CIVIL ENGINEERING

Wood suitable for engineering use is known as timber.

Wood is hard and fibrous material. These product have wide
application for making doors, windows, furniture, partitions, interior
decoration. Timber:

Uses of timber:
Used for making railway sleepers, and railway coaches.
Used for making various furniture like cup boards, door, door
frames etc.
It is used as flooring and roofing material in buildings.
Used for making scaffolding, formworks in concrete works.
 Properties of timber:
Has quite low heat conductivity,
Has high sound conductivity,
High compressive strength parallel to the axis of growth.
Has resistance against weak alkali solution,
it is liable to shrink or swell with the trapping of moisture in it

Advantages:
It is light in weight and makes construction economical,
Durability of properly seasoned timber is very high,
It can be easily cut and framed in to required size and shape,
The wastage of timber is minimum in any construction,
It has batter insulating properties,
Provides batter aesthetic and decorative appearance with reasonable cost
, Disadvantages: It cannot bear heavy load as structural member,
Volume changes with moisture content which develops odd appearance, It
has to be preserved carefully for its longer life, It may have defects like
knots, cracks, split, It has least resistance against fire as compared to other
construction materials.

56. Metals are usually employed in various construction purposes like

beam, column, roof truss, water tanks, etc. Ferrous metals: contain iron as
their main constituent. Nonferrous metal: do not contain iron. Uses of
ceramics: Bricks, cements are used enormously in building construction.
Glass is used for several purposes like making laboratory equipments,
window glass etc. Making sanitary fitting. Making various tiles.