Presta product range

Certified products to protect materials

Presta product range to protect timber
Timber is a versatile and beautiful material for construction and joinery projects with significant environmental advantages. Wood however can also be a source of food for fungi and insects leading to decay and insect attack if not properly protected. 
Our Presta timber treatment products are fully tested and proven for their effectiveness.
At one hand we have our Presta wood protection products, especially developed to protect timber against wood destroying organisms such as fungi and insects ensuring superior performance backed by official registrations throughout Europe: https://echa.europa.eu/information-on-chemicals/biocidal-products
These Presta wood protection products are:
*    based on the insecticide Permethrin and the fungicides IPBC and Propiconazole
*    registered as concentrates and RTU’s in many European countries
*    available for the professional markets and the DIY markets as well

At the other hand we have Presta Biofinish, especially developed to protect outdoor wood against UV and rain/moisture without the use of chemicals.

Presta Biofinish
Presta Biofinish is the world's first and only sustainable protection and colouring finish for outdoor wood, patented and proven. It is a 100% natural and environmentally friendly solution with a natural, long lasting, colouring characteristic: a guaranteed safe solution that will benefit future generations.

Our unique concept is based on vegetable oil and fungi that has the potential to redefine the world of wood and coating, a potential gamechanger due to the totally different approach.

Protection Concept
The concept of a protective biological surface treatment is based on the fungus Aureobasidium pullulans. The potential of this fungus to create a wood protecting coating using living organisms was discovered in the late 90s during experiments for an EU project and developed in the following years.
This idea has been developed into an industrially applicable process over the past 15 years to the so-called  Biofinish treatment. The combination of the  hydrophobizing effect of linseed oil and the surface treatment with the fungus Aureobasidium pullulans creates an aesthetically appealing dark surface, which significantly prolongs the service life of wood outdoors and significantly reduces maintenance costs.

 

Since the linseed oil repels liquid water, but is permeable to water vapor, it creates  a system which is dimensional stable; it shrinks and swells less due to the delayed water uptake. The linseed oil apparently stimulates the growth of Aureobasidium Chlamydospores on the surfaces. In combination  with exudated linseed oil, small cracks can be filled and small damage can be overgrown by the fungus. This effect allows damaged surfaces to be closed again under certain conditions and can be considered as a self-healing principle.

Interesting in this context is that some properties of Aureobasidium enable the fungus to survive on a surface. Aureobasidium is considered a polymorphic fungus which can survive extreme conditions e.g. a various range of temperatures (above  60°C), low water availability or high exposure to radiation. This is especially possible through the formation of special cells, so called Chlamydospores. Chlamydospores are relatively big cells which are protecting the DNA by pigmented thick cell walls and  allow therefore the fungus to remain alive under extreme conditions. Also, Aureobasidium pullulans produces pigments and binders on its own.

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