Thermopine® is the new black!

Having seen a growing interest from our customers in black timber cladding, Russwood have spent years exploring different ways of how to perfect this contemporary aesthetic without compromising on its performance and maintenance. After carrying out extensive research and testing, we are now ready to offer high-performance timbers with a factory coated paint finish for achieving the black cladding look.

Russwood use an in-house factory controlled coating process using two of our standard paint colours from Teknos – an opaque black (RAL9005 ‘Jet Black’) and a semi-transparent ebony (FI046 ‘Ebony’). The film coating is machine applied on all sides to achieve a consistent surface coverage which provides an extended coating performance.

Our testing revealed that significantly improved performance of dark coatings can be achieved on Russwood’s Thermopine®. Thermopine® timber has very low levels of seasonal shrinking and swelling, is free from resin, and therefore acts as a superb substrate for dark coatings. The maintenance cycle for Thermopine® is reduced due to it’s stability and is easy to carry out on-site using brush application. By contrast, the longevity of a charred finish is difficult to achieve and maintain. The testing Russwood carried out in the Scotland’s Highlands showed that on South and West facing elevations, charred surfaces can start to degrade after just a couple of winters, while dark coatings on Thermopine® last for years and are easy to maintain when required.

Thermopine® has a natural slightly more knotted character than Russwood’s SILA Select® grade of Siberian Larch timber, with boards showing tight grain figuring and occasional partially chipped-off knots on edges. Russwood produce Thermopine® in four distinct surface finishes:

• Planed – planed timber with a smooth surface finish
• Sawn – fine sawn surface texture, a rougher look than dressed
• Wire-brushed – sculpted surface finish showing accentuated natural figuring
• Barred – consistent rippled surface effect, a decorative rugged look

In contrast to Thermopine®, which has more-rustic features, dark-coated Accoya® timber creates a sharp and crisp appearance, free from knots or other characterful minor imperfections typically found on other timbers. Accoya® is incredibly stable, straight and offers the best coating performance of all external timbers.

To demonstrate the unique design possibilities of our blackened timber cladding, Russwood’s product development team came up with a multitude of black cladding arrangements using different profiles, section sizes, surface finishes and fixing options. The cladding was installed externally on the flooring showroom building on Russwood’s main site in Newtonmore and has been gaining a lot of attention from visiting Architects, Designers and Self-builders. Speak to one of our Cladding Advisors for more information.