Professional Factory Coating Service

Over the past 20 plus years, Silva has developed an expertise in exterior wood coatings.

Many of our employees have travelled to North America to participate in an intensive training workshop to understand the ‘science’ behind wood coatings. Few companies in the industry have worked as hard to develop this extent of knowledge. This investment has enabled Silva to become the go-to company for factory coated exterior wood.

We are proud to have worked with the biggest names in architecture and would love to show you what we can do for you.

Since 2013 Silva has operated an in-house factory coating department, which now incorporates three specially designed state-of-the-art coating application machines.

Silva’s factory coating team can coat a range of timber products, including cladding, boards, fence/screen components, shingles, and shakes. The coating is applied to all sides of the piece, making it ready to install at any time of year regardless of weather or temperature.

+ How does it work?

In brief, there are four options.

Factory coated wood is available to order online in our stunning Sansin Enviro-Stain ‘Trend Series’ natural and opaque colours in selected cladding and fencing profiles. Alternatively, if you prefer the weathered grey look, you will be impressed by Sansin ‘Wood Force,’ which is also available to order online. Whichever you choose, this is the fastest and most cost-effective way to buy factory coated wood.
Choose from over 120 standard colours from the Sansin Enviro-Stain range. Contact us for a quotation and samples.*
Silva offers a colour match service for clients looking for specific corporate colours or RAL colours. **
Got a colour in mind? Let us create a custom colour for you. **

* Samples are provided free of charge plus delivery costs and are limited to three per customer.
** Colour matching and custom colours are typically only available for larger orders. Please contact us to discuss your requirement.

+ Why Choose Factory Coated Wood?

Wood scientists have proved that the proper application of a suitable coating to exterior wood will significantly improve its performance, longevity, and appearance.

Long term research, conducted by the US Forest Products Laboratory, has shown that coatings applied to the wood before it is exposed to the weather will outperform coatings applied after the wood has been exposed (applied on-site after installation). Not only that, but the wood itself will also last considerably longer. The published study found that Western Red Cedar boards coated before being exposed to the weather were almost perfect after 20 years of exposure.

By applying the finish in ‘ideal conditions,’ we can eliminate the variables that affect the quality of a site applied finish. Weather, temperature, the humidity will affect finish quality, and keeping the wood clean, dry, and out of direct sunlight before applying the coating will have a positive effect on performance. Maintenance will be less frequent, saving both time and money.

Benefits of Factory Coated Wood

Ensures the coating is applied correctly and under perfect, environmentally controlled conditions.
Ensures deep penetration and superior adhesion, optimising the durability of the coating and extending the maintenance cycle.
Gives the building an instant finished look.
It can be installed all year round without compromising the quality of the finish.
All sides of the board are coated, making factory coated cladding more dimensionally stable and, therefore, more resistant to warping, checking, and splitting.
Ensures that the substrate is never exposed to UV or damaging weather conditions.
Saves time and labour costs.
No costly scheduling, weather, or seasonal delays.
Advantageous in the UK climate where applying exterior coatings usually is impossible during the winter.
No overspray, dripping, splattering, or clean-up problems.
The site is neat, and the project looks finished immediately.
No colour variation, lap marks, shrink lines, streaking, or dirt pick-up.
Contributes to the timely completion of projects.

+ Sansin

Since 1986 The Sansin Corporation, from Ontario, Canada, has been focused on creating the best performing, most beautiful water-borne wood coating systems. An innovative research and development program has made Sansin the leader in developing environmentally-friendly alternatives to traditional wood coatings and preservatives. Sansin Enviro Stains are fast becoming the world-wide choice for customers who demand the absolute best in performance and beauty for their homes.

+ Coating Technology

Sansin SDF Precision Coat System

SDF Precision Coat is a robust, effective penetrating stain for wood cladding. It allows the texture of the wood surface to show through, giving it a more natural look than traditional film-forming finishes, which tend to look 'plasticky.'

Specially formulated oils and resins penetrate deep into the wood.
Provides outstanding weather and UV protection.
Highly water-repellent – ideal for moisture-rich environments.
Allows the wood to "breathe," helping prevent moisture from getting trapped in the wood and causing rot.
Penetrates into the wood, leaving the grain and texture visible for a more natural appearance.
Won't crack, peel or blister.
Easy to maintain with a single top-up coat.

