IRG Documents Database and Compendium


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Durability of surface coating systems. Mycologg - an accelerated mycological test.
2004 - IRG/WP 04-20301
Field testing and natural aging/degradation of test sample, e.g. coated wooden surfaces is a slow process. Accelerated tests focus on mechanical properties, water uptake or sometimes stain fungi. Artificially weathered coated panels are not easily compared with naturally aged panels, and show the importance of involving the biological component among the degrading facors. It is a need for acce...
L Ross Gobakken, J Mattsson, B Jacobsen, F G Evans


Growth and succession of mould on commercial paint systems in two field sites
2007 - IRG/WP 07-30421
Discolouring fungi reduce the service life of coated wooden claddings in façades and increase the total cost of ownership due to shorter maintenance intervals. It is of major importance to find paint systems for wood which are durable and have a high resistance to mould growth. A total of 15 paint systems from 9 different manufacturers were exposed on two field sites, Sørkedalen and Birkenes, ...
L Ross Gobakken, K M Jenssen


In-service performance of wood depends upon the critical in-situ conditions. Case studies.
2008 - IRG/WP 08-20382
Wood is a unique building material, but is by nature designed to deteriorate. A detailed understanding of the factors and interactions involved are important when working with service life prediction of wooden components in buildings. Wood may experience exponential fungal degradation caused by variation in the climatic factors within a small limited area and by minor imperfection in the wooden ...
L Ross Gobakken, J Mattsson, G Alfredsen


Assessment of mould growth on coated wood - methods and application
2009 - IRG/WP 09-20423
Discolouring fungi reduce the service life of coated wooden claddings in façades and increase the total cost of ownership due to shorter maintenance intervals. The project “Enhanced service life on coated wooden facades” has as its main objective to develop new methods for early prediction of durability and longer aesthetic service life of coated wooden cladding related to consumer needs and ...
L Ross Gobakken, C M Whist, O Høibø, P J Hovde, E Larnøy


Effects of global climate change on mould growth - Interactions of concern
2010 - IRG/WP 10-50270
An evident change in climate the last decades has been recorded, and combined effects of increased CO2, elevated temperature and altered precipitation regimes have been observed to represent a change to the fundamental drivers within ecosystems. Growth of moulds, both in nature and on man-made constructions and objects, will most likely increase due to changes in the climate. The survival, the rep...
L Ross Gobakken


Quantification of four dark colored mould fungi by real time PCR
2011 - IRG/WP 11-10754
Coated wooden claddings in building facades are widely used in the Scandinavian countries, and are often preferred to other materials. Wood is facing increasing competition from other materials that are less labor intensive at the construction site and materials with less demand for maintenance thru service life, and makes further development of wooden claddings essential. Growth of discoloring mo...
E Larnøy, L Ross Gobakken, A M Hietala


Aesthetic service life of coated and uncoated wooden cladding - influencing factors and modelling
2011 - IRG/WP 11-20470
Mould growth on exterior coated cladding façades is an undesirable element and will often shorten the aesthetical service life. Mould growth on painted surfaces is influenced by type and concentration of film fungicides, the paint formulation and the wood substrate itself, and wooden cladding may experience exponential fungal deterioration caused by variation in the climatic factors, often within...
L Ross Gobakken, O A Høibø


Effects of microclimate, wood temperature and surface colour on fungal disfigurement on wooden claddings
2012 - IRG/WP 12-20490
Wooden claddings are common in façades in Norway, and Norway spruce (Picea abies) is the most frequently used species. The cladding is a major part of the facade, and it has visual requirements that may define the aesthetic service life. The visual changes that occur during weathering can be colour changes, abrasion or wear, blistering, flaking, and even cracks in the wood or coating, but more of...
L Ross Gobakken, G I Vestøl


Field-testing of Norway Spruce Claddings with Monitoring of Moisture Content, Material Temperature and Microclimate
2012 - IRG/WP 12-20502
The physical function of a cladding is to protect the interior construction. Under normal circumstances the performance requirements can be met for a very long time, meaning that the technical service life of a wooden cladding can be very long. Since the cladding is a major part of the facade, it also has visual requirements that may define the aesthetic service life, and often it is much shorter ...
G I Vestøl, L Ross Gobakken


Surface moulds and staining fungi on acetylated wood – effect of increasing acetyl content
2013 - IRG/WP 13-10797
Wood used in outside applications is susceptible to weathering and photo degradation, which often leads to surface discoloration, loss of brightness and surface deterioration. Research has shown that acetylated wood is more resistant against brown rot, white rot and soft rot, and more dimensionally stable than untreated wood. However, acetylated wood seems still to be disfigured by surface moulds ...
L Ross Gobakken, S Bardage, C J Long II


