More safety for your home, for your commercial property or in public buildings: We can provide you with special, fire-certified and carbonised wood for your facade or wall cladding!
It was discovered many centuries ago in Japan that charred wooden facades are significantly more fire-resistant.
During a major fire at the Hōryū-ji temple, the wood of the temple was damaged by the flames but not destroyed.
The surface of the wooden facade was carbonised in this fire. In subsequent fires, the carbonised facade withstood the flames much better .
Based on this realisation, the Yakisugi method, also known as Shou Sugi Ban, was developed in ancient Japan: By selectively burning the surface, they ensured that the wood cells became denser. The result was a carbonised wood with improved durability, resistance and fire resistance*.
*The effects of carbonisation on the fire resistance of the wood are still being investigated scientifically. However, it is assumed that the assumption from ancient Japan is correct and that carbonisation improves fire resistance.
When it comes to your home, public buildings, residential and hotel complexes or commercial properties, fire safety is an important concern. Which fire protection measures are required by law can vary depending on the country and type of building.
For smaller, private buildings, fire safety regulations are usually less strict than for public buildings, where more regulations and fire safety measures must be observed – for example, to ensure safe access to escape routes and emergency exits.
In principle, however, fire protection plays an important role in private buildings as well as in commercial and public buildings!
In order to define the fire behaviour and thus also the fire safety of a building material, building materials are divided into different fire protection classes – also known as building material classes.
Flammability is categorised into the following classes:
A – Non-combustible, no contribution to fire
B – Flame retardant, very limited contribution to fire
C – Flame retardant, limited contribution to fire
D – Normally flammable, acceptable contribution to fire
E – Normally flammable, acceptable fire behaviour
F – Highly flammable, no performance determined
s1: low smoke development
s2: medium smoke development
s3: high smoke development
d0: no burning droplets/dropping within 10min
d1: no burning droplets/droplets with an afterburning time longer than 10 seconds within 10 minutes
d2: no power detected
Using our traditional, vertical deep-charring process, our woods are carbonised with pure flame according to the Japanese Yakisugi method, resulting in extremely resistant, durable wood products with a unique, black charred surface structure which, thanks to its exclusive character, is also compared to alligator skin, silk wood or leather.
If you opt for the refined style, the already carbonised wood is then carefully brushed by hand and refined using a special process so that the grain and structure are revealed under the layer of carbon. Depending on the processing and type of wood, our wood finishing creates an exclusive colour look: from elegant silver-grey to an ingenious reclaimed wood look in rustic brown tones.
We fulfil various requirements with our fire-certified woods: Our carbonised timbers generally have fire protection class D-s2, d0.
However, we also offer special fire protection solutions for public buildings, buildings with strict fire protection regulations or areas with increased safety requirements – such as emergency exits! There are several options here:
With a special fire protection coating, our carbonised wood achieves fire protection class B-s1,d0 – an excellent classification for wood as a building material.
Our fire protection formwork with double groove offers increased protection against fire and heat and can be used in various areas, e.g. as wall panelling or facades.
The double groove has the advantage that the fire protection boards can be securely and stably fixed in the formwork to ensure an even and seamless fire protection layer!
There are also other options for making your carbonised wooden facade or other areas in your building fire-resistant. In some individual cases, we also work together with proven partner companies such as Alucobond, e.g. to clad emergency exits with fire protection.
Which of these fire protection solutions is best suited to your project depends, among other things, on the prescribed requirements, the area of application and the type of wood used.
