Effects of wood properties on surface mould growth on coated claddings of Norway spruce

Abstract

Development of surface moulds and staining fungi on painted spruce panels with known origin and wood properties was investigated over a period of 4 years. Materials of Norway spruce (Picea abies) were sampled from two sites with high-productive forest on lowland in South-eastern Norway and two low-productive sites at higher altitudes and somewhat farther north. Claddings were processed from inner centreboards (mainly heartwood) and outer centerboards of both butt logs and second logs. A sub-sample of radially sawn claddings was compared with corresponding tangentially sawn claddings. Heartwood proportion, density, annual ring width, knot diameters and knot area were measured. All panels were coated with the same water-borne alkyd modified acrylic paint system. Most of the tangentially sawn claddings were coated on the side facing pith, but a sub-sample was coated on the opposite side for comparison. The specimens were exposed with 45˚ angle of inclination facing south in a field trial in Oslo from 2007 to 2011, and mould growth was evaluated visually according to EN 927-3. 7.7% of the specimens were rated as 2, 71.4% were rated as 3, 19.4% were rated as 4, and 1.5% were rated as 5. Outer boards were rated significantly higher than inner boards, while differences between origins were not significant. There was a tendency of decreased rating with increasing heartwood proportion, but the relationship was not significant. Nor was there any significant effect of annual ring with, density or knot properties. Neither the difference between radially and tangentially sawn claddings, nor the difference between specimens coated on the side facing pith was significant.