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Timber is not like other building materials, timber has ‘terrior’

Professor Greg Nolan, architect, researcher and Director of the University of Tasmania’s Centre for Sustainable Architecture with Wood explains that timber has a level of complexity, which other materials don’t necessarily have. With a manufactured product like glass, steel, aluminium, or plastics, which are the result of a high energy engineering process you can control what comes out at the end. With timber it is not that simple, however it is the natural, hygroscopic nature of timber that brings an authenticity, beauty and a sense of warmth and connection to the built environment.

What we’re doing with timber is we’re taking something that a tree has grown. We then harvest the tree for a lot of wood products. All those basic characteristics that the tree determined by millions of years of genetics are still in that piece.  We then will reduce the piece, we don’t transform it, we take a log and we cut it into smaller bits, and then we grade those bits, but each bit then is still part of a tree. It has terroir. It comes from a place. It comes from a tree.

So with timber an additional layer of knowledge and consideration is required. The below brochures, factsheets, flooring guides and installer support downloads are useful tools to assist with specifying Tasmanian Timber. Comprehensive species guides can also be found under the species pages.

For any additional support please Call the Expert Helpline on 1300 041 766 (international callers: +613 6324 4081).