Wood enhancement

Wood is enhanced to improve durability, stability, strength, appearance, and resistance to environmental damage, particularly for outdoor or structural use.

Wood enhancement methods

Resins and laminations

Used in engineered woods to enhance the usable parts of trees such as chips, fibres, and sawdust.

Chipboard is made by compressing wood chips with resin (e.g. urea formaldehyde).

Produces boards that are stable, uniform in strength, and less affected by humidity and temperature.

Resins with fire retardants

Resin is impregnated with fire-retardant chemicals to reduce flammability.

Used in applications such as indoor flooring and cladding.

Laminations

Thin veneers bonded to the surface of boards to improve appearance.

Allow lower-cost materials to resemble solid hardwood.

Preservatives

Protect wood, especially outdoors, from fungal and insect attack.

Copper-based preservatives penetrate deeply and protect the entire plank.

Pigments

Added to preservatives to change colour and improve appearance.

Can be used to make softwoods resemble hardwoods.

Fire-retardant preservatives

Used to pressure-treat wood for joists, cladding, and exhibition structures.

Reduce flammability and can increase surface hardness for flooring.

Modified natural polysaccharides

Chemicals impregnated into wood that cure within the cell structure.

Increase hardness, toughness, and dimensional stability.

Structural composite lumber (SCL) and laminated veneer lumber (LVL)

Manufactured by layering wood strands or veneers with resin and curing under heat and pressure.

Produce stable sections with fewer defects such as warping or splitting.

Used in beams, joists, and rafters due to high load-bearing capacity.

AQA specification link: enhanced properties

AQA specifically requires the combining of natural timber with resins and lamination to give enhanced properties such as increased strength and stability, and the enhancement of timber products using preservatives, finishes and coatings.

Why combine timber with resin or laminations?

Bonding layers, fibres, strands or particles with resin can produce a more consistent engineered material and improve strength and dimensional stability compared with relying on a single piece of natural timber. This is useful where structural performance and resistance to warping are important.

Preservatives, finishes and coatings

These can protect timber from environmental exposure and biological attack, helping extend its useful life. Selection depends on the product's intended environment, appearance and required level of protection.