renewable materials
[3] showed that a wooden façade is favourable in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, compared to other materials such as brick, fibre cement and steel

Summary

Introduction

The construction sector consumes 40% of materials, 17% of freshwater and is responsible for. 40%–50% of global greenhouse gas emissions [1]. One of the attempts to improve the environmental performance of this sector is to use more renewable materials. Wood is one of the most important renewable materials in construction applications due to its excellent mechanical properties and pleasing visual appearance. In addition to construction applications, wood in exterior applications has to fulfil aesthetic requirements [2]. [3] showed that a wooden façade is favourable in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, compared to other materials such as brick, fibre cement and steel

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Results