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Composite Timber
Products
are becoming more
and more popular within the UK. The composite structure is
normally a blend of virgin timber wood chips, polymers and
UV inhibitors to provide a highly durable and colour fast
final product suitable for commercial cladding and decking
applications.
The timber element is
normally FSC or PEFC Certified and initially dried to a very
low moisture content during the manufacturing process. Some
sample tests provide for the products to be totally immersed
in water for 24 hours with a resultant swelling as low as
2%. Such composites provide an ideal balance, leaving the
polypropylene to seal the wood chips while the final product
consists of a high timber content.
Typical values of
timber content to polymer content are:
Cladding: 70% -
30%
Decking: 60% -
40%
Deck Tiles: 50% -
50%
Various methods are
used to manufacture composite products but usually fall in
to three categories. A Cold Press method is normally
used for the production of cladding, an Extrusion
method used for decking and a straight forward
Moulding process used for deck tiles.
Timber Composite
products are currently slightly higher priced in the UK
market compared to plain uncoloured processed and certified
timber for cladding and decking applications. However,
durable colourfast products for cladding large face areas
have a particular advantage over processed timber in terms
of site installation time, literally zero maintenance over
the lifetime of the fixed product and easy colour match for
any sections requiring replacement due to damage.
Composite Decking also
holds an attraction for certain applications. The product is
simple yet durable, combining the best qualities of timber
and plastics for a long lasting solution for decked areas,
paths and walkways combined with normally good antislip
characteristics for maximum use all year round.
Fixing of decking
sections is usually quite easy with manufacturers normally
providing pallets of fixed length sections of 3m, 4m and 6m.
These sections are cut on site to fit and except for one run
of perimeter screw fixing points, the deckboards themselves
are normally secretly fixed providing a surface free of
rising screws and splintering.
To find out more about
composite timber materials and their use in construction,
please email CNA through our contact
page.
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