Outdoor Wood Characteristics
Wood is organic originated from forest. Naturally, wood is an indispensable material in outdoor project. Chopping and sawing looks like a trivial action, but a conscientious project is backed by thoughtful preparation. Though wood grows in forest, it has to be highly attended for some special cares and considerations. In contrast to indoor furniture’s main testing hurdle in acclimation step, outdoor wood required versatility to cope with multiple affecting agents, not merely moisture alone.
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Whenever placing at outdoor, wood’s texture is being degraded by various harmful factors such as air pressure, temperature changes, moisture, sunlight and even living creatures. Without properly preparation, some wood would possibly split or twist. All wood species behave differently, depending on their cellular structure and botanic nature. The more stable the wood species, the better they will perform in extreme conditions.
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In hot & dry climates, wood tend to dry out very quickly. In rains or storms, wood fibers flood and swell. How can you cope with two extreme lifestyles? To satisfactorily complete the project, the appropriate use of treatment and coating is the nuance.
3. It is an analogy to human’s weight gain in winter and weight loss in summer. Wood fibers contraction and expansion happen on all wood species. High density hardwoods are typically more stable, but even so, severe temperature changes drive water inflow or outflow in a drastic way. Tropical hardwood is famous for its strength and durability. Some hardwood species have innate resin immune to various attacks. Once they do, they exhibit the same resistance to outdoor affecting agents the same as they grow in forest. Placing wood outdoor and treatment is not a random process. It requires tactically analysis the circumstances and harmful factors to cope with.
4. Wood embodies the spiritual connection with human, travelling abroad could be homesick and unassimilated. Some species perform well only in indigenous countries even in an adverse outdoor condition, but they might have problems when working in an estranged environment. You need a wood expert to share with you the experiences before putting the concept into blueprint.
5. In some regions, thunderstorm, and torrential rain frequent. Weathering induces the biotic agents rampant. Aggravated to a certain degree, wood further becomes the food of fungi and microorganism to nurture their growth. Wood is one of the members in ecology. So, some wood requires an additional raincoat (coating) to enhance the withstanding ability. Ideally, it is better to tactically prior-produced at mill rather than improvised at installation site.
6. Other than hardwood, softwood’s porous and light density also have an edge in some outdoor application. But their vulnerable aspects to cope with environmental variable should be cope with in parallel.
7. Generally exposed to outdoors, all woods are susceptible to this ubiquitous harmful factor: UV Rays. UV rays age everything including lady’s skin and wood. Like sunscreen, UV coating helps to block UV rays and slows the aging process and mitigate the extent. By the same token, other thematic coatings are designed to cope with other harmful factors i.e. waterproofing or anti-termite. Wood coating is indeed the knowledge to understand the deficiency. With the additional coating, we strengthen it to treat Achilles’ Heel.
8. With the same purpose but different approaches, immersion in chemical solution and treated in thermal oven change the weak attributes of wood to a more stable one in outdoors. After undergoing these treatments, wood texture is strengthened to an extent not feeble to environmental variables. In brief idea, wood texture is distorted to be unpleasant to creature’s living. So, it minimizes insects’ and molds’ attack to lengthen its use. Before placing the wood in bare forms to outdoors, users are encouraged to understand each species’ strength, weakness, useful areas, and suitability to circumstances.
9. Last but not the least, you must conceive the importance of rejuvenation and how often to put it into practice on day one. Also, the proper choice of metal ware and installation methods both counted. The desirable effect and durability are contingent on your overall project design.