1. How can Yvan Christians products be purchased?
Our products are distributed through a dealer network in Belgium and abroad to limit transportation costs.
Our dealers can provide you with detailed information on our products.
Explicitly ask for sufficient product information and make sure to get our comprehensive Yvan Christiaens catalogue.
Our products are marked with a stamp:
This stamp marks all our quality products. Please check the presence of the stamp upon delivery of your order. If you can’t find it, please inform us there of: info@tuinhuizenfabrikant.be.
29. Is your garden house ready for winter?
Winter is coming! Time to move all your outdoor furniture, garden tools and barbecue to the garden house. To make sure all of it is in a good condition after winter, we recommend to give your garden house a proper maintenance before the typical winter conditions really set in.
1. Remove moss from roof and gutters
The growth of moss on roofs and gutters is not abnormal. Nevertheless, removing it has both an aesthetic as a functional value. Rainwater no longer remains on the roof and in the gutters, so internal moisture has no chance. A simple and quick job that only requires a brush, and a mixture of water and bleach. Remove dead leaves and twigs from gutters to avoid obstructed drains. Your roof will look brand new.
2. Check the roof sealing (EPDM roofing)
Water can enter your garden house through loose seams and poor roof sealing. To avoid problems, check your roof on the presence of cracks or other irregularities. Loose seams or cracks can be repaired with rubber tape. Bubbles must be cut open and repaired with rubber paste. Said repairing products can be purchased at DIY shops. If you don’t want to do it yourself, you can get help from a professional.
3. Lubricate lock and hinges
In general, garden house doors have three hinges. Use oil to lubricate the hinges as well as the rail of the sliding door, if any. Use a silicon spray to lubricate the lock bearings and the key itself. Next, turn the key to open and close the lock a couple of times to ensure a smooth performance.
4. Apply stain to the wood
Recently installed garden houses must be treated inside and outside with coloured oil or stain for outdoor use. Never paint nor varnish the wood because it stops it from breathing and results in moisture accumulation.
5. Proper venting
Good venting during winter times results in less condensation. Remember to regularly open the windows (tilt position or similar) or install an extra ventilation grid.
31. How to avoid water splashing around your garden house?
By providing a gravel path (5 cm below the concrete slab) around the garden house, splashing water, soil or sand can be avoided. This lengthens the life of your garden house. Also read about maintenance.
32. On the outside of my flat roof garden house, I see the metal plate that is used for the roofing. Is this normal?
Ceilings are only installed on the inside of garden houses, never on the outside. Therefore, it is absolutely normal to see the metal plate used for the roofing. Moreover, for reasons of rainwater discharge, the fascia board is never installed right against this metal plate
33. Should I check my garden house with a spirit level?
A garden house is a wooden construction and wood is a yearround living material. A garden house expands in winter and shrinks in summer. When assembling, we always aspire to obtain a great visual result. Therefore, it is kind of pointless to verify the construction with a spirit level after its assembly.
34. There’s a ventilation gap all around the bottom of my garden house. Is that normal?
Yes, garden houses with wooden floors must be ventilated to prevent mould and wood rot.
35. Is it okay to leave my non-assembled garden house in the garden for a longer period?
All panels of your garden house are supplied in a horizontal position on a pallet. All parts are wrapped in shrink foil. After delivery, it is advisable to place the wrapped panels upright in a place completely protected against sunshine and rainfall. We recommend not to wait for weeks or months to start assembling the garden house. Moreover, it is a bad idea to remove the panels’ packaging and to put them in your garden where they are exposed to the elements of nature. We strongly recommend to start as quickly as possible with the assembly of your garden house, followed by the roofing.
36. Is it normal that the post holder’s base is only partly fixed?
In the past, the wooden posts usually rested on stabilized sand. Afterwards, it became clear that the posts could sink so the garden house was no longer level after a while. For years now, we have been pouring concrete blocks in advance, right under the driveway or terrace ground level, so it can all be neatly concealed. The blocks only function as a fixed support during installation of the garden house. Even if the pole holder can only be partially screwed in, it absolutely does not affect the construction, nor the support.
