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Moisture content and decay of differently sized wooden components during 5 years of outdoor exposure

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A Publisher’s Erratum to this article was published on 16 October 2015

Abstract

Within this study, the effect of different cross section dimensions on wood moisture content (MC), time of wetness (ToW), and fungal decay development of Norway spruce (Picea abies Karst.) and Scots pine sapwood (Pinus sylvestris L.) was examined. Specimens with ten different quadratic and rectangular cross sections were exposed horizontally in Hannover, Germany, and monitored for a period of 5 years. MC and temperature were recorded daily and data sets were submitted to a dose–response model based on material climatic data for evaluating the respective decay risk of the different specimen types. After 5 years of outdoor exposure timber dimension was found to be correlated neither with wood MC nor with decay development. However, time of wetness and decay were more severe in pine sapwood compared to spruce. Regarding onset and further development of decay, cracks as well as contact faces turned out to be weak points, but interior rot was observed as well. Brown rot, which occurred predominantly in the specimens, was partly difficult or even impossible to detect from the outside, but caused severe degradation also in small-dimensioned samples.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful for financial support of WoodWisdom-Net (www.woodwisdom.net) and wood industry partnership in the frame of the WWN project “Durable Timber Bridges DuraTB”. For help with the field trials the authors express their special thanks to Thomas Bornemann, Ralph-Thomas Mehlich, Carola Hesse and Christian Wulf.

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  1. Leibniz University Hannover, Faculty of Architecture and Landscape Sciences, Institute of Vocational Sciences in the Building Trade, Herrenhäuser Str. 8, 30419, Hannover, Germany

    Christian Brischke & Linda Meyer-Veltrup

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  1. Christian Brischke
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  2. Linda Meyer-Veltrup
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Correspondence to Christian Brischke.

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Brischke, C., Meyer-Veltrup, L. Moisture content and decay of differently sized wooden components during 5 years of outdoor exposure. Eur. J. Wood Prod. 73, 719–728 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00107-015-0960-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00107-015-0960-7

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