Background & Rational
The Ukrainian Cultural Heritage village (UCHV), Alberta, is a living history museum exhibiting 50-70 historic timber buildings of the first Ukrainian pioneer settlement between 1892-1930. The exhibition, especially the buildings, have the target to present the previous time period and be interpreted as real as possible.
The buildings have different original construction ages from one to 23 years (c.f. Fig. 1 , below at Research Objectives). This means a building, which has a construction age of 23 years, should look like this included all the weathering processes. A building with an original young construction age should look new built, even if it is already old aged. Cause of financial, time and workload aspects the buildings cannot construct every year or short time period new and should be prevented over a longer time.
Wood species and different coatings have an influence on weathering and connected processes like decay and color changes (Forest Products Laboratory, 2010). This fact leads to the following research.
The research exists of two parts.
- A long-term fieldwork project at the Ukrainian Cultural Heritage village constructed out of 8 test walls with different common wood species
(Larix larcinia, Picea alba, Pinus banksiana, Populus tremuloides) treated with the same different coatings like in the laboratory test. - A short–term laboratory test with the same wood species and treatments. The weather, especially the UV radiation will constructed by a weatherometer over different time-scales. The color change will be measured with a spectrophotometer (c.f. Methods).
Research Objectives
The basic question is which wood species and which treatment fits best to a building and its special construction age to make it looks as original as possible and prevent it from weathering.
Therefore, the wavelength of the original aged wood will compared with the wavelength of the different measurements at different times, different wood species and different treatments.
Another question is how the weathering processed over time. Is it slowing down after a specific time and is it for every wood species and treatment at the same point?
Compared to the long-term field work test it’s interesting to compare the data of weatherometer laboratory test with the fieldwork to approve
and/or verify/negate the laboratory tests.
The basic question is which wood species and which treatment fits best to a building and its special construction age to make it looks as original as possible and prevent it from weathering.
Therefore, the wavelength of the original aged wood will compared with the wavelength of the different measurements at different times, different wood species and different treatments.
Another question is how the weathering processed over time. Is it slowing down after a specific time and is it for every wood species and treatment at the same point?
Compared to the long-term field work test it’s interesting to compare the data of weatherometer laboratory test with the fieldwork to approve
and/or verify/negate the laboratory tests.
Expected results
Obviously, bleaching of wood is faster in the first time period/years and slows down after some time. The comparison of the bleaching process of dark wood (e.g. Larix larcinia), compared to light-colored wood (e.g. Populus tremuloides) should show a less bleaching interval for the light wood. Coatings should change, minimize or prevent the bleaching/weathering process or at least change the interval, depending on the coating.
In the best case the results are transferable to other wood based historical buildings and sites or even interesting for modern wood based buildings to avoid weathering processes and choose the right wood species and coating for the right application.
Obviously, bleaching of wood is faster in the first time period/years and slows down after some time. The comparison of the bleaching process of dark wood (e.g. Larix larcinia), compared to light-colored wood (e.g. Populus tremuloides) should show a less bleaching interval for the light wood. Coatings should change, minimize or prevent the bleaching/weathering process or at least change the interval, depending on the coating.
In the best case the results are transferable to other wood based historical buildings and sites or even interesting for modern wood based buildings to avoid weathering processes and choose the right wood species and coating for the right application.