Conforming to european standards for preservative-treated timber: Specifying with confidence

IRG/WP 00-20194

E D Suttie, R J Orsler

A four-year collaborative study between four industrial partners and BRE has assessed timber treated by current UK industrial practices in the light of current European Standards. Data were collected for CCA and creosote treated timber components, and compared with the requirements laid out in EN351-1 and -2. A number of difficulties were encountered that have been described in previous IRG papers (98-20150, 99-20156), such as the poor reproducibility of chemical analyses and variable timber density. This paper describes the conclusions of our collaboration, focusing on the application of the findings and how to overcome any difficulties encountered. The data collected allowed the calculation of figures that have been submitted for inclusion into the UK's proposed national code for preservative-treated timber (DD239). An example is the recommendation of new minimum retention figures for creosote-treated commodities. This paper describes the factors that will enable UK specifiers to use the European Standards with confidence and greater understanding of how they map onto traditional methods of specification. In addition valuable lessons have been learnt applicable to the industry world wide.


Keywords: CCA; CREOSOTE; RESULTS-BASED SPECIFICATION; TREATED TIMBER; ANALYSIS

Conference: 00-05-14/19 Kona, Hawaii, USA


Download document (34 kb)
free for the members of IRG. Available if purchased.

Purchase this document