Wood protecting methods and wood products produced with the methods

A method of improving degradation resistance of a wood product, comprising:

• contacting a wood material with a water-based composition containing no biocide and consisting essentially of one or more zirconium salts selected from the group consisting of zirconium acetate, ammonium zirconium carbonate, zirconium bromide, zirconium chloride, zirconium hydroxynitrate, zirconium nitrate, zirconium oxide diperchlorate octahydrate, zirconium oxychloride, zirconium oxynitrate, zirconium sulfate, zirconium sulfate tetrahydrate, zirconyl chloride, zirconium acetate hydroxide, zirconium orthosulphate and zirconium sulphamate, and optionally at least one or more of:
• a wetting agent, a defoamer, a conservative, a dye, a pigment, a rheology modifier, and/or a UV stabilizer;
• and
• heat treating the wood material at a temperature of between 115°° C. to 200° C., wherein the one or more zirconium salts create physical and chemical bonds with hydroxyl and/or carboxyl groups of the wood material and wherein the one or more zirconium salts are selected so that a protonated counter ion to zirconium in the zirconium salt has a boiling point that is lower than the temperature of heat treating the wood material.