The SiOO X Story – Protecting the Planet - Book - Page 17
Part 1.
The Sioo Story
Herje Boström – innovator, founder and CEO of Sioo Wood Protection AB. Herje observes:
“wood is a fantastic material, it’s nature’s own material that can be shaped however you like,
and if you use wood the right way, it will last indefinitely.” Herje is a nature lover who enjoys
hiking in the woods and fields around his Eighteenth Century house in Småland. He never
stops being fascinated by houses that are still standing after centuries and how they belong
to the landscape. “These houses have stood the test of time, largely because they were built
smarter in the past and were made from natural building materials,” says Herje.
THE STORY OF Sioo begins with the weather or, more precise-
orientation, construction quality and the extent to which the
surface has been given an effective protective covering being
only four of the criteria that merit careful consideration at the
earliest design stage. The degree to which these latter points
are properly addressed has the potential to significantly limit
the stages of weathering and the visual appearance of a timber-
clad building.
ly, the detrimental effects that weather can have on the exterior of buildings and how these might be successfully countered.
The material being addressed throughout this book is wood,
but it should be remembered that all construction materials
change through time, irrespective of whether they are used in
natural form or are man-made. The patina of age is generally accepted when seen on stone surfaces and the reason why
steel rusts is tacitly recognised by most people, but the way in
which wood is affected by weather can be unpredictable and
is not always understood, even by experienced construction
professionals. This is true for all tree species, especially if the
timber produced from them is used externally without further
protection. The effects can also be unattractive to the eye and,
as such, foster public, industry and institutional resistance to
the use of wood for external purposes.
Whilst all of these points are important, this book is focused on
the protection of wood where it is used on the external surface
of a building. There is an old Norwegian adage that states “there
is no such thing as bad weather, just the wrong clothes”, and so it
is with the exterior of buildings. In geographical locations where
snow, ice, wind, rain and even thunderstorms are the norm for
several months of the year, humans can simply spend much of
the time indoors. The external walls of their homes and workplaces, however, remain exposed to the elements throughout all
seasons. As with clothing, the concept of layering is fundamental
and it is the search for the ultimate protective surface for decks,
walls and, sometimes, roof surfaces that has been the perennial
challenge for wood constructors since time immemorial.
The natural weathering of wood is not a one-stage process: it
has in fact five distinct stages. The degree of variability in wood
weathering can also be influenced by a number of other
factors, either separately or in combination: design, building
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