A fast and economic method to produce grey wooden surfaces for decking and cladding: preliminary results

IRG/WP 09-40474

L Podgorski, V Georges, I Garmendia, B Sánchez Sarachu

Uncoated wood is commonly used in France for cladding and decking to minimise maintenance. However wood surfaces progressively turn grey due to exposure to sunlight and water. This grey colour develops after several months depending on the wood species and the exposure: in the northern hemisphere surfaces facing south and west are most exposed and turn grey more rapidly than those facing north and east. The result is unfortunate differences in the appearance of the building which obviously is not appreciated by the end-users and which leads to a negative image of the wood material. As a consequence of this some architects would like to have grey wood right from the beginning of the construction. Producing grey wood using artificial weathering devices or natural weathering exposure is possible but too expensive and too long. In this project the idea is to develop a non-film forming coating whose colour is similar to the grey appearance produced by the natural weathering. This coating must be durable enough just to allow a soft transition between its own degradation and the development of the grey colour produced by the natural weathering.


Keywords: wood, weathering, greying, surface, coating, aesthetics

Conference: 09-05-24/28 Beijing, China


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