Wood is a traditional roofing material in the Alpine regions. In the 17th century, wooden roofing was typically used on more important buildings. Still, today it is predominately used on huts and houses in the hilly regions of northern and north-western Slovenia. Because wooden roofing is expensive, we investigated the possibility of extending the service life of the roofing through impregnation and modification. Wooden shingles made of untreated, copper impregnated and thermally modified Norway spruce were isolated and analysed with digital microscopy and confocal microscopy. In addition, the compression strength, surface roughness and contact angles of the wooden shingles were also determined. The results showed that Shingles made of untreated Norway spruce wood were degraded entirely after seven years of exposure. On the other hand, the copper treated and thermally modified shingles were not degraded. However, the surface roughness of thermally modified wood and untreated wood considerably decreased after weathering, resulting in decreased water performance.

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