A

rticle

Treatment Of Timber For Trusses

By Hong Lay Tong, Past President, Malaysian Wood Preserving Association (MWPA)
Editors note: This paper was presented at the Seminar on Quality Assurance for Prefabricated Timber Truss System held
on Aug 2, 2005

imber is an organic material

that is mainly made up of two
main chemical components,
cellulose and lignin. Hence like all
other organic materials timber is
susceptible to deterioration by
physical and chemical agents and
microorganisms such as insects,
termites, fungi, marine borers and
others. To prolong the duration of
timber in service it may be treated to
protect
it
from
these
biodeteriorating agents.
The treatment of timber is usually
Vacuum-Pressure Treatment Plant for treating
carried out by using chemicals that
timber with copper-chrome-arsenic (CCA)
are toxic to the biodeteriorating
preservative.
organisms. For treatment against
physical deteriorating agents like
moisture, weathering etc. various processes CCA preservative so applied by this process
will fix in the timber. Hence the CCA will not
like water-proofing with water repellent or
with a coating of uv-protective materials leach from the treated timber a feature for
are used. However,in Malaysia for timber CCA .
used in construction including those used
for roof trusses the timber is usually treated If the CCA treated timber cannot provide the
with a water-based chemical preservative durability that it is intended to give, then the
containing CCA (copper, chromium, treatment carried out on the timber is of
arsenic) to prevent against insect, termite inconsistent quality. How do we minimise
and fungal deterioration. Preservatives the lack of quality for CCA treatment?
other than CCA such as LOSP (light organic
solvent preservative) may also be used. In There are various ways to do this. Some of
this paper, the treatment using CCA these include, implementing a Quality
preservatives is described in relevance to Assurance procedure for the timber
the CIS 5 that is being launched during the treatment industry, have qualified and
seminar. It is suffice to mention here that trained operators for timber treatment and
for the treatment of timber using CCA monitor the quality control of treatment
preservatives the vacuum-pressure plants.
process is applied. This is carried out by
placing the timbers in a vacuum-pressure PROCESS OF TREATMENT
cylinder in which the CCA preservative is
pumped into the cylinder under pressure It is essential that the three phases of the
after an initial vacuum has been applied for treatment process: vacuum, pressure and
a fix period of time. The pressure is vacuum should be followed as described in
maintained for a length of time to allow the the Malaysian Standard, MS 360:1991 for
CCA preservative to penetrate into the treatment. The time and the quantity of
timber. At the end of the pressure process pressure and vacuum have to be followed
the CCA preservative is then pumped out to achieve the desired specifications of
and a vacuum is then applied to remove treatment. The details are found in MS
360:1991.
excess preservatives from the timber. The

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Handling of timber for treatment

In order to achieve the quality of
treatment desired and to meet the
Malaysian Standard specifications an
important aspect of the timber before
treatment is the moisture content. It is
essential that the average moisture
content of the timber for treatment
should not be greater than 30%.
Moisture content greater than this will
not allow sufficient absorption and
retention of the CCA preservative
during the treatment. Therefore it is
crucial that timbers for CCA treatment
should be seasoned to a moisture
content of 30% or less before being
treated. This aspect of moisture
content could be overlooked by the
treaters in the rush to meet orders
hence leading to lower absorption (and
hence lower retention of the preservative).
CCA treated timber has to be left for some
time for the chemicals to be fixed in the
timber before being used. This means after
removing from the treatment cylinder the
timber has to be left for at least two days for
fixation to take place. If this is not done there
is a danger of the leaching of CCA from the
timber hence lowering the desired amount
of preservatives retained.
TREATMENT FOR ROOF TRUSSES
Malaysian Standards for treatment
There are Malaysian Standards (MS) for
preservative treatment of timber. It is
important to use the relevant MS for
treatment to achieve the quality and
specifications needed for use in roof trusses.
Some of these MS are listed in the Appendix
of this paper. The relevant MS for treatment
of timber for roof truss is MS 360:1991
Specification for treatment of timber with
copper/chrome/arsenic
wood
preservatives. This MS has been revised and
the revised version is in the process of being
published by Department of Standards
Malaysia (DSM).

