Damage assessment of pine wood facades in the first years of service for sustainable maintenance

Abstract

The importance of the sustainability of wood buildings is increasing. The renewed attention highlights the need to assess the wood deterioration accurately, in the initial years of service, to optimize treatment during its lifetime and reduce maintenance costs. This study presents a methodology for inspecting and classifying damage of wood in service, relying on visual inspection and oriented to non-structural wooden components. This approach enables more affordable, widespread, and frequent monitoring of wooden elements in use, promoting their routine maintenance. The methodology was tested in the pine wood (Pinus sylvestris) facades with up to 5 years of service in a hotel building in northern Portugal. Despite its relatively brief period of operation, the building displays indications of both abiotic and biotic degradation of the wood across all its different facade orientations. Based on that, the study highlights the natural aging of Scots pine according to the building’s age, orientation, maintenance treatments, and exposure conditions. These findings provide insights into conservation plan optimization and emphasize the need for regular maintenance of wooden elements in outdoor environments, even in the early years of service.