Home Construction Tips - Using Timber for Decoration and Structure

Construction can be intimidating by itself, when you start to get into the bigger timbers whether if be for look or for the structure, you need to know a few things before diving in. You need to be educated on what is going on and there are three areas that are very important: grade, FOHC (Free of Heart Center) and appearance.

The grade of a timber is very important when it comes to structural use, the two most common grades are #1 and #2, these are the only two grades you want to use for any kind of structural use. Most likely you will have an engineer making the calls on a timber grade so this issue is not that important to the end user. The big issue here is that there is a huge misconception that if a timber makes #1 grade that it will be pretty. The grade of a timber has nothing to do with how it looks. No matter what a contractor tells you (I'll say it again) the grade of a timber has nothing to do with how it looks. As the building industry is now leaning much heavier on the big custom home people are using a lot more custom accents and doug fir timber seems to be a #1 seller. Be aware of what you are buying and be sure your contractor knows what you want. In closing on this aspect, you can always request a grade stamp on any timber, this will eliminate any question at all.

The heart of a doug fir timber is very important as well. The heart refers to the center of a tree or the "bullseye", this is where the growth rings are at their smallest in the dead center of a tree. You do not want this in any timber you use. If you see a bullseye in any part of a timber you are using, stop and replace it. The term you want to use is Free of Heart Center which simply means, that heart center is not there. If you use one of these timbers you will get excessive splitting and checking, it will laterally split in half as time goes on. It is a nightmare that you will never want to deal with, replacing already installed timber is not easy or cheap. Using FOHC timber is not an industry standard so you need to ask the questions. It costs a little bit more money for a FOHC timber but you will pay less in the end if you do it the right way the first time.

Appearance has already been covered but some more tips to use if you are using a doug fir timber for a decorative use. Again FOHC is very important and you also need to convey to your contractor that it needs to be for appearance. Like I said earlier, don't say #1 FOHC and think it will come to you pretty, it most likely will not. You need to specify what you are doing with the wood. #1 does not mean pretty, I'll say it ten more times if I have to but it is very important.

Again, with the increase of custom homes and custom accents going up you need to know what is going on, these contractors will try and save a buck any way they can, so you really need to specify what you want. If you spend a little more money up front you will not have any problems however if you try and skimp you will pay at least twice as much in tear out and replacement. Know you products and question your contractor every step of the way.