+ Colours

Trend Series

A collection of popular natural and opaque colours which are in constant demand, and often available from stock. Take advantage of economies of scale and benefit from lower prices and a shorter lead time.

Trend Series Natural

Trend Series Natural is a range of semi-transparent colour tones specially created to complement the natural colour tones found in specific wood types.


Light	Medium	Dark

Trend Series Opaque

The Trend Series Opaque range comprises five stunning solid colours that offer maximum protection against UV and longer intervals between maintenance (than transparent or semi-transparent finishes).


Rich Cedar	Cashmere Grey	Coniston Grey	Anthracite	Solid Black

Full Sansin Colour Range

Whether you choose from the range of penetrating transparent finishes or from the collection of solid hide colours, Sansin Enviro Stains deliver exceptional beauty that lasts. The transparent finishes – available in a range of tones from Naturals to the powerful Ultra-Saturated range – are renowned for their ability to enhance the character of wood with remarkable clarity, depth, and crisp, clean colour. The solid hide colours have exceptional UV and fade-resistant qualities.

Sansin has harnessed the power of nanotechnology to create colour as you’ve never seen before. An innovative process atomizes the highest quality pigments into tiny particles. These incredibly fine particles combine with the protective oils and resins in Sansin Enviro Stains on a molecular level. Once applied, Sansin’s penetrating stains carry the pigmentation down into the wood for vibrant, uniform, and long-lasting colour.

Natural: Define and enhance the natural character of your wood.
Translucent: Rich, translucent hues that define the grain of your wood and reward the eye.
Saturated: Deep, saturated colours that showcase the exceptional beauty of wood.
Ultra-Saturated: Powerful, ultra-saturated colours that make your project stand out from the crowd.
Solid-Hide: Beautiful colour and texture, combined with exceptional performance, colour retention, adhesion and scuff resistance.

Sansin Wood Force

Premium protection with a natural 'weathered' appearance

Even if you prefer your exterior wood to weather down to a natural silver-grey colour, it is still essential to protect it from the damaging effects of moisture.

Sansin Wood Force is a low-VOC (volatile organic compound) water-borne penetrating sealer that aggressively repels water while allowing the wood to breathe. Over a short time, the wood will weather uniformly to a beautiful silver-grey tone. Wood Force provides exceptional protection and will not break down with exposure to sunlight, retaining its water-repellency and protecting against weathering and wood rot. Because it erodes gently with time, maintenance is easy – just apply a fresh coat of Wood Force

Wood Force easily surpasses the ASTM 4446, the US standard industry benchmark for water repellency. Test results show that, on average, one application of Sansin Wood Force reduces water absorption by 84% and swelling by 72%, helping keep wood dimensionally stable.

+ Maintenance Friendly

Both the SDF Precision Coat and Wood Force coating systems have a significant advantage over traditional film-forming finishes. When the time comes to apply a maintenance coat, minimal preparation is required. Usually, the surface only requires cleaning before a single top-up coat is applied. Wood surfaces coated with a failed film-forming finish will require stripping and sanding before a fresh coating can be applied.Silva provides a range of products for cleaning and restoring exterior wood surfaces.

+ Silva Colour Lab

Custom Colours and Colour Matching

Our colour lab can create specific colours to match your requirement. Want us to tone the colour down a notch? Or amp up the intensity of the colour up to make it more vibrant? We can do that.

Want us to match your corporate colour? We can do that too.

The Trampery on the Gantry

For this project, a massive steel structure at the back of the Broadcast Centre from the 2012 Olympics was repurposed to create space for local creative businesses.

Silva was involved in two of the twenty-one freestanding studios. The individual structures each have a unique facade that pays homage to Hackney Wick pioneers and industry from the 19th and 20th centuries.

Swizzels is a confectionery manufacturer that began on a market stall in Hackney in the 1920s and operated a factory in east London until 1940. As one of Swizzels' most popular products is Refreshers, architects Hawkins\Brown chose these colourful sherbet sweets as the theme for one of the facades.

Silva's job was to create vibrant pink, green, and yellow colours, which were then applied to Western Red Cedar boards by Silva's factory coating team. The architects wanted a particular colour vibrancy level, so it took some back and forth to achieve the final colours. As you can see from the picture above the end result was amazing.

If you are interested in this service, please get in touch to discuss your requirements.