Anu Soikkeli REFERAT

REFERAT
WOOD FOR GOOD
– A study on the service life of external wood claddings

In 1998–99 the University of Oulu’s Department of Architecture conduc-

ted a broad study on the long-term durability of wooden façades. During
the study nearly 123 wooden façades of different ages
were examined and 2300 incidences of damage
were recorded and analyzed.

The custom of panelling the exteriors of houses with

boards spread to Finland at the end of the 17th cen-
tury, and in general old claddings of this type have
proved to last well. It has become common practice
in recent decades to use somewhat thinner boards for
this purpose and to coat them with industrially produ-
ced synthetic paints, mostly latex-based. These newer
structures have degenerated surprisingly quickly and
have proved to require a great deal of maintenance.
It has become quite common to think of timber as a
poor facing material with a short service life and high
maintenance requirements. The problems affecting
both old and new timber facades do not arisen from
the nature of the timber as such but are usually attri-

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butable to mistakes in the design of the wall structure, sible to examine these by computer using cross-tabula-
the use of weak, thin boards, errors in structural detail, tion methods.
neglect of maintenance or the wrong choice of pain-
ting. Conclusions
The aim here was to ascertain the factors affecting The most common types of fault are clearly paint ble-
the long-term durability of timber facades by means mishes, rotting, splitting of boards or warping of the
of field investigations. This survey was undertaken in thin boards so as to slip out of their grooves. The type
an attempt to demonstrate how durability can be en- of paint used affects the moisture content of the tim-
sured. ber, but there are other factors as well that govern the
durability of the facing, including the structure of the
Content of the research facade and climatic and environmental stresses. Fre-
Five areas of differing character in three Finnish towns quently the cause of the damage, gives rise to faults
were selected for the field investigation in summer and of several kinds, mainly paint blemishes and rotting,
autumn 1998, which consisted of an inventory of the which can proceed to various degrees of severity if left
condition and the reasons for any damage observed. unrepaired. The damage is generally concentrated
The areas examined in the study included 123 wooden at points where water flows over the surface of the
façades of different ages. During the study nearly 2300 timber, or at cuts made across the grain of the wood,
incidences of damage were recorded and analyzed. joins and other points in the structure that accumu-
The inventory was conducted by recording informa- late moisture. Fungal growth and rotting is chiefly to
tion on the facade of each of the houses, in writing and be found in the joins in the end walls of houses where
by photographing them. The houses were examined these have no protecting eaves, places where boards
for such features as the direction in which the facade have been extended, nail holes and points where boards
faced, the overhang of the eaves, the height of the base are in contact with the ground.
wall, the dimensions of metal window sills, the integra- The old Finnish construction heritage is a good ba-
tion of steps, etc., into the outer cladding of the buil- sis for ensuring the long-term durability. The façade
ding, and other factors that could cause damage to the facing was formerly a sacrifice layer intended to pro-
boarding. Similarly, the shape and surface finish of the tect the structure itself. Even so, board facings have
boards themselves, the types of nails used and the man- traditionally been very durable. Today, wooden faça-
ner of nailing were ascertained and recorded in writing des are felt to require considerable maintenance and
and with drawings. The thickness of the boards and the to be short-lived. This conception has been reinforced
size of any ventilation gap left behind them were mea- by the fact that the theoretical age of wooden façades
sured on all the houses, and in some cases samples of is held to be 50 years in Finland today.
the wood and paint were taken for microscopic exami- Timber construction during the last decades has
nation in the laboratory. not taken into consideration the simple fact that a
In addition to the basic data on each house, all da- thick façade facing is more durable than a thin one. On
mage to the boards or painted surfaces was documen- the contrary, Finnish design directives recommend the
ted with details of its extent and presumed cause. As use of thin boards (18–21 mm). Damage to thin boards
the inventory included all the facades of the building is common, regardless of the type of damage being
whether damaged or not, the results could be assessed examined. The boards on façade facings should be at
statistically to provide information on the average con- least 25 mm, preferably 28 mm thick.
dition of old timber facades, the frequencies of faults of Structural protection is of essential importance to
different types, and the frequencies of different causes wooden façades. A wooden building should have ea-
of damage in facades of different ages. Since each in- ves, but wooden façades with no eaves or very short
stance of damage was recorded separately, it was pos- eaves are still being constructed. And yet, the signifi-

