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

Authors :: Boštjan Lesar
Miha Humar
Davor Kržišnik
Source :: Forests, Vol 11, Iss 3, p 348 (2020), Forests, Volume 11, Issue 3, Forests, vol. 11, no. 3, 348, 2020.
Publication Year :: 2020
Publisher :: MDPI AG, 2020.
Abstract: Wooden fa&ccedil ades are gaining in importance. Thermally modified wood is becoming one of the preferred materials for claddings. In spite of the fact that fa&ccedil ades 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 fa&ccedil ade made of thermally modified wood in Ljubljana are reported. Moisture content measurements of thermally modified fa&ccedil ades 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 fa&ccedil ade could be best correlated with the average relative humidity and temperature 48 h before the wood moisture content measurement was taken.

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