Major Timber Treater Supports Single Treatment

Kop Coat Media Release

Major Timber Treater Supports Single Treatment

6 September 2010

Kop-Coat New Zealand Ltd, a leading supplier of both LOSP and Boron types of timber treatments to the New Zealand forest products industry, commends Government on its initiative to simplify the treatment standard and support the identification of all framing timber used within the building envelope as the H1.2 classification under the Building Code.

“We consider this “single treatment standard” to be both responsible and vital for New Zealand's timber industry. For too long there has been diverse and complex practice and requirements and this announcement will help simply matters enormously”, says Cameron Scott, general manager.

“There is a strong performance history of H1.2 types of treatments for all of the framing within the building envelope and boron has a 50 year history as an effective and safe treatment.

“Wood has laboured under a significant commercial disadvantage as a result of the multiple framing requirements within a single structure (untreated, H1.2, and H3.1) relative to the steel and concrete alternatives.

“The single treatment will be more cost effective. It will eliminate the confusion and expense incurred by builders, contractors, retailers, and consumers that currently arises from the present multiple framing requirements in the same interior structure.

“The single H1.2 framing treatment requirement will minimise failures due to use of untreated wood and dispense with the unnecessary use of expensive and volatile solvent treated (LOSP) framing for some frame components (e.g. H3.1)”, he says.

Kop-Coat regards H1.2 boron as the most proven protection for timber framing in the market. It has the confidence of the industry and provides excellent protection from the type of timber decay that led to the leaky-buildings situation.

“Leaky-buildings was the result of building design and non-wood materials issues. It was not a wood issue. Wood was the unfortunate victim.

“We also need to recognize that neither tradespeople nor homeowners want chemical solvents in their wood and the move to boron solves that problem.”, he says.

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