KD Woodtech has launched its new eco-friendly wood paving block, 'Woodluck,' drawing attention from the industry.
The 'wood paving block' was a road paving material used in urban spaces in modern Europe and the United States before asphalt paving materials were developed. Installed mainly on carriage roads and alleyways, wood paving blocks absorbed impact to protect horses' hooves and dramatically reduced the driving noise of iron carriage wheels, making them a highly favored road paving material.
KD Woodtech's newly launched wood paving block, 'Woodluck,' is a beautiful, eco-friendly product designed so that the end-grain surface of the wood is exposed on the top. Depending on the type of wood, the end-grain surface of a wood paving block exhibits 3 to 5 times the strength of concrete. Thanks to these characteristics, it is so sturdy that, depending on the installation method, even a vehicle weighing as much as 60 tons can pass over it without any problem. In addition, KD Woodtech's 'Woodluck' is treated with a silicification agent to improve weather resistance, the biggest drawback of wood. Silicification treatment of wood is harmless to the human body while dramatically extending the lifespan of the wood. Silicification-treated wood paving blocks require no additional maintenance, such as recoating with stain oil, and offer the advantage of being usable without change for at least 25 years.
Furthermore, whenever torrential downpours occur each summer, pedestrian roads where water is not readily absorbed into the ground have easily flooded, causing enormous damage. To enhance permeability, the new 'Woodluck' applies silica sand mortar made with a special water-based binder from Germany's Remmers between the blocks, allowing water that flows into the gaps to be discharged in an instant. It can therefore be used safely even in summer.
KD Wood explained, "A wood paving block stores 39.81 kg of carbon dioxide per square meter over the long term, which is equal to the amount of carbon dioxide emitted when a mid-size car travels the 398 km from Seoul to Busan. For this reason, advanced countries widely use wood paving blocks on tree-lined streets and park walking paths," adding, "In particular, unlike concrete, wood reduces the urban heat island effect and greatly helps achieve carbon neutrality, so wood paving blocks are being applied extensively on the rooftops of the headquarters of world-renowned companies such as Google and NVIDIA and for paving the walkways within their campuses."
KD Woodtech's wood paving block 'Woodluck' is made from 60 mm-thick domestic larch and, in response to increasingly diverse consumer needs, is released in a variety of designs, making it broadly applicable not only to urban alleyways but also to specialized streets, cultural streets, tree-lined streets, downtown shopping-district walkways, rooftops, and more.
A KD Woodtech official said, "Concrete paving blocks that are torn up every year are products ill-suited to the carbon neutrality needed to respond to climate change, and now is the time when attention to wood paving blocks is needed. As the new product Woodluck demonstrates the potential to use domestic timber as a high-value-added product, we expect it to gain a favorable response in the market going forward," and added, "Our company will continue to lead the way in developing wood building materials that propose healthy, beautiful architectural spaces and contribute to protecting the global environment."
Meanwhile, KD Woodtech's new 'Woodluck' made its debut at the Gwangju Kyunghyang Housing Fair held this past April, receiving an enthusiastic response from visitors, and despite being newly developed, it has been reflected in the design of a pilot project for the Seongsu-dong tree-lined street, earning recognition for its quality. Visitors to the KD Woodtech showroom located in Songpa-gu can see the new product as well as a variety of wood products in person. 02-3401-5525