rticle

In the MS 360:1991 the requirement for

treatment of roof truss is listed under
commodity C6. This specifies a minimum
net dry salt retention of 5.6 kg/cu.m of the
CCA preservative is required in the treated
timber for use under shade and above
ground of which roof trusses are included
in this category.
IS THERE A QUALITY ASSURANCE
SCHEME FOR TIMBER TREATMENT ?
One of the most commonly encountered
and accepted Quality Assurance (QA) is
the ISO 9000 series scheme. By
subscribing to the ISO 9000 QA scheme
means that a company will be carrying
out its activities using the same
procedures every time and all these
procedures used are documented or
recorded and can be verified should
things go wrong or the product is not
produced to expected specifications. Why
dont timber treatment plants subscribe
to the ISO 9000 QA scheme? One reason
is the financial constraint because the cost
could be quite high and much time has to
be allotted to get this scheme in-place.
What is the alternative to ensure quality
treatment? Unfortunately there is no
mandatory alternative because timber
preservation is not governed by any
regulations. There are various Malaysian
Standards developed for timber
preservation, but these MS are voluntary
i.e. they are applied on a willing buyer,
willing seller basis. However, currently
MTIB, FRIM and CIDB in association with
other relevant departments and
organisations including MWPA (Malaysian
Wood Preserving Association) are taking
actions to address this issue. Guidelines
for Quality Assurance for the CCA
treatment of timbers for use in (roof truss)
construction have been drafted. This will
be published as a CIS by CIDB soon. The
guidelines are fine, but there must be a
system for implementing these guidelines
when finalised.
CHECKING FOR TREATMENT IN TIMBER
How do we know the timber has been
treated with CCA?
There are two ways to determine this.
Quantitative analysis - This can only be
done in a laboratory. It gives the

amount (or loading or retention) of

CCA that is present in the treated
timber. It is expressed in kilogramme
of dry salt (CCA) per cubic meter (kg/
cu.m) of timber.
Qualitative analysis - This is also called
the colour test. It can be done by
anyone. The test gives an indication of
the penetration and retention of CCA
in the treated timber.

How do you measure CCA treatment in

timber?
The amount of CCA in the treated timber
is measured in terms of chemical loading
or chemical retention or preservative
retention or dry-salt-retention (DSR). It is
determined by chemical analysis in a
laboratory. This gives the amount of CCA
per unit volume of the treated timber.
What is preservative (or chemical
retention) ?
Chemical loading or preservative
retention or chemical retention or dry salt
retention (DSR) is a measure of the
degree of CCA treatment. It refers to :
the CCA preservatives retained by the
timber after treatment.
and is expressed in kg per cu.m. of
timber

Colour test for CCA treated timber

GREEN looking timber does not indicate
that it is CCA treated. At best CCA treated
appears a light green only. Therefore a
colour test has to be done to confirm CCA
treatment.
The test is carried out by spraying a
chemical reagent (chrome azurol S) onto a
freshly cut treated timber surface. It reacts
with the CCA preservatives to give a
distinct blue colour and untreated parts
will appear red.
WHERE TO CONTACT ON PROBLEMS
CONCERNING PRESERVATION OR
TIMBER TREATMENT ?
You may contact any of the following for
information on timber treatment:

A higher DSR indicates more CCA is present.

Forest Research Institute Malaysia

( http://www.frim.gov.my )
MTIB - Malaysian Timber Industry Board
( http://www.mtib.gov.my)
MWPA - Malaysian Wood Preserving
Association ( mwpa8@yahoo.com )
email
to:
HooHoo_Malaysia@yahoogroups.com
(This is a discussion group for the
forestry and timber industry that has
been set up in the internet. Send your
questions here for an answer).

APPENDIX
Some Malaysian Standards for Treatment of Timber
(Note: copies of the MS could be obtained from SIRIM )
Number

Title

Notes

MS 733:1992

Specification for copper/chrome/

arsenic wood preservatives

Describes the type of CCA preservatives

MS 833:1984

Methods for the qualitative analysis

of wood preservatives and treated
timber

Procedure for detecting the presence of

preservative materials & preservatives in
treated wood

MS 360:1991

Specification for treatment of

timber with copper/chrome/arsenic
wood preservatives

Process for treatment using CCA and the

preservative retention required

MS 822:1983

Specification for sawn timber

foundation piles

Preservation requirement for timber piles

MS 697:1981

Guide to choice, use and application

of wood preservatives

Guidance on how to select the best treatment

for timbers used under different conditions

MS 544:Part 10 Malaysian code of practice for

structural use of timber. Part 10.
Preservative treatment of structural
timber

Guide for treatment of timber for

structural applications

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MBJ