37. How to size the outlet tube for rainwater drainage?
Drainpipes for rainwater coming from the roof should at least have an 80 mm diameter, however 110 mm is better. After all, rainwater should be drained off easily to prevent water accumulation in the drainpipe and to avoid no or poor drainage. We recommend not to use an adapter to a smaller diameter.
38. Mould on thermo ayous and other sustainable wood types: what to do?
After days or even months of rain, everything in the garden is moist, including your garden house. A couple of months later you see black spots, stains and patches on your garden house made of thermo ayous wood. What is this? Mould on new material? No, this is not a manufacturing defect, nor it regards a bad board. On the contrary: moulding on wood is a natural process, even on wood types such as thermo ayous! But what should you do now? Is your wood damaged? This blog post examines this phenomenon and answers all of your questions.
It is very natural to find mould on wooden garden furniture as well as on wooden garden structures. All wood types, including European wood, tropical hardwood and thermally treated wood are susceptible to moulding by nature. Thermowood, however, is known for its resistance against mould which reduces the risk but still not fully excludes it.
Some positive news
No need to panic when you see mould on your wood. Here are some positive news facts!
First of all, mould is only hazardous for the material’s sustainability and firmness in exceptional cases. That is when the mould thrives on the wood and thus takes nutrients out of the material. Bacteria on thermally treated wood (such as thermo ayous) get their nutrients out of the air so they do not damage the wood. No mould will make the wood rot.
Even though you should not worry about the material’s firmness, there is an aesthetic difference: you do see black spots or patches on the boards. However, this discolouration disappears by itself: stains will disappear over time as the wood ages. How long does it take for the wood to have sufficiently aged and you no longer see spots? That depends on the situation and could take up to a year.
Would you like to get rid of these spots sooner than that? Here are some simple solutions you could implement to treat the surface nevertheless. Undiluted cleaning vinegar, for instance, can improve the mould in an aesthetical way. Or mix 50 to 100 grams of soda with a bucket of water and scrub the spots using a non-metallic brush. Leave the product on for a short time. The acid in the vinegar and the soda mix kills algae and mosses. Then rinse with clean water and the spots will disappear. You could also use an antifungal product.
Where does this mould come from?
Mould is often the result of moist in wood. This could come from rain, a drainpipe above the wood, leaking pipelines between boards or a pond that is in direct contact with the wood. The saying ‘prevention is better than cure’ also applies to wood. So make sure there is enough ventilation or that the wood is not in permanent contact with stagnant water. Leaking pipelines should be repaired as quickly as possible. Wood that is not in direct contact with water, or that can completely dry after being wet, is not that sensitive to moulding.
Sometimes moulding occurs on garden walls or on the outside of particular garden structures. Whether or not a project is susceptible to it, depends on its location and orientation. There is an increased risk of mould in shaded places. Also, south-west facing garden screens are more often exposed to rain. Covered pieces of wood that occasionally get wet, dry out more slowly which makes them perfect sources for mould to form on.
Moulding especially happens in wooded places where surface fungal often occurs. In such places fungal spores more often travel in the air after which they fall onto the wood and settle on it.
The susceptibility of wood to mould also depends on how it is dried at the manufacturer’s. After a tree is cut and sawn into boards, the wood is dried. Thermally treated wood is then heated in a kiln. Both processes largely decrease the wood’s moisture content. The less moist, the lower the risk of moulding. So if mould develops, it might be that the boards were taken out of the kiln too soon, or that they were not heated at a temperature high enough.
One last factor that can play a role in this, is the wood type. Lighter wood types, such as ayous, are more susceptible to mould than (tropical) hardwood types, such as ipe and padauk.
Conclusion
There are different reasons why mould might form on your thermally treated wood. So the most important thing to remember is that moulding is a natural process that you usually do not expect but could encounter. Even though thermally treated wood is less susceptible to moulding than other wood types, it is still possible to see black spots, stains and patches over time. After a while they will vanish in the aged grey colour of the wood. Mould will not affect the sustainability of your wooden garden wall, facade or terrace, so you do not need to worry about that. If you do want to get rid of it, you could clean the wood with for instance cleaning vinegar.
This article (originally in Dutch) was fully copied from Passie voor tuinen en wonen (Belgian website on gardens and living) - 01 sep 2022.
