The application of timber for flooring
is a low-energy material to produce and requires little energy to recycle. It is easy to handle with basic tools and equipment, as well as easy to repair by using special joining technology. The life cycle can be extended through new applications. A big column installed 50 years ago, for instance, can be repurposed into a smaller column, beam, stud or floor boarding that could last for another 50 years.
However, timber today seems to be declining in quality, especially those used for structural purposes. The material delivered to the site does not always comply with the architects’ and engineers’ specifications in terms structural grade, moisture content and species. The lumbers are often green and juvenile, and rejecting them when already delivered to the site will be cumbersome, especially when a third party is involved for verification. By way of illustration, Chengal directly purchased from a saw mill could be of a low quality. The logs could be processed into lumbers only upon confirmation of order. This does not allow for the
Image by Ingo Bartussek
Buyers or specifiers should not bear the burden of having to verify timber. They should be able make informed decisions and the qualities of timber should be properly declared.
lumbers to dry properly because high- density lumbers like Chengal take at least a year to dry. The industry players are now used to doing things instantly. Gone are the days when we would see rows and rows of lumbers being air dried at the saw mill ready and suitable to be used for building construction.
New lumbers obtained from the hardware shop or from the sawmill are often unsatisfactory. For instance, the label of thickness on the wall says 2 inches by 4 inches, but the actual material is 1.5 inches by 3.5 inches. This has been the practice in timber trade for a long time. Timber products often have a huge discrepancy in terms of visual impact, structural performance and value for money. Design
calculations tend to assume nominal sizes as opposed to actual sizes so this is a loss at the users’ end.
Today’s timber has also become an estranged material. In the building sector, not many professionals and builders are familiar with the performance requirements of timber. Many are unable to verify timber in terms of its species, strength and suitability for applications. Professionals may wrongly approve or reject timber material due to a lack of knowledge; and this is unfortunate and unfair. To address this issue, associations in building and construction need to include modules about timber material in their training and certification.
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