Across Europe is very common to find wood exterior structures build in sawn and glue-laminated wood. Most of these exterior wood structures use softwood wood species such as: fir, spruce, larch and pine. In Spain exterior wood structures, became more and more popular since nineties, when sawn and glue-laminated wood were utilized for building exterior wood structures in overall Spain. This paper shows the situation of several exterior wood structures in sawn and glue-laminated wood, built in the nineties in Spain mainly in softwood species as: fir, spruce, larch and pine. In most cases, damages due to early decays appear before ten years of service life and the magnitude and extent of the damages is very important. In some wood exterior structures, the magnitude and extent of the damage due to early decay is such that it has reduced the cross section and strength of wood components, affecting the safety of these structures, with a destruction level that most of the times the substitution of the structure is mandatory. The aim of this study is to understand the causes of early decays, showing the case study of an wood exterior structure located in the city of Pontevedra, in the Northwest of Spain, analyzing the influence of the diversity wood species, preservative treatments and protection by design (detail designs); combined with the variability of environmental conditions (different climatic zones and exposure to weathering), use classes and position and thickness of wood elements in the emergence of early pathological processes associated primarily with fungal decay (wood destroying fungi) and wood destroying insects in lesser extent. It is important to remark that a proper approach to performance of wood exterior structures, need different competences such as architects, civil engineers, wood technologists, biologists, etc.

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