An independent quality scheme for the wood protection market is needed to restore confidence in treated timber, delegates at a BASF/Wolman seminar have heard.
BRE Timber director Ed Suttie, one of the speakers at the June 24 event, called for the introduction of a quality mark to restore consumer confidence in the performance of treated products in the post-CCA treatment era, following reports of fence posts failing early.
Mr Suttie said consumers could benefit from a quality badge to indicate the fitness for purpose of particular component. But, he added, this needed to be awarded only after each treatment site and product had been independently assessed.
“For consumers of treated timber, there is great value in the existence of an easily recognised badge of quality regarding treatment quality and thus service life,” he said.
Mr Suttie said the industry needed to get from a price-driven market of low value to a quality-driven market of higher value.
He said such schemes existed in Scandinavia, through the Nordic Wood Preservation Council, in Germany with the RAL and in the US.
Delegates widely agreed that an independent quality scheme was desirable.
“There are a lot of people who would like to see something like that [quality badge], not just consumers but builders and construction professionals,” Wood Protection Association director Steve Young said when contacted by TTJ.
But he said establishing such a scheme would take time and even then it would probably be voluntary rather than mandatory.
Other speakers at the BASF/Wolman seminar included Dr Chris Coggins, who highlighted the importance of control over and monitoring of penetration and retention criteria, and Dr Ernst Wormuth, from Wolman’s product management department, who looked at performance improvements in Wolman CX products.