82 Nordisk Arkitekturforskning 2000:4

 cance of eave length to the total amount of damage is
indisputable. Buildings with eaves over 500 mm long
have considerably less paint and rot damage. The place
most likely to damage is usually the bottom edge of the
façade, which is exposed to moisture stress. The bot-
tom edge of the boarding should be wedge-shaped
to function as a drip edge. To avoid damage, molding
should not be used at the bottom edge of the wall. If a
bottom molding is used, it should be shaped to shed
water well and it should be easy to replace. Damage
can be minimized by using a sufficiently high founda-
tion. The recommended foundation height is at least
300 mm, which design directives also recommend.
Preferably, the foundation should be at least 500 mm
high.
The timber facades of older buildings were cons-
tructed so as to ensure that water ran off the face of the
boards as efficiently as possible, but the ornamenta-
tion on modern facades is commonly designed badly,
causing water to stand in certain places, so that it gra-
dually soaks into the surface of the wood. The ends of
the boards, joins and corners are not always protected
with ornamental battens as they used to be, and the
water easily soaks in to the ends and eats its way into the
grain. The situation is seldom very serious where hori-
zontal panelling is concerned, but problems arise with
vertical panelling if the ends of the boards are not cut at
an angle, as was the case in earlier times, and the water
manages to sink into the wood.
There are no definite recommendations on nailing
distances. Finnish design directives only state that in
board extensions, boards often need to be nailed near
the ends, and to prevent splitting, holes should be pre-
drilled for the nails. In job site conditions, nail holes are
very rarely pre-drilled. In practice, nailing often causes
splitting, because boards nailed closer than 30 mm to
the end nearly always split. On the contrary, boards nai-
led farther than 70 mm from the end rarely split, unless
the board is very thin. For this reason, boards should
be nailed at least 70 mm from the end. Use of a nailing
machine is not recommended. If a machine is used,
the pressure should be low enough to leave the nails
heads on the surface. Final nailing should be done by
hand to prevent the nails from being driven too deep,

Soikkeli: Wood for good 83

which would tear the surface of the wood and make freely ventilated ventilation space. To avoid splitting,
the wood susceptible to paint and rot damage. however, the ventilation space should not be larger than
A mitered corner is always susceptible to damage 16 mm. With a small space the boards dry reasonably
and should therefore be avoided. If this type of corner slowly, preventing quick changes in their moisture con-
is used, this study indicates it should be tight and ven- tent.
tilated. This means the corner boards should be sawed Elimination of the causes of local damage is an
at an acute angle and the facing boards should be important part of wooden façade maintenance. Neg-
thick. This procedure was commonly used in mitered lecting simple maintenance measures can quickly cau-
corners of façade facings of old buildings, which have se extensive damage. Thus, for example, gutters and
been lasted well. downspouts should be kept in good condition. Filth
Current wooden façade design and construction and litter on moldings, for example, also gather mois-
directives emphasize the significance of the size of the ture and make them susceptible to damage.
ventilation space. Nevertheless, the effect of the size of
the ventilation space on rot and paint damage is sur- Painting wooden façades
prisingly small. More important than size is an open, A wooden façade should be designed to last, if neces-

84 Nordisk Arkitekturforskning 2000:4

 sary, without paint or other maintenance. An unt- primary method of improving the long-term durabi-
reated and unpainted board facing loses only about lity of a wooden façade. Therefore, maintenance of the
3 mm of its surface per 100 years. Façade durability painted surface and sufficiently frequent repainting are
should not be dependent on a paint coating. Because the most important ways of making a façade last long.
painting is usually neglected at some point in time, The better a façade is cared for and maintained, the bet-
it is important to design and construct a façade with ter it withstands structural errors or solutions that are
as few easily damaged details as possible, and so that susceptible to damage.
such details are easily replaceable. Painting is still the Rough boards should not be used on façades. Repain-

