Coat of many colours

Two of the largest preservative treatment manufacturers in the UK - Lonza and Osmose - have both served notice of their intentions in the coatings market in recent months with new launches.

Lonza has introduced Drywood Woodstain, a water-based high performance warrantied coating for exclusive use on Non-Com Exterior treated timbers, giving specifiers the option to add a colour finish to the fire-treated timbers.

The product, manufactured by Drywood Coatings NV, has been used on Non-Com Exterior treated timber in new build projects in Holland for many years.

It's available in transparent, semi-opaque and fully opaque colours and Lonza said the product adheres well to treated timber and does not compromise the fire retardant properties.

It works by penetrating into the wood and also builds a thin film on the surface, which can be overcoated later for ongoing maintenance.

TRADA has reviewed this combination of Non-Com Exterior timbers and Drywood Woodstain, concluding that the solution provided a reliable protective coating system that would not incur any incompatibility issues and the long-term adhesion characteristics of Drywood would not be compromised.

This has allowed Drywood Coatings BV to offer an initial four-year performance warranty on the product when applied by a Lonzaapproved applicator.

Osmose Europe's coating activities have centred on a recent agreement with Guard Industry to supply the latter's WoodGuard clear and colour finish coatings into the industrial joinery, sawmilling and timber company sectors.

Osmose Europe commercial director Gordon Ewbank said WoodGuard allowed Osmose to offer the UK market innovative industrial wood finishes to complement its existing preservative, fire retardant and wood stabiliser ranges.

Rochdale-based Dresser Mouldings has used WoodGuard on timber cladding on behalf of client Vincent Timber. Two coats of WoodGuard Colour Professional in grey were applied by a vacuum coating system on Accoya cladding profiles in an 80-micron wet film build.

"It's quite an expensive product but it's a really good one," said Simon McDonnell, a Dresser Mouldings director.

"It's the longevity of the coating. One of the problems with cladding has been that timber is good but the coatings have not been up to it."

He described it as very viscous on application and that it seemed to have the same effect as three to four coats of more standard paint.

Dresser Mouldings is an approved applicator able to offer a 10-year warranty on WoodGuard Timber Coatings.

Meanwhile, LED coating technology is beginning to make inroads.

A year ago Becker Acroma launched its LED coating technology, a world first for LED curing of coatings on all substrates, including wood.

The technology is designed to improve coating operation efficiencies for large-scale joinery companies and furniture manufacturers, including reducing energy consumption and improving coating of resinous species like pine.

Two plants - in the Czech Republic and Sweden - are now on board with the Becker Acroma LED coating system.

David Wright, managing director of Sherwin-Williams Product Finishes UK & Ireland (Becker Acroma is a brand of Sherwin-Williams), said several UK companies were considering LED coating systems as part of investment plans in the next couple of years.

Stain resistant

Another Sherwin-Williams brand - Sayerlack - has also been busy with new product innovations and has launched CoffeeProof water-borne white top coat and Knot Block Wood Primer.

With the launch of CoffeeProof, Sherwin-Williams says it has won the technological challenge of producing a pigmented water-borne coating able to resist even coffee stains. It was the first to pass strict stain

resistance tests, including IKEA's IOS-MAT- 0066, carried out at the CATAS laboratories, obtaining an R4 result.

Sherwin-Williams says this provided a new coating solution for the interior design and furniture industries and an alternative to solvent-based top coats, guaranteeing compliance with emissions standards.

The two-component product features a top coat and a hardener and is aimed at furniture producers, joinery companies and mouldings manufacturers.

"We are also doing quite a lot of work in the area of bio-mimicry, where coating colours change according to the temperature," said Mr Wright.

Another new water-borne product is Sayerlack Knot Block Wood Primer for new or old wood, developed to provide a long-term barrier against knot stains bleeding through.

In the joinery sector, Gateshead-based bespoke joinery producer Crafted & Co has been meeting demand for the in vogue reclaimed look.

The company has its own in-house French polishing and finishing service, with its main coating and finishes supplier being Morrells. Using patinas and polishes on new wood to come up with a distressed look is often more cost-effective than buying genuine reclaimed furniture and joinery.

"Because of this service and our knowledge, we are able to offer advice on the best products to use for certain species of timber and the appearance the customer can expect," said managing director Ken Smith. "This is a great selling point for us and helps us to finish to suit any brief."

In the world of colour variation, Crown Paints has been showing its style with the "Ice Cream" project which involved the painting of 30 beach huts near Bournemouth Pier.

Crown's Sadolin Superdec Opaque Finish was chose for the resort's exposed coastal environment.