System treatments of Pinus sylvestris - influence on moisture, decay and discoloration
2013 - IRG/WP 13-30612
Biological activity can cause challenges for the use of wood in outdoor exposure. Decay and discolouring fungi influence the service life of wooden constructions, and the moisture content of the wood is often an important factor. The aim of this study was to evaluate the performance of different combinations of preservative/modified wood protection treatments and surface treatments for wooden deck...
A Schabacker, G Alfredsen, L Ross Gobakken, H Militz, P O Flæte


Using hyperspectral imaging to detect and quantify mould and blue stain on coated and uncoated wood
2014 - IRG/WP 14-10822
Hyperspectral imaging has been applied on the surface of samples of coated and uncoated Norway spruce (Picea abies) as a new technique to detect and quantify growth of mould and blue stain fungi. Principal Component Analysis of the hyperspectral images resulted in a clear visualization of the fungi and the amount of mould coverage could be estimated. This indicates that NIR hyperspectral imaging c...
L Ross Gobakken, I Burud, A Flø, K Kvaal, T K Thiis


Mould growth on spruce claddings and the effect of selected influencing factors after 4 years of outdoor testing
2015 - IRG/WP 15-30671
Norway spruce (Picea abies) is the most frequently chosen wood species as claddings in façades in Norway, and is used both coated and uncoated. The visual changes that occur during weathering can be colour changes, abrasion or wear, blistering, flaking, and even cracks in the wood or coating, but more often growth of mould and blue stain fungi is the main challenge. A field test with synchronous monitoring of relative humidity, air temperature, material temperature and wood moisture content in Norway spruce claddings has been performed in southern Norway as part of the ClimateLife project. Visual evaluation of blue stain and mould growth according to EN 927-3 was performed, and evaluation data after 46 months exposure is presented. The objectives were to study the effect of 1) environment, 2) cardinal direction and 3) colour of the coated surface on growth of blue stain and mould fungi and to study the variation in relative humidity, air temperature, wood moisture content and material temperature. After 46 months exposure, the red coating system had generally the lowest mould ratings and the uncoated claddings had the highest. Of the white coloured claddings the ones facing south had lower mould ratings than those facing north, but the opposite were found for red coloured claddings. The relative humidity was higher in front of claddings exposed northwards and in a shaded environment compared to an open environment against south. In an open environment red coloured claddings had the lowest wood moisture content and highest material temperature, and red coloured claddings against south had the highest maximum material temperature.
L Ross Gobakken, G I Vestøl


Bio-friendly preservative systems for enhanced wood durability - the first periodic report on DURAWOOD
2015 - IRG/WP 15-30677
The objective of the paper is the DURAWOOD scientific project carried out within Polish-Norwegian Research Programme, which lasts from September 2013 till August 2016. The aim of the project concentrates on the developing of a new, eco-friendly and biocide-free wood protective systems as an alternative to traditional, commonly used preservatives or coatings, containing biocides. Several wood prese...
B Mazela, M Broda, W Perdoch, L Ross Gobakken, I Ratajczak, G Cofta, W Grześkowiak, A Komasa, A Przybył


Susceptibility of wood substrates to Aurebasidium pullulans at different temperatures
2016 - IRG/WP 16-10863
There is an increasing awareness of how the aesthetical performance of wood exposed outdoors changes over time and especially in the first few years after installation. Mould and blue stain fungi are biological agents that contribute to the weather grey colour on a wooden façade, and the blue stain fungi Aureobasidium pullulans is commonly identified as colonizer on coated and uncoated wood expos...
L Ross Gobakken, G Alfredsen


Formation of biofinishes on outdoor exposed wood; the impact of wood-oil combination and geographical location
2016 - IRG/WP 16-10864
Growth of dark moulds enables the use of a decorative and protective biofinish for wood, showing advantages compared to traditional wood-coatings in terms of sustainability and self-repair. Based on the formation of a uniform mould covering on oil treated wood during outdoor exposure, the utilisation of a biofinish is in development. Basic information is lacking on the correlation between exposure...
E J van Nieuwenhuijzen, L Ross Gobakken, M F Sailer, R A Samson, O C G Adan