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ting is difficult because it is almost impossible to clean Typical damage is caused if…
the old paint surface well. This type of façade also gets • façade boarding is in contact with the ground or
dirty quickly near the surface of the ground, allowing splash wa-
The characteristics of different types of paint and ter and snow to dampen it.
different types of damage should not only be exami- • capillary flow of water from adjoining structures
ned from the standpoint of damage, but also from (e.g., concrete) into the wood is not prevented.
the standpoint of repainting. Oil paint begins to flake • structural protection is not taken care of. For ex-
with age, allowing moisture to penetrate the wood. ample, the building’s eaves are too short or missing
Flaking oil paint does not prevent even evaporation completely, allowing rainwater to wet the façade.
of moisture from the boarding. On the contrary, latex • no ventilation space is made behind wooden façade
paint is characterized by tearing along the grain and facing, and the facing is covered with too impe-
loosening of the paint coat from the base. This allows netrable and thick a coat of paint, preventing the
moisture to gather into “pockets“ formed by the loose- facing from drying after getting wet. As a result, the
ned paint film, and the impenetrable paint film does wood rots and the coat of paint loosens.
not allow moisture to evaporate. This process quickly • weather-susceptible wooden facings are made
damages the wood. Because damage caused by la- from too thin wood material, allowing boards to
tex paint is one of the most typical types of damage warp and split.
in wooden façades, latex paints should be avoided in • façade facings are made so water is not able to flow
buildings intended to be permanent. Paints should freely and drip off, and the water is absorbed by the
not only be examined when new; it is more important wood.
to take into account how the paint will behave several • wooden facing extensions, joints and corners are
years after painting. Although the recommended in- not protected well enough, allowing water to pene-
terval between paint jobs is shorter for oil paints than trate the wood in the direction of the grain.
for latex paints, oil paint can be applied on top of an old • straight, unbeveled extensions are used in vertical
paint surface. The problem with repainting using latex facing, and the bottom ends of the boards are not
paint is the thorough preparation of the surface that beveled.
is required. If the old paint surface is not removed cor- • allowance is not made for changes in shape cau-
rectly, the new coat will quickly begin loosening from sed by moisture in the wood, resulting in swelling
the base. damage or cracking when the wood dries.
It is no surprise to find from the present data that the • nails are nailed too close to the ends of the boards,
older a facade is, the less damage is to be found in it, causing the boards to split.
and although an old facade may appear to be in poor
condition because it has not been painted in time, its
true condition beneath the paint will usually be quite
good. It is important to spread information on the true
durability of timber facades, so they won’t be renewed
without a proper reason and also so the new facades
could be build to last as long as the old ones have.

86 Nordisk Arkitekturforskning 2000:4

Wood lasts long if…
• sufficiently thick material is used; at least 25 mm, pre-
ferably 28 mm.
• nails are nailed far enough from the ends of boards;
min. 70 mm, preferably 100 mm.
• board joints and extensions, and preferably nailed
places, are protected.
• structural protection is used, such as adequate ea-
ves, at least 500 mm, and sufficient distance from
the façade to the ground, recommended founda-
tion height is at least 300 mm, preferably over 500
mm.
• rainwater is able to flow freely and exit from the sur-
faces.
• the correct paint is selected for each location, and
impenetrable, thick coats of paint are avoided.
• repainting is taken care of and the paint surface is
not allowed to deteriorate.
Anu Soikkeli
University of Oulu, Department of Architecture, Oulu

References
Suomalaisten puujulkisivujen pitkäaikaiskestävyys
– tutkimuksen loppuraportti. 1999. (Long-term
durability of Finnish wooden facades – the report
of the research project, abstract in English). Uni-
versity of Oulu, pp. 1–144.

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