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Testing and evaluation of natural durability of wood in above ground conditions in Europe – an overview

  • REVIEW ARTICLE
  • Published: October 2005
  • Volume 51, pages 429–440, (2005)
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Testing and evaluation of natural durability of wood in above ground conditions in Europe – an overview
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  • Ulrika Råberg1,
  • Marie-Louise Edlund2,
  • Nasko Terziev1 &
  • …
  • Carl Johan Land1 

  • 6717 Accesses

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Abstract

Natural durability of wood is determined by the European standard EN 252 for specimens in ground contact and EN 113 for basidiomycetes in the laboratory, but no test exists for above ground conditions. For above ground conditions, the European prestandard ENV 12037 and EN 330 are used to determine the durability of treated wood. The most important factors for fungal establishment on the surface and within wood are the moisture content, the surrounding temperature, and the relative humidity. Strength tests are the most sensitive for decay detection, but neither strength tests nor identification of fungi responsible for the decay are included in the standards of above ground durability in field tests. To detect decay, visual examination, pick or splinter tests, and mass loss determination are used. Identifying fungi with traditional methods, e.g., growth on solid medium, is time consuming and complicated. Molecular methods like polymerase chain reaction and sequencing do not require mycological skill for identification to species level, and furthermore the methods do not depend on the subjective judgement like most traditional methods, but are based on the objective information of the target organism (e.g., nucleotide sequences). The next generation of standard field tests will probably consider the drawbacks of standard tests today and be rapid and include both quality tests like molecular identification and nondestructive quantitative tests, e.g., acoustic tests. Laboratory tests can be improved by using fungi identified from field trials and by combining different fungi in the same test and thus simulate degradation in practice.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Wood Science, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, PO Box 7008, Vallvägen 9C, Uppsala, SE-750 07, Sweden

    Ulrika Råberg, Nasko Terziev & Carl Johan Land

  2. SP Swedish National Testing and Research Institute, Drottning Kristinas väg 67, Stockholm, SE-114 28, Sweden

    Marie-Louise Edlund

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  1. Ulrika Råberg
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  2. Marie-Louise Edlund
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  3. Nasko Terziev
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Correspondence to Carl Johan Land.

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Råberg, U., Edlund, ML., Terziev, N. et al. Testing and evaluation of natural durability of wood in above ground conditions in Europe – an overview. J Wood Sci 51, 429–440 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10086-005-0717-8

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  • Received: 06 October 2004

  • Accepted: 28 February 2005

  • Issue Date: October 2005

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10086-005-0717-8

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Key words

  • Decay
  • Fungi
  • PCR
  • Standards
  • Wood testing

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