Thermally Modified Wood for Coastal Exteriors. Without Added Chemicals.

Coastal and high-humidity environments place added demands on exterior wood. Naturally durable species such as cedar and redwood remain established options, and they can perform well when properly specified, detailed, installed, and maintained. But clear, high-quality cedar and redwood aren't always easy to secure. Cost, availability, and the grades and lengths a project needs can complicate the specification, especially on a design with long, uninterrupted runs.

ICON®, from Timber Trading, offers another path with real wood, thermally modified for greater dimensional stability and resistance to decay, without chemical preservatives. Heat, steam, and pressure remove the sugars fungi feed on and restructure the wood's cell walls so they take on and release less moisture. This is the kind of movement that drives cupping, checking, and premature decay in conventional lumber.

Because no chemical preservatives are involved, ICON® is a fit for projects where the team is tracking what goes into a building, not just what holds up on the outside of it.

Left to right: Reserve (CVG Douglas Fir), Classic (Maple), Artisan (Radiata Pine), Tradesman (Ponderosa Pine)

One Product Family, Four Ways to Hit the Aesthetic

Coastal projects rarely call for a single look, and ICON® doesn't force one. The line spans multiple species, giving specifiers a range of textures and finishes within the same thermally modified product family:

• ICON Reserve (CVG Douglas Fir) — tight, clear vertical grain for a refined, high-end appearance.
• ICON Classic (Maple) — a clean, consistent face suited to modern, minimal detailing.
• ICON Artisan (Radiata Pine) — a hewn, aged, or textured finish for character-driven designs.
• ICON Tradesman (Ponderosa Pine) — a dependable option. This is thermally modified through the same controlled process as the rest of the line.

Each collection carries its own species, texture, and finish characteristics, and actual performance in a given application depends on exposure, detailing, installation, and maintenance. These are the same variables that shape the performance of any exterior wood product.

Reserve on a Hamptons Coastal Retreat

In Southampton, NY, ICON® Reserve (CVG Douglas Fir) was specified for rake, fascia, soffit, ceiling, column wrap, and trim on a project originally planned around cedar.

The board is uncoated, left to weather naturally to a coastal gray patina. Its long lengths helped minimize seams and create uninterrupted fascia and soffit runs, which is a detail that mattered on a high-exposure coastal facade.

After seeing how effectively the material supported the design, the project team expanded ICON® into porch ceilings and columns that weren't part of the original plan.

The finished exterior sets ICON's crisp profile against copper gutters and the home's cedar shingle cladding.

Manufacturer Expertise, Backed by Local Access

Timber Trading's dealer and lumberyard partners are an important part of how ICON® reaches projects, providing regional inventory and fulfillment.

Alongside that network, specifiers also have direct access to Timber Trading's own team for questions on warranty terms, finish options, or custom orders. This results in manufacturer-level expertise paired with the availability a project timeline requires.

Discover Timber Trading on Acelab's Material Hub

Coastal and high-moisture exteriors are one of the toughest specification challenges architects face, precisely because the trade-off has historically been binary: real wood or real durability, rarely both.

ICON® is the kind of product Acelab exists to surface: a solution that resolves a genuine design constraint without asking architects to compromise on aesthetic intent.