100 years’ service life of wood in service class 1 and 2 – dry and moderately humid condition.

The service life of structures is an important part of the life cycle planning of buildings and structures. It has also an essential effect on the carbon footprint of the building, since this determines the length of the use phase of the building or a building part.

Material performance based models to estimate the service life of building materials and structures has been used for the service class 1 or 2 conditions (dry or moderately humidity conditions). There is more research done for the service class 3 and 4 conditions, where the exposure conditions are much harder. Potential factor method is shown in the ISO 15686 series on service life evaluation. The best way to estimate the service life of timber structures is based on existing experience, which can then be used as a tool to apply the factor method in practice.