Our wonderful trees around the world offer us much more than just plain old timber: they keep soil healthy and moist, aid in the prevention of floods, provide shelter for both human and animals alike, they store carbon which lowers greenhouse gasses, they present us beautiful landscapes, they keep our water sources clean, they improve biodiversity and help human wellbeing. Tree-mendous eh?!
Here at Solinear we supply a range of sustainable timber products such as timber solar shading, timber louvres and timber louvre doors. We’re on a myth-busting exercise so you have all the information you need when specifying materials for your building.
Myth 1 – We’re cutting down more trees than we’re planting!
The reality is, Europe is greener than it was just a few years back. The UK government has just pledged £5.7m to plant 50 million trees along a 120-mile stretch of the county next to M62. It’s not just in the UK either; tree planting has become a political, economic and ecological cause. The US contains 8 per cent of the world’s forests and there are more trees there now than there was 100-years ago.
Myth 2 – Timber isn’t as strong as other materials
All building materials have their pros and cons, but timber is often dismissed because of it’s forgotten knowledge of fire and durability properties. Obviously, different types of timber have different strengths depending on how it’s grain is orientated.
Did you know that a common stud used to build new houses in the UK has a similar strength as concrete? The great thing about timber is that it’s really predictable too – it’s as safe as houses.
Myth 3 – Timber’s not suitable for bad weather conditions
Timberworks well in cold conditions where it stores heat, and in hot conditions where it stays cool – smart eh?! As we’ve already discovered, timber is very strong. Regarding harsh weather, such as strong winds, timber has some flexibility making it absolutely vine (sorry) in exposed locations where extreme wind forces may cause problems for other building materials.
Myth 4 – It’s a fire-risk!
Well, we all know that wood is the favourite fuel for a fire. Looking back to 1666, The Great Fire of London swept through the mostly timber-built city consuming 13,200 houses, 87 parish churches, St Paul’s Cathedral, and most of the buildings of the City.
This might sound surprising to some but in the event of a fire, timber out-performs many other building materials. Unlike in 1666, we can now treat timber to make it nearly incombustible. Properly treated timber will char slowly and is less likely to melt and collapse – the char that results on wood in a fire actually protects it from further burning.
We get all sappy when it comes to timber and that’s why we’ve developed a range of timber products for architects to specify for a range of building solutions from timber solar shading to mitigate solar heat gain, to timber louvres for plant room airflow.
