Degree of Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Built

Environment Studies

YEAR 2 SEMESTER 1
MATERIALS FOR CONSTRUCTION 1

1.TIMBER 1

Nomenclature
Timbers are botanically divisible into two
classes: softwoods (gymnosperms),
being produced by coniferous trees and
hardwoods (angiosperms) by broad
leaved trees. Note that some softwoods
are harder than hardwoods e.g. balsa
wood (Ochroma lagopus) is a hardwood
while yew (Taxus baccata) is a softwood.
Both classes contain timbers which vary
in weight, strength, resistance to decay
and colour.

Timber species
Specifications should state the characteristics required and,
frequently, name the species. The common names used for
timber species is often misleading or ambiguous. It is best to
specify timber by some recognised standard (e.g. BS 881 and
589) or by the Latinised specific name. It is generally superfluous
to name the origin of the timber.

In most developed countries about 80% of all timber used in the

construction industry consists of softwoods. Typical softwoods and
their region of origin include: pine (European redwood) and spruce
(European whitewood) - North and Central Europe; hemlock,
spruce, pine, fir, western red cedar, American redwood - North
America; pitch pine - Central America; Parana pine - Brazil.

Over 100 hardwoods are used commercially, although over half

the requirements consist of ash, beech, iroko, ramin, mahogany,
meranti, oak and teak. Ash, beech and oak come from the
temperate forest of North America and Europe, the rest from
tropical forests.

Tree growth
The tree, a complex living organism, can be considered in three main sections:
the branches with their leaves, the trunk or bole and the roots. The roots
anchor the tree to the ground and absorb water with dissolved minerals from
the soil. The leaves absorb carbon dioxide from the air adn in the presence of
sunlight, together with chlorophyll as a catalyst, combine carbon dioxide with
water to produce sugars. The sugars in aqueous solution are transported down
the branches and the trunk to be subsequently converted, where required for
growth, into the cellulose of the tree. The trunk gives structural strength to the
tree, and acts as a store for minerals and food such as starch and also as a
two-way transport medium.

The tree is protected from

extremes of temperature and
damage by the bark, inside
which is the bast layer which
transports downwards the
sugars synthesised in the
leaves. Radial rays then move
the food into sapwood cells for
storage. Inside the bast is the
thin and delicate cambium
which is the growing layer for
the bark and the sapwood.
Growth takes place when the
cambium is active, which in
temperature climates is during
spring and summer.

Growth rings
Rings of timber added to the trunk or branches, usually one
every year. The rings are wide if growth is rapid, and the
wider the growth rings of a particular species, the less dense
and strong is the timber.

Early wood or spring wood

The early growth of the ring; it is normally
wide and soft.

Late wood or
summer wood
The later growth of
the ring; it is denser,
darker and narrower
than the early wood.

Sapwood
This forms the part of the trunk active in the life processes of the
tree. It is lighter in colour than heartwood, and, as it contains
sugars and starch, tends to be more attractive to insects.
Heartwood
his occurs at the centre of the tree and is made up of dead
fibres.

Grain
This term refers to the general
direction or arrangement of the
fibres.

Slope of grain
The deviation in the direction of
grain caused by branches or bends
in the tree.

Natural defects in the tree

These are features which develop
in the tree before or soon after it is
felled, and which may detract from
the usefulness of the timber.
These include:
Natural inclusions
Minor defects which occur when
peices of bark have become
enclosed within the timber are
common. Pitch pockets and resin
streaks, containing fluid resin, are
frequently seen along the grain of
softwoods.

Brittleheart
The centre of the tree (pith) breaks with a brittle fracture

Sapwood
Sapwood requires better protection
than heartwood and takes up
moisture more readily.

Abnormal growth rings

Caused by rapid growth; hence lower density and strength.
(The optimum number ranges around 5 rings per cm for
softwoods and 3 rings per cm for hardwoods).

Spiral grain
Distorts structural timber in
seasoning.

Two adjacent limber pine trees exhibit

sinistral spiral grain (left) and straight
grain.