Publishing and copyright information

The BSI copyright notice displayed in this document indicates when the document was last issued.

The following BSI references relate to the work on this standard:
Committee reference B/515
Draft for comment 10/30212804 DC; 14/30293669 DC

Publication history

First published as DD 239 July 1998
First published as BS 8417 May 2003
Second (present) edition, March 2011

Foreword

Publishing information

This British Standard is published by BSI Standards Limited, under licence from the British Standards Institution, and came into effect on 31 March 2011. It was prepared by Technical Committee B/515, Wood Preservation. A list of organizations represented on this committee can be obtained on request to its secretary.

Supersession

BS 8417:2011 superseded BS 1282:1999, which has been withdrawn.

BS 8417:2011+A1:2014 supersedes BS 8417:2011, which is withdrawn.

Relationship with other publications

This British Standard is one of a group of documents dealing with the preservative treatment of wood. It is based on the principles given in BS EN 599‑1, BS EN 351‑1 and BS EN 335 developed to support product standards mandated by the Construction Products Directive [1]. This standard is the national interpretative document for BS EN 599‑1 and BS EN 351‑1, and is intended to provide complementary information that is relevant to the wood treater and to the specifi or purchaser of treated wood for use in the United Kingdom.

Information about this document

BS 8417:2011 was a full revision of the standard and introduced the following principal changes:

recommendations for the application of preservatives conforming to BS 4072 and BS 5707 are omitted as these materials are now largely unavailable;
“R” (the lowest appropriate level of preservative retention), qualified by a number identifying the relevant use class, replaces “cv” (the critical value derived from tests in BS EN 599‑1) as the designator of preservative retention in Table 4;
the recommendation for the acceptable quality level for resistant wood to be used in use class 4 and use class 5 has been updated.

Text introduced or altered by Amendment No. 1 or Corrigendum No. 1 is indicated in the text by tags and , respectively. Minor editorial changes are not tagged.

Use of this document

As a code of practice, this British Standard takes the form of guidance and recommendations. It should not be quoted as if it were a specification and particular care should be taken to ensure that claims of compliance are not misleading.

Any user claiming compliance with this British Standard is expected to be able to justify any course of action that deviates from its recommendations.

It has been assumed in the preparation of this British Standard that the execution of its provisions will be entrusted to appropriately qualified and experienced people, for whose use it has been produced.

Presentational conventions

The provisions in this standard are presented in roman (i.e. upright) type. Its recommendations are expressed in sentences in which the principal auxiliary verb is “should”.

Commentary, explanation and general informative material is presented in smaller italic type, and does not constitute a normative element.

Contractual and legal considerations

This publication does not purport to include all the necessary provisions of a contract. Users are responsible for its correct application.

Compliance with a British Standard cannot confer immunity from legal obligations.

1 Scope

This British Standard gives recommendations and guidance for the preservative treatment of wood to provide protection against biodeterioration in end-use situations. It gives recommendations for determining the need for treatment and specifying the type of treatment.

It also recommends levels for the penetration and retention requirements of preservatives tested to BS EN 599‑1 and for boron and creosote preservatives, using the terminology used in BS EN 351‑1, for different timber components and takes into account the natural durability and treatability of the wood employed, the use class as defined in BS EN 335 and the desired service life. It also provides guidance on establishing whether a specified level of treatment has been achieved.

This British Standard does not include precise treatment parameters to achieve the recommended penetrations and retentions. It is the responsibility of the treater to use wood in an appropriate condition and to use an appropriate treatment schedule to achieve the recommended values.

This British Standard applies only to solid wood, including glued laminated wood. It does not apply to panel products, as no European standards have been published on the preservation of these products. This British Standard does not apply to wood, which has been modified by physical, biological or non-biocidal chemical techniques in order to enhance its performance.

This British Standard does not apply to curative treatments.

NOTE Only preservatives approved under the Control of Pesticides Regulations 1986 (as amended) [2] or authorized under the Biocidal Products Regulations 2012 [3] are permitted for the treatment of wood in the United Kingdom.

2 Normative references

3 Terms and definitions

4 Determining the need for treatment

4.1 General

4.2 Use classes

4.3 Likelihood and consequence of failure related to use classes

4.4 Natural durability of wood

5 Specifying treatment of wood

5.1 General

5.2 Desired service life

5.3 Preservative type

6 Preservative treatment of wood

6.1 General

6.2 Preservatives where the performance has been tested in accordance with BS EN 599‑1

6.3 Preservatives involving aqueous solutions of boron compounds

6.4 Preservatives involving creosote

6.5 Achieving the penetration and retention requirements

7 Sampling and testing

Bibliography

BS 8417:2011+A1:2014

Preservation of wood. Code of practice

Published:

31 Mar 2011

Withdrawn:

15 Aug 2024