The largest market for wood-polymer composites (WPCs) is currently decking. Although many products are commercially available, a proper standard for the assessment of the biological durability of WPC does not exist. Recommended standards for testing resistance against basidiomycetes should be completed with a method to bring the specimens in a worst case situation, obtaining a moisture level high enough to initiate and support fungal growth at the beginning of, or early in the test. In this study a simple, but efficient way to increase the moisture level of test specimens of 9 commercialized WPC decking products is presented. The 24 h air-drying period after 4 weeks immersion in warm water strongly reduced the high moisture content (MC) of the wood particles, but the induced thickness swell may allow a quicker re-moistening. Performing a fungal test with these moistened specimens, Coriolus versicolor caused 2 – 15% mass loss (ML) and Coniphora puteana 1 – 12% ML despite of the poor virulence of latter fungus. ML was correlated with the MC after incubation and the thickness swell due to the pre-treatment. The ability of fungal spores to settle on WPC surfaces was investigated as well by placing specimens in a cabinet loaded with mist saturated with fungal spores and an equivalent outdoor test setup. Linking results to the composition or production process is difficult and was not the main goal of this research, but PVC based materials clearly performed the worst: high water absorbing and thickness swell, the highest ML in lab-based fungal testing and the most distinct fungal staining during outdoor exposure.

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