A natural symbiosis

The natural evolutionary process has shaped and created our environment, its unique solutions and structures providing us with an endless source of inspiration and learning. Sioo:x patented wood protection is the result of our having observed, imitated and added to nature’s intelligent protection techniques.

Sioo:x essentially consists of a unique combination of silicon and potassium – two natural substances found all around us and which together create a natural shield similar to nature’s own wood protection.

Sioo:x Wood Protection is inspired by how nature protects itself using silicon. Trees and plants absorb silicic acid from the soil, which dissolves in water and is then transported in trunks and stalks, precipitating out in the organisms and making them stronger.

This is the process that gives vitality to both aspens in Nordic forests and teak trees in the rainforest. And it’s the same silicon that makes straw and reeds strong and rigid. Silicon also preserves the wood. You can see this in trees with petrified wood, which can be found in many places around the world. The cellulose in these trees have been replaced by silicon, which has protected them against all types of weather for millions of years.

The patented silicon technology in Sioo:x protects and works with the wood in a process created by two products – wood protection followed by surface protection.

The initial treatment with Sioo:x Wood Protection opens up the wood and penetrates deeply into the structure of the material, unlike old silicate-based products which remain on the surface of the wood and easily crack and flake off.

After this, Sioo:x Surface Protection is applied. This protects the wood protection, but still allows the right amount of moisture to enter, ensuring optimum conditions for the continued process of hardening and mineralisation. The silicon molecules then grow and expand in the cells and around the wood fibres, deep into the wood, creating a network. The network fuses the silicon to the wood, strengthening it and offering a unique silicon shield that protects and gives the surface a natural grey tint. Sioo:x wood and surface protection simulate nature’s own protective process and last for up to 15 years.

Provides effective multi-protection

The silicon shield provides effective multi-protection against the forces of nature, regardless of climate.

Sioo:x works with the wood to protect against*:

• Sunshine and UV rays
• Rain, frost and snow
• Rot
• Algae and mould
• Termites and other unwanted insects

*Sioo:x – See “Tests and evidence” to get complete information about different wood types and treatments.

Herje Boström is the founder and MD of Sioo Wood Protection and works closely with the Sioo:x research and development team to position the company as a world-leading actor within wood protection technology.

“My aim with Sioo:x is for us to provide by far the best wood protection on the international market. A number of parameters are involved, and just like our wood protection should be a natural product and should act like nature’s own wood protection does, with all its advantages, we should also offer an economically sustainable product – regardless of where in the world wooden constructions are being built, and regardless of the construction technique and wood type being used. This is essential for us to be competitive and take a leading position.

Wood is scientifically well understood, and there are many advantages in changing our approach and building both skyscrapers and smaller family homes in wood.

Wood has many environmental advantages because it’s a renewable material that grows through photosynthesis, which leads to carbon dioxide being absorbed from the atmosphere – ultimately counteracting the greenhouse effect. The industry needs to adopt a new approach, and the consumption of finite raw materials must be drastically reduced while we must simultaneously actively reduce our energy use.

Wood is also a cost-effective material, and in industrial construction cost savings can be made on the basis of a total economic perspective, low weight and fast final assembly, leading to increasing numbers of architects and project owners choosing wood for even larger construction projects.

Sioo Wood Protection has and will continue to focus strongly on research and development in the form of innovation projects within the EU such as Horizon 2020. We will also continue our own self-financed research aimed at becoming a leading actor that strives to make it possible for societies all over the world to make the move to sustainable construction in wood.”