Wood is a raw material commonly used as a cladding solution in southern Chile. Timber claddings are a sustainable solution with low embodied energy and a low carbon impact. The effects of environmental degradation agents are clearly connected to the durability of timber claddings, including the characteristic of the materials applied, and to the use and maintenance conditions. Concerning South America, this research work is an innovative proposal focused on the application of a new method for predicting the service life of timber façades. This methodology tries to encompass in the predictions the set of variables involved in the influence of the degradation process of the set of external timber claddings under analysis. In this sense, the international standardised method, the factor method (FM) established by ISO 15686:2011, has been used. A total of 102 timber claddings under in-service conditions are analysed through an extensive fieldwork survey in the areas of Valdivia and Niebla, southern Chile. The set of durability variables, which present influence on the service life prediction of the façades under analysis (external timber claddings), has been adjusted. The factor method proposed can lead to comparable estimated service lives for the timber claddings examined in the study when matched with the values perceived during the fieldwork process (graphical method). An average service life of 37 years is achieved for the timber claddings, which coincides with the literature review and therefore with the empirical knowledge. This study can help in the understanding, in experimental terms, of the interaction between timber claddings and the local environmental context.

木材是智利南部通常用作覆层解决方案的原材料。木材覆层是一种可持续的解决方案，具有低的体现能量和低碳影响。环境降解剂的作用显然与木材覆层的耐用性有关，包括所用材料的特性以及使用和维护条件。关于南美，这项研究工作是一项创新建议，着重于应用一种预测木材外墙使用寿命的新方法。该方法试图在预测中包含与所分析的外部木材覆层组的降解过程的影响有关的变量组。从这个意义上说，已经使用了国际标准化方法，即ISO 15686：2011建立的因子方法（FM）。通过对智利南部瓦尔迪维亚和涅布拉地区的广泛野外调查，对在使用条件下的总共102个木材覆层进行了分析。调整了一组耐用性变量，这些变量会对所分析的外墙（外部木材外墙）的使用寿命预测产生影响。提出的因子方法与实地调查过程中发现的值（图形方法）相匹配时，可以为研究中的木材覆层提供可比的估计使用寿命。木材覆层的平均使用寿命为37年，这与文献综述和经验知识相吻合。这项研究可以以实验的方式帮助理解木材覆层和当地环境之间的相互作用。