Treated timber is a very small segment of the wood industry. Yet, many people have opinions about it – often quite negative. Sometimes even colleagues in the timber trade hold adverse views on our products! This is quite unfortunate. Since we all accept that wood is the most versatile and environmentally-friendly building material, we must also accept that the right material should be used in the right place.
At the same time, treated timber is a segment that is increasing – a lot. TV programmes and magazines that deal with home decorating, decking and other kinds of timber garden products are becoming more and more frequent. Sweden has fewer inhabitants than London, but we still have at least four weekly TV series on home improvement. And with the major efforts and financing the wood industry and its trade organisations are putting into expanding the market,
I believe that treated volumes will increase further.
Outdoor products
I also believe that timber for outdoor use is possibly the most consumer-orientated industry segment. It is probably more common for the person on the street to hold a piece of treated timber in his hands than an untreated one – simply because what most amateurs make in wood is something for the garden. DIY is here to stay and will be even more common in the future.
Consequently, the way the industry and trade look on treated products will also have a big influence on people’s attitudes towards wood as a material. If we could change the sometimes preconceived ideas, we could probably take a lot of market share from other non-wood materials. For some purposes treated timber is the best choice.
The competition between building materials is best settled through life cycle assessments (LCA), which look at production, service life and end of life phases. Building products made from treated timber can, of course, only be justified if they are as good as, or better for the environment than, competitive products in plastic, concrete or steel.
Competitive properties
I am proud to say that the IVL Swedish Environmental Institute has confirmed that treated timber does have the desired competitive properties, including environmental as well as human toxicity aspects. The prerequisite for this is that the timber has been treated according to the standard for its end use. Applying the agreed standards is the only way we can achieve correct comparison between materials. And, of course, we want all timber products to be considered as a building product like others.
Talking about LCAs, years ago, my children were taught in school that we should eat only home-grown fruits and vegetables like apples and carrots, avoiding those from other continents and saving a lot of transport. Maybe this could be something for construction specifiers to consider when working on outdoor building plans – to specify only European treated wood, produced for the specific purpose and according to standards.
Market opportunities
And there are so many new applications for treated timbers that ought to be found. I was very pleased to read the last Wood Futures article by Finnish architect Kati Blom – “dreaming the undreamed” and looking into the future when “construction products will remain as part of the solution and not part of the problem”. In areas such as beautifying dull concrete urban areas, giving access for disabled people in nature reserves, visitors centres and outdoor museums, the possibilities for treated timber ought to be enormous. Noise reduction barriers are often quite boring and could possibly be made more fun with innovative design.
Market opportunities are certainly at hand and I believe that the wood industry has a lot of possibilities in working towards timber treatment for specific purposes as fully-finished products, just like any other value-adding processing. And the fantastic thing that we are doing is to prolong the service life of the sawn timber in outdoor applications for up to 20-40 years! We add a small amount of biocides – which are under strict supervision by the EU Biocides Directive – and get a product which is on a par or even better than competing products from finite resources!
At the Swedish Wood Preserving Association we work towards a vision that treated timber should be the natural choice for building outdoors. We believe that it is good for wood if the right products are used for the right purpose. We want treated timber products to be appreciated for their environmental properties by consumers, builders merchants, specifiers, industry and media. In order for the European treated timber industry to complete successfully with other materials we recommend the supply of quality products according to standards, and preferably under third party control as suggested by the Nordic system.
