Construction Materials UE-205

CHAPTER – 10
TIMBERS

10.1 General

Wood has always been a prominent material in the construction industry for many
reasons. It is one of the traditional building materials. It is easily worked, has durability
and beauty. It has great ability to absorb shocks from sudden loads. In addition, wood has
freedom from rust and corrosion, is comparatively light in weight, and is adaptable to a
countless variety of purposes. Today's different types of trees make the source material
for the construction of doors, windows, roof trusses, floor joints, etc.
Wood suitable for building and other engineering use is called timber. Tree trunks and
branches that have fallen are cut down into logs from which planks or lumbers are sown.
Trees growing in Ethiopia can broadly be classified into two main groups:

i. Endogenous or inward growing trees such as palms and bamboos, which have so
far little use in engineering.
ii. Exogenous or outward growing trees which make the bulk of the commercially
available material for building purpose.

10.2 Classification and Characteristics

Timber available from exogenous trees is further divided into two main classes as
follows:

i. Soft wood: It is produced from the gymnosperms, the coniferous trees such as
pines and spruces, which have characteristic needle – like leaves. These trees are
generally evergreen, but the group does include some species, for example the
larch that lose all their needles in autumn.
ii. Hard wood: It is produced from one group of the angiosperms, known as
dicotyledons, which are the broad-leafed trees, such as oak, beech and ash. The
temperate zone hardwoods are generally deciduous, while most tropical
hardwoods retain their leaves all year round.

Note: Softwood and hardwood are purely botanical terms and do not always relate to
hardness.
There are hundreds of timber species, which vary widely in their properties and
appearances. Even within any one species there is often a wide variation resulting from
the effect of soil variations and climatic conditions. This makes generalization of the
properties of timber very difficult.

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Table 10.1 Characteristics of hardwood and softwood

Hardwood Softwood
 Relatively heavy  Generally light in weight
 Relatively dark in colour  Generally light in colour
 The annual rings are not distinct  Annual rings are distinct
 Many contain materials, eg. Silica,  Has straight fibers with soft and
which make the wood hard and regular texture
difficult to work with.  Comparatively weaker and splits
 Close grained, strong and durable easily
 Strong also in shear.  Strong in tension
 Contains acid
 Some contain resigns and/or oils,
which interfere with the hardening
of paints.

10.3 Seasoning and Preservation

A newly felled or green tree contains a high percentage of water both within the cell
cavities and the cell walls. Unless controlled, irregular loss of water takes place leading to
irregular radial and circumferential shrinkage, which results in the setting up the internal
stresses between the fibers. When these stresses exceed the cohesion of the fibres then the
timber warps and shakes are formed. It is said that the radial shrinkage of wood is about
60percent of the circumferential (tangential), and that the longitudinal shrinkage is
negligible.
Logs converted to lumber give pieces of smaller sections and high surface area, which
facilitate controlled and uniform drying. The process of drying timber in a controlled
manner to reduce its moisture content without introducing unwanted defect, such as split
or distortion is called seasoning. Besides the avoidance of cracking and splitting, proper
drying of timber from the green minimizes shrinkage after placement in structures,
reduces weight by 50percent or more, improves strength and other mechanical properties,
increases thermal insulation and resistance to decay, and creates suitability for
impregnation (treatment with preservative), sawing, gluing, polishing and painting.
There are two methods of seasoning timber: natural air seasoning and kiln drying. In
natural air seasoning, the timber is stacked in the open air or in open – sided sheds in
such a way as to promote drying without artificial assistance. The timber stack is
supported clear of the ground to prevent air circulation by means of spacers or sticks,
which are generally about 25mm square. If the timber is stacked in the open a top cover
should be used to keep off rain, or snow, and protect the stack from direct sunshine. Air
seasoning is a cheap method with very little loss in quality of timber if done properly but
it is relatively sow process.

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Kiln drying is done in chambers equipped with heating and humidity arrangements. This
process which takes from few hours to a couple of days can be done either in stationary
kilns or by stacking timber to the kiln or in progressive kilns where the timber is moved
from one end of the kiln to the other end. Since it is done scientifically by controlling the
amount of temperature and humidity of the circulating air, kiln drying gives better
seasoned timber in relatively very short time. However, the method is more expensive as
it involves longer initial investment and running cost.
Besides natural seasoning and kiln drying, there are other methods that are used in
various parts of the world. They include electric seasoning, seasoning by boiling,
chemical treatment etc.

Properly seasoned or dried timber reaches what is called its equilibrium moisture content,
which is about 12 to18, percent of the dry weight depending on the species and
surrounding condition. Hence even if a timber is dried past its equilibrium moisture
content, because of its hygroscopicity it will readily reabsorb some moisture.

Wood is an organic material, which can be attacked, and its tissues destroyed y the action
of solvent chemicals secreted by bacteria and fungi. It is also damaged or eaten up by
insects such as pole – borers and termites or destroyed by fire, which decomposes it in to
carbon dioxide, water vapour and ash. For this reason, timber used for construction
purposes should be preserved protected.

Proper seasoning, natural or artificial, is the most effective means of preservation. The
resistance to decay and deterioration of seasoned timber is further improved by
impregnation with preservative chemicals, brush treatment with paint or varnish, damp
proofing when appropriate and providing as much as possible free circultion of air
wherever it is possible.

10.4 Strength Properties of Timber

Considering the fact that it is relatively strong in compression and tension (bending) and
that it has low density, timber can be classified as one of the materials of high strength:
weigh ratio. There is variation in strength among species and even between trees in a
particular species. Among the factors that seriously affect strength, moisture content
takes a prominent place. Variation in strength also occurs between different parts of a
tree; with temperature, size and shape of the specimen and amount of defects. Strength
decreases with temperature, also the higher the number of knots within a specimen, the
lower the strength.

Strength of timber varies according to the type of loading and also because it is an
isotropic material, according to the direction of loading. Tensile strength along the grains
may be two or four times that across the grain angle than is compressive strength. The
comparatively low strength in compression as well as in tension across the grains is
attributed to the weak bond between the cells and the fibers.
An important factor that affects the strength of timber is the time of loading. Timber can
sustain greater loads for short time than it can over a long period. This dependence of

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strength on the duration of loading is termed as creep rupture or static fatigue. Since the
strength of timber decreases with time of application of force, working stresses derived
from test results must take into account the rate of staining.

10.5 Conversion of Timber

Besides its usage as structural member in buildings, timber can be used to prepare
architectural or finishing materials such as veneers, plywood etc.

Veneers are thin sheets of wood, from 0.5mm to 5mm that are peeled off, sliced, cut or
sawn from a log of wood. Since they have usually attractive appearance they are used as
finishing materials or cover to timber surfaces of inferior quality.

Veneers are used for making plywood and laminboard. In the plywood the different plies
are arranged in such a way that the grains of the veneers are at right angles to each other.
This arrangement gives the plywood considerable strength in compression, tension as
well as bending.

Wood wastes obtained from saw mills; inferior timber or small logs are usually used to
manufacture chipboard (hard board). In this case, the dried material is converted into
fibers. The fibers are then mixed with binders (synthetic resins) and pressed into 10 to
25mm thick boards in hydraulic presses. Such boards are used as ceiling boards, partition
wall etc.