How to protect wood?

Methods of protecting wood from decay, rot, fire and attack of insects are:

  • Drying woodwhich can be natural or artificial (in the oven).
  • Preventing humidity of the construction throughout its life span (too much moisture of the material can be caused by high humidity of the climate or poor ventilation).
  • Impregnation, ensuring the protection of wood, which should be permanent, have a high level of toxicity for fungi, should not have an unpleasant odor, must penetrate the wood well, must not cause damage to human or animal health and should not impair the properties of wood products.

There are different kinds of antiseptics. The oil-based, organic and water soluble. Water soluble preservatives are suitable, if the product will be protected from moisture and wet during use. The most common water-based antiseptic is as follows: White powder, sodium fluoride, which is completely odorless, but reduces the strength of wood. It soaks into the material well and is easily removable. A concentration of 3-4% is commonly used. Another antiseptic is sodium kremneftorid, a white to light gray powder that is used very similarly to fluoride, and finally Kremneftorid ammonium, also white, odorless powder, which, however, does not reduce the strength of wood, does not stain for is even more dangerous for fungi than sodium fluoride. It is usually used in a water solution at a concentration of 5-10%. It is also easily washable with water. All water-soluble antiseptics are colorless, so they can be mixed with color and thus built directly into the color coat.

Organic antiseptics have a very high toxicity and penetrate into the wood very well. This type is mainly used in such cases when it is needed to treat a product that will not be dried afterwards.

Antiseptics based on oils are usually made from castor oil, from oil shale or oil anthracene. All these products are liquids of a dark brown color and pungent odor with strong antiseptic properties. The oil antiseptics cannot be washed off with water, but always stains the wood in dark brown. Generally they are used for deep impregnation of wood elements, which are intended for outdoor use, in water or soil, such as sleepers, bridges, jetty piles and so on.

Wooden buildings and wood products should be protected against external and internal influences and it seems best to consult an expert in such matter.

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