Weather degradation of thin wood samples
2016 - IRG/WP 16-20578
Untreated wooden surfaces degrade when exposed to varying doses of natural weathering. In this study, thin wood samples were studied for weathering effects with the aim of modeling the degradation utilizing Near-infrared hyperspectral imaging. Several sets of samples were exposed outdoors for time intervals from 0 to 21 days, and one set of samples was exposed to UV-radiation in a laboratory chamb...
I Burud, K A Smeland, K Hovde Liland, T K Thiis, J Sandak, A Sandak, L Ross Gobakken


Simulation of surface climate and mould growth on wooden façades
2016 - IRG/WP 16-20585
The weathering of wooden surfaces is normally caused by mould growth, lignin deterioration and leaching of extractives. For well insulated buildings, the effect of the interior climate on the outer surface is small and sometimes negligible. This paper describes simple models for surface temperature and moisture conditions on a wooden façade that can further be used to model weather degradation an...
T K Thiis, I Burud, D Kraniotis, L Ross Gobakken


Expert versus multi-sensor evaluation of wood samples after short term weathering
2016 - IRG/WP 16-20587
Understanding the influence of weathering factors and the material degradation mechanisms are fundamental for modelling the weathering process of wood. The goal of this work was to investigate the combined effect of time and exposure on the physical-chemical mechanisms of wood weathering. Four exposure directions (North, South, East and West) were investigated. Experimental tests were performed fo...
A Sandak, J Sandak, I Burud, L Ross Gobakken, M Noël


Decay resistance of wood treated with bio-friendly preservative systems
2016 - IRG/WP 16-30698
Due to more restrictive toxicological requirements and increased ecological awareness of consumers, wood preservatives containing biocides are no longer desired on the market. Therefore, research on new environmentally friendly formulations is of great importance. One of the possible solutions is to develop new preservatives based on natural substances, which are harmless to humans, animals and th...
B Mazela, G Cofta, W Perdoch, L Ross Gobakken, P Kwaśniewska-Sip


Fungistatic activity of quinolizidine and bisquinolizidine alkaloids against A. niger
2016 - IRG/WP 16-30699
In order to determine the relation between the structural properties and fungistatic activity of quinolizidine and bisquinolizidine alkaloids, the bioactive derivatives of cytisine, sparteine and lupanine were tested for the inhibitory activity against the microfungus causing mould growth phenomenon (Aspergillus niger van Tieghem ATCC 6275). The compounds tested were screened for antifungal prope...
P W Kwaśniewska-Sip, G Cofta, B Mazela, L Ross Gobakken, A K Przybył


Effects of climatic factors and material properties on mould growth on untreated wooden claddings
2017 - IRG/WP 17-10884
Mould growth is an important contributor to colour change of untreated wood exposed outdoors. Predicting the development of mould growth is therefore important to ensure successful use of untreated wood as a façade material. More knowledge about the factors affecting mould growth on outdoor exposed wood is required to give better predictions. In this study, climatic factors and material propertie...
S Karlsen Lie, G I Vestøl, O Høibø, L Ross Gobakken


Bio-friendly wood protection systems - resistance to mould and blue-stain fungi
2017 - IRG/WP 17-30713
With stricter restrictions on the use of biocides and increasing environmental awareness there is a pronounced need for effective bio-friendly protection systems in the wood preservative and wood coating industry. One of the possible pathways is to exploit and utilize natural substances with active biological effects. Silanes, caffeine, natural oils and potassium carbonate were chosen as compounds...
L Ross Gobakken, W Perdoch, B Mazela, P Kwaśniewska-Sip, G Cofta


Colour changes in unpainted wooden façades – Fifty Shades of Grey
2018 - IRG/WP 18-10903
In Norway the use of weathered unpainted, wooden façades has increased in popularity the last 20 years, both in single family houses as well as in multi-story and non-residential buildings. The benefit of using unpainted wood as façade material can be several: low maintenance costs, low environmental impact and low carbon footprint as well as contemporary and trendy aesthetic appearance. The va...
K Zimmer, L R Gobakken, O Flindall, M Nygaard


Hibernation or spring awakening? – The research on wood durability and protection in marine environment
2018 - IRG/WP 18-10929
Wooden structures in marine applications are exposed to severe degradation conditions caused by mechanical loads and wood degrading organisms. The present paper presents the use of wood in marine environments in Europe from a wood protection perspective and gives an overview over relevant research topics. It compiles the most relevant literature with an emphasis on new wood protection methods and ...
A Treu, K Zimmer, C Brischke, E Larnøy, L R Gobakken, F Aloui, S M Cragg, P-O Flæte, M Humar, M Westin


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