Thermo Wood

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Author Message Jerome J. Lazar, RA, CCS, CSI, SCIP Senior Member Username: lazarcitec Post Number: 1127 Registered: 05-2003 Posted on Friday, July 11, 2014 - 02:13 pm:    Is anyone familiar with Thermo Wood, I am being asked to specify it for a current project, this is new to me, perhaps not so new to my peers here? Jerome J. Lazar, RA, CCS, CSI, SCIP Senior Member Username: lazarcitec Post Number: 1147 Registered: 05-2003 Posted on Tuesday, July 29, 2014 - 09:52 pm:    Seriously, no one has specified ThermoWood? Lynn Javoroski FCSI CCS LEEDŽ AP SCIP Affiliate Senior Member Username: lynn_javoroski Post Number: 1864 Registered: 07-2002 Posted on Wednesday, July 30, 2014 - 09:52 am:    I've never even heard of it. Sounds like something I'd burn in my fireplace, perhaps to get rid of creosote in the chimney. Ellis C. Whitby, PE, CSI, AIA, LEEDŽ AP Senior Member Username: ecwhitby Post Number: 233 Registered: 03-2003 Posted on Wednesday, July 30, 2014 - 02:37 pm:    I thought that a shotgun fired up the chimney was what you used to clear creosote (and bird nests). Lynn Javoroski FCSI CCS LEEDŽ AP SCIP Affiliate Senior Member Username: lynn_javoroski Post Number: 1866 Registered: 07-2002 Posted on Wednesday, July 30, 2014 - 02:42 pm:    Yeah, that sounds like your sort of solution to the problem, Ellis. (grin) Ellis C. Whitby, PE, CSI, AIA, LEEDŽ AP Senior Member Username: ecwhitby Post Number: 234 Registered: 03-2003 Posted on Wednesday, July 30, 2014 - 02:49 pm:    I also advocate the use of cattle prods as an educational tool for recalcitrant coworkers. I am contemplating modernizing to shock collars. ;-) And I never have heard of "Thermo Wood' Lynn Javoroski FCSI CCS LEEDŽ AP SCIP Affiliate Senior Member Username: lynn_javoroski Post Number: 1867 Registered: 07-2002 Posted on Wednesday, July 30, 2014 - 02:50 pm:    I finally succumbed to curiosity and googled it. This is almost a generic term as there are multiple manufacturers supposed to be licensed to use the words ThermoWood. According to Wikipedia: "Thermally modified wood is wood that has been modified by a controlled pyrolysis process of wood being heated (> 180 °C) in absence of oxygen inducing some chemical changes to the chemical structures of cell wall components (lignin, cellulose and hemicellulose) in the wood in order to increase its durability. Low oxygen content prevents the wood from burning at these high temperatures. Several different technologies are introduced using different media including nitrogen gas, steam and hot oil." So part of the information you'd need is what process and what manufacturer. There's additional information here at the International ThermoWood Association: http://www.thermowood.fi/ Good luck Wayne Yancey Senior Member Username: wayne_yancey Post Number: 671 Registered: 01-2008 Posted on Wednesday, July 30, 2014 - 02:53 pm:    Jerome, Have you never heard of Google, Bing, Dogpile search engines. Tsk, tsk. Finger wagging. Shame on you. Robert E. Woodburn, AIA, CSI, CCS, CCCA Senior Member Username: bob_woodburn Post Number: 100 Registered: 11-2010 Posted on Wednesday, July 30, 2014 - 03:11 pm:    When I Googled it, I recognized what I had found when I did the same thing after your first post, and I was about to refer to some of what I found, but Lynn's post came in as I was writing, so I won't repeat that. That said, it appears that ThermoWood (alloneword) is the trademark of a Finnish organization, and that "Thermo Wood" may be used by various other vendors (there are at least 5 different thermal wood treatment processes), who may or may not be vulnerable to suit for trademark infringement, which may indicate that appropriate precautions should be taken in specifying it. However, I can think of a personal experience that gives this wood preservation concept some credibility. While touring the ruins of Hurculaneum (the Bay of Naples resort town buried in lava by Vesuvius in, I believe, 79 AD), I saw a well-preserved pair of wood-framed bi-parting sliding interior doors (frames, stiles and rails--the infill panels were gone). They were completely charred black by the heat, but still standing, apparently because they were buried in lava, which presumably kept out oxygen necessary for full combustion. They were remarkably simple, as in Japanese or contemporary architecture. And were well preserved for over 1900 years...