A study of some factors influencing the treatability of fir (Abies alba) was carried out in order to add better value to fir sawn timber coming from the Jura country, which is an abundant natural resource. In this part of France, fir wood as construction material is highly challenged by another softwood species, spruce Picea abies. In order to carefully assess the treatability of fir sapwood and heartwood (distinguished by a specific dye) and to study the factors influencing this property, treatability tests were performed according to the standardized European laboratory method CEN/TR 14734. Prior to testing, the wood specimens were submitted to four different climates of pre-conditioning, leading to different temperature and moisture content of wood. The results of the tests demonstrated that these factors highly influence the treatability of fir wood and that an optimized combination of external factors could lead to significantly improve the quality of the treatment, when compared to current knowledge and practice. The results obtained in this study also showed that the treatability classes as they are currently reported in the European standard EN 350 should be amended.

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