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 a small limited area. The objective of this study was to gain knowledge about which factors influence surface mould growth on coated and uncoated wooden cladding in an outdoor environment, with a special attention to modified wood substrates. The data are based on evaluation of mould growth coverage on outdoors exposed wood panels consisting of different combinations of wood substrates and surface finishes. Panels were exposed on three locations; Bogesund (Sweden), Birkenes and Sørkedalen (Norway). The panels were monitored up to 4.5 years. The analysis showed that coating typology and exposure time both had highly significant influences on mould growth. Furthermore, wood substrate, temperature and relative humidity had a significant influence on mould growth, but comparatively less than coating typology and exposure time. Siberian larch heartwood, copper-organic preserved Scots pine and Scots pine heartwood performed best among the wood substrates. Heartwood as wood type was less susceptible to mould growth than a mix of sapwood and heartwood wood and pure sapwood. Acetylated Scots pine as wood substrate and Aspen as wood species had lower resistance to mould growth than the other wood substrates and wood species, respectively. The physical surface structure of a paint film also influences the mould growth. A hard model paint was significantly more susceptible than the other model paints. A soft model paint performed best, with the least mould growth coverage. Aureobasidium pullulans (deBary) Arnaud was the dominating fungal species on all the wood substrates.

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