Overcoming challenges
While all the qualities listed in this article make acetylated wood an ideal choice for historic preservation, architects experienced with the material say it does come with some minor limitations and considerations. The biggest of those may be cost, as acetylated wood often comes in around the same price as mahogany and other tropical hardwoods.
Along with overcoming the cost hurdle, architects and installers must take care to use only stainless steel fasteners with the wood since its acidic quality may corrode other metals, say Read and Gentleman.
Though acetylated wood takes most finishes well, Gentleman worked with a major paints/coatings provider on testing and discovered oil-based primers and acrylic latex are the best choices for finishes.
Read discovered the wood can be brittle, such as at a thin window corner, so care should be taken when handling. He finds the best glue choice to be the epoxies, though they take longer to set up and are harder to use. He also recommends using epoxy to seal holes made for locks or other hardware to prevent off-gassing damage.
Possibly the biggest limitation to working with this particular material is in the mind of architects and installers themselves who are not accustomed to acetylated wood.
“We are a product of our education and experience. Most professional woodworkers are so used to wood moving as the moisture changes and decay issues that they have to work with acetylated wood before they can accept the new material,” Rowell says. “But once they do, most are converted to the new type of wood and thinking.”
Laura Ladd has more than 12 years of market experience and deep knowledge of the timber industry, including four years with Accsys Technologies, where she currently heads up worldwide marketing for the Accoya and Tricoya brands. Ladd began her career at Weyerhaeuser Europe Ltd as an internal sales assistant for Medite MDF before joining Coillte Panel Products’ marketing department in 2007. She has completed the U.K. Institute of Wood Science (IWSc) foundation course. Ladd can be reached at laura.ladd@accsysplc.com.
