Permeability in surface treated Norway spruce samples- Effect of wood properties

Abstract: In Norway spruce there's a large natural variation in durability but knowledge about what is causing this variation is missing. In this thesis the focus were put into investigating how the water uptake ability was affected by the influence of heartwood versus sapwood and wood properties such as density and annual ring width. Liquid water permeability was checked trough a modified version of EN 927-5 and samples were also investigated trough the Mycologg Method. The wide grown wood with a coating system (a priming oil and alkyd or acrylate paint) absorbed less water than the narrow grown wood in the permeability test. The Mycologg test showed a clear difference between wide and narrow grown wood. Further research is necessary to examine the impact of wood properties when it comes to water uptake.