The Facts About Micronized Copper
ProWood® Micro and ProWood Micro CA and ProWood Micro with MicroShades® from Universal Forest Products all use the MicroPro treating solution produced by Osmose, Inc.
Osmose has invested over 6 years of research and development on micronized preservative technology systems.
Over 4 billion board feet of MicroPro treated wood have been sold and there have been no verifiable claims of fungal decay or termite attack.
Viance LLC has recently launched a media attack on Micronized Copper Treated Wood products. This is a competitive marketing issue and is not about product performance. Viance did not follow the American Wood Protection Association’s (AWPA) standardized field testing procedures. Instead, Viance improvised a non-standard testing method, apparently in an effort to show that micronized copper systems may lead to premature fungal decay and/or termite attack. Viance has publicly admitted they did not follow AWPA E7 testing protocols in their “improvised” test method.
At any given time, Osmose has thousands of test stakes installed at industry-recognized field test site locations all over the world evaluating a variety of preservative formulations. Osmose has tested over 1,000 micronized copper treated test stakes at various field test sites over the past five years.
Seventeen field tests of MicroPro systems have been conducted or evaluated by independent ISO accredited testing agencies in accordance with AWPA Standard E7. The results have shown that MicroPro treated stakes provide excellent protection against fungal decay and termite attack in various internationally recognized field test sites around the world, comparable to ACQ treated wood.
Two independent third-party studies confirm that there is no difference in the presence of copper in the cell wall between ACQ-D and MCQ.
Osmose has provided detailed MicroPro test data on both our MCQ and MCA systems to the International Code Council Evaluation Service, Inc. (ICC-ES). The Osmose MCQ ESR report 1980 (pdf - 480 KB) and the MCA ESR report 2240 are published on the ICC website, www.icc-es.org, for public review.
For more information on Osmose and MicroPro, visit www.osmosewood.com.