BS EN 350:2016

What is BS EN 350 – Biological durability of wood species about?  

This European standard helps its users identify the durability of wood and wood-based products in their lifecycle. 

BS EN 350 gives guidance on methods for determining and classifying the durability of wood and wood-based materials against biological wood-destroying agents. 

The methods can be applied either to individual wood species, batches of wood and processed wood-based materials, including heat-treated, preservative-treated wood and modified wood. However, BS EN 350 is not intended to replace testing of the efficacy of biocides. 

The wood-destroying agents considered in BS EN 350 are: 

• Wood-decay fungi (basidiomycete and soft-rot fungi) 
• Beetles capable of attacking dry wood 
• Termites 
• Marine organisms capable of attacking wood in service 

Who is BS EN 350 – Biological durability of wood species for? 

BS EN 350 on testing and classification of the durability to biological agents of wood and wood-based materials is useful for: 

• Carpenters 
• Architects 
• Sawmills 
• Timber graders 
• Any organization that deals with wood and wood-based products 

Why should you use BS EN 350 – Biological durability of wood species?  

Wood durability is an important factor that influences the service life of a wood product.  

BS EN 350 provides input to service life prediction of wood and wood-based products. BS EN 350 gives you guidance on using wood products appropriate for different end-uses avoiding excessive requirements. BS EN 350 also ranks durability against wood-decay organisms of various wood species thereby allowing species of appropriate durability to be selected for a particular use.  

Overall, BS EN 350 helps you to determine the biological durability rating of wood species and get an estimate of their performance in service