WPA EXPOSES ONLINE SALES OF UNDER-TREATED FENCE POSTS
The Wood Protection Association (WPA) is urging online buyers of pre-treated timber fence posts to make sure the product they are looking at is actually fit for purpose before they click the buy button.
Research by the WPA has highlighted a growing trend for offering fence posts that are only treated for external, out-of-ground-contact applications and not in compliance with British Standards – in which a higher level of treatment is essential for wood that is embedded in the ground.
Online sellers claim such fence posts are ‘UC3 treated’, are ‘durable’ – meaning resistant to fungal decay – and that they will give a ‘long-term performance’, but without exception, they fail to qualify what these statements mean.
“This is grossly misleading and will only result in these posts rotting and failing after just a few years,” says WPA Chairman Steve Young, who emphasises that the actions of a few selling under-treated wood have negative consequences for the many involved in timber supply and merchanting.
“While a business selling a wood product incorrectly treated for its application may profit from those sales, it is a short-sighted strategy and will only result in a loss of trust in the performance of treated wood,” says Young. He adds that the knock-on effect of this will inevitably reduce demand for every business with a commercial interest in producing and selling treated wood in the UK.
At a time when the sustainability, carbon-capture and climate-change benefits should be giving treated wood sales a boost – because while wood locks up carbon, treated wood locks it up for longer – selling products that are compliant with the British Standard specifications for preservative pre-treated wood BS 8417 is the only way to grow demand.
Research by the WPA also highlights that knowledge about how to specify and buy wood products correctly treated and fit for the purpose required is low. “Helping improve seller and buyer knowledge is a key reason behind the WPA recently joining the BMF,’ says Young. “We look forward to working with the BMF and Timber Forum team to bring this about.”
About the WPA
The Wood Protection Association is a not-for-profit technical, quality assurance, and regulatory compliance expert on all aspects of the industrial pre-treatment of wood and wood-based materials by preservative impregnation, wood modification, and flame-retardant treatment.
WPA guidance notes and specification codes of practice are recognised and referenced by standards-setting organisations in the UK and are designed to raise awareness and knowledge about choosing and using pre-treated wood and wood-based sheet materials.
The WPA Benchmark is a third-party quality assurance scheme that provides independent verification that wood is being impregnated in accordance with the specifications defined in British Standards and WPA publications. Under this scheme, an individual treated wood product – such as a fence post – can also be verified as quality-compliant with the British Standard 15- or 30-year service-life performance.
NEW MEMBERS ENDORSE WPA STRATEGY ON QUALITY TREATED WOOD
Wood treating plant manufacturer WTT (Wood Treatment Technology) and treated wood producer CJT Timber Sourcing Ltd are the latest businesses to join the Wood Protection Association (WPA).
Both businesses put quality at the centre of their operations, and it is the WPA’s drive to promote quality assured, fit for purpose treatments that was behind their decision to join.
“The WTT team believe firmly that the only way to futureproof demand for treated wood is to ensure compliance with national standards and to collaborate with organisations committed to achieving this.” says WTT Managing Director, Jakob Jakobsen, who adds that membership of WPA also provides a valuable platform for knowledge sharing and ensuring best practice. He adds “WTT’s core mission is to support the correct treatment of wood, which we do by continuously monitoring developments from chemical suppliers and ensuring that the design and operation of our equipment is always compatible with the latest formulations, processes and the requirements of third-party quality assurance schemes such as the WPA Benchmark.”
CJT Timber Sourcing has operations in Wales and Scotland and Managing Director Ben Parton says joining the WPA is part of the company’s strategy to reaffirm our commitment as a premium-quality supplier of preservative pre-treated wood: “By becoming a WPA member we align CJT Timber Sourcing with high performance, long-lasting wood treatment in compliance with WPA and British Standards specifications. We believe the only way to give our customers confidence in the quality of our treatment claims for the range of products we produce, is to have them independently assessed and certificated using a WPA-approved preservative under the WPA Benchmark quality scheme.”
Ben adds that membership of WPA has additional commercial benefits by giving CJT access to the latest research, bespoke guidance, and technical expertise saying: “We are really proud to be a part of the WPA community which we feel will allow us to showcase across a wider audience why it’s important to buy correctly treated wood products made from homegrown softwoods especially for agricultural fencing.”
Welcoming WTT and CJT into membership, WPA Chairman Steve Young said: “It’s really encouraging when new members join the WPA and give a ringing endorsement of our strategy of collectively championing treatment quality and improving buyer knowledge on behalf of all our members.”
www.thewpa.org.uk
CJT Timber Sourcing’s machine round 90mm incised 15 year warranty posts and 87 x 38 x 3.6